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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Stephanie Convery and Emily Wind (earlier)

Higgins and Reynolds in defamation mediation talks – as it happened

Scott Morrison Asia Australia Simon Kennedy Anthony Albanese
Brittany Higgins
Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz are meeting with Liberal senator Linda Reynolds in Perth for mediation talks as part of an ongoing defamation matter. Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAP

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:

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

If you’re just tuning in or you’ve been too busy to keep up with all the news today, my colleague Antoun Issa’s Afternoon Update has you covered:

Victorian government and opposition agree to limit WorkCover payments for stress

Workers’ compensation for mental health injuries such as stress and burnout will be limited after the Victorian government struck a deal to push through contentious changes to the state’s “broken” WorkCover scheme.

Premiums for businesses under the scheme would also be frozen for the 2024-25 financial year, under an agreement with the state’s opposition to secure support for the bill.

Under the changes, workers suffering stress and burnout will no longer be able to access weekly WorkCover benefits.

They will instead be eligible for 13 weeks of provisional payments to cover medical treatment, along with access to enhanced psychosocial support services.

Workers receiving payments beyond two-and-a-half years will also have to undergo another impairment and capacity test to determine if they are still eligible.

Other amendments include an independent review into the impact of the reforms, expanding WorkSafe’s board from five members to six and setting up an advisory committee on the creation of Return to Work Victoria.

Read the full story here:

Updated

Underground gas pipeline on fire in Queensland

A gas leak has sparked a fire in central Queensland, AAP reports.

Emergency services have set up an exclusion zone after the blaze began on the Queensland Gas pipeline in the Central Highlands on Tuesday morning.

No injuries have been reported.

Authorities are investigating the gas leak on the pipeline between Rolleston Compressor Station and Oombabeer, near Bauhinia.

A Resources Safety and Health Queensland spokesperson said they were aware of a fire burning at the leak and an inspector was at the scene. The spokesperson said:

The section has been isolated and the incident is under control.

Firefighters arrived and declared an exclusion zone, according to pipeline operators Jemena. A spokesperson for Jemena said in a statement:

We are currently working to understand the impact of the incident on our customers and other stakeholders.

Our current focus is on ensuring the safety of the site, community and our personnel.

The Queensland Gas Pipeline is 672km long, connecting Wallumbilla gas hub, near Roma, to customers in central Queensland.

It supplies gas to Gladstone and Rockhampton, mostly for industrial use.

Updated

Asio declines to comment on Paul Keating’s ‘latest contribution’

The domestic spy agency has declined to comment on criticism from former prime minister Paul Keating, albeit with an interesting grammatical emphasis.

In a statement, Keating accused Asio director general, Mike Burgess, of running “a goon show” and seeking to undermine Australia’s diplomatic relationship with China.

Keating’s criticism is a response to Asio’s decision to reveal a foreign intelligence service had recruited a former Australian politician. While Burgess and Asio have repeatedly refused to name the intelligence service, Nine Newspapers have linked the saga to “a division of China’s Ministry of State Security devoted to Australia”.

Keating accused Burgess of being a “resident conjurer” for the “kabuki show” and someone who had displayed “utter contempt for the so-called stabilisation process that the prime minister had decided upon and has progressed with China”.

When contacted for a response to Keating’s statement, an Asio spokesperson said:

We will not comment on Mr Keating’s latest ‘contribution’.

Updated

Brittany Higgins and Linda Reynolds in defamation mediation talks

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.

The former defence minister is suing Higgins and Sharaz over a series of social media posts that she says have damaged her reputation.

The couple left Australia in December to start a new life in France, but on Tuesday appeared at the David Malcolm Justice centre in Perth.

Lawyers for the parties appeared in the Western Australian supreme court last month to determine key dates in preparation for a trial should the mediation session fail.

Justice Marcus Solomon encouraged the parties to work together to resolve the matter. The mediation session is closed to the public and media.

Reynolds is suing Sharaz over tweets he made and a Facebook comment in 2022.

Reynolds claims the tweets were defamatory as they implied she put pressure on Higgins not to proceed with a genuine complaint to police, “is a hypocrite in her advocacy for women’s interests and empowerment”, interfered in Bruce Lehrmann’s trial, and bullied Higgins.

Reynolds claims she was also defamed by Sharaz’s reply to a comment on her Facebook page relating to her treatment of Higgins.

Higgins is accused of posting defamatory material on two occasions on her Instagram and X accounts.

– AAP

Updated

WA to offer free RSV immunisation for babies

Western Australia will become the first jurisdiction in Australia to offer free immunisation against RSV for infants.

RSV, a common and contagious respiratory virus, is the leading cause of hospitalisation in Australian children under five years.

Symptoms can be mild through to life-threatening, and it often affects otherwise healthy babies. One quarter of those infants hospitalised require intensive care.

Babies aged under eight months, or up to 19 months for those at increased risk of severe RSV, can be immunised in WA from April. It comes after the drug, called Beyfortus, was approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration in November.

Director of the Immunisation Foundation of Australia, Catherine Hughes, said: WA:

[WA] was one of the first to adopt a maternal whooping cough immunisation program, the first to provide influenza vaccines for children, and will now be the first to protect all infants against severe RSV.

The Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP) Western Australia chair, Dr Ramya Raman, said Beyfortus uses monoclonal antibodies to supplement the body’s immune response. The drug is administered via a single injection.

In clinical trials, Beyfortus has been shown to reduce the number of children hospitalised with RSV-associated infections by 83%. It has already been used widely in Europe and the United States.

Raman said:

RSV must be taken seriously.

My message to families is to please be patient when contacting your local practice to secure a vaccination. This announcement has only just been made and rolling out the program may take time.

Malaysian PM ‘dropped a huge rock’ in Penny Wong’s pond: Keating

Former prime minister Paul Keating has accused Malaysia’s leader of dropping “a huge rock into [foreign minister] Penny Wong’s pond”.

On Monday, Anwar Ibrahim expanded on his previous comments about a rise of “China-phobia” in the west. Alongside the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, Anwar said that if other nations had a problem with China, “they should not impose it upon us”:

We do not have a problem with China.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Keating said Anwar’s comments demonstrated the differing views on China within south-east Asia:

Anwar is making it clear Malaysia for its part is not buying United States hegemony in east Asia – with states being lobbied to ringfence China on the way through. That difficult task, the maintenance of US strategic hegemony, is being left to supplicants like us.

What this week’s Asean meeting makes clear is that Australia and Australian policy is at odds with the general tenor of Asean’s perceived strategic interests – that is, interests which relate to China and the United States and relations between them.“

Updated

Many thanks for joining me on the blog today, Stephanie Convery will take you through the rest of today’s rolling coverage. Take care.

Paul Keating accuses Asio of undermining diplomatic relations with China

Anthony Albanese has flatly rejected former prime minister Paul Keating’s criticism of the domestic intelligence agency, which he alleges is destabilising Australia’s relationship with China.

In a statement issued today, Keating noted reporting by the Nine newspapers which linked the alleged recruitment of a former politician to “a division of China’s Ministry of State Security devoted to Australia”. The story said Asio boss, Mike Burgess, had repeatedly refused to name any overseas intelligence agency.

Here’s part of Keating’s statement:

The kabuki show runs thus: Burgess drops the claim, then out of nowhere, the Herald and The Age miraculously appear to solve the mystery - the villain, as it turns out, is China after all. The anti-China Australian strategic policy establishment was feeling some slippage in its mindless pro-American stance and decided some new China rattling was overdue.

Keating also addressed this criticism to Burgess and other national security officials:

These people display utter contempt for the so-called stabilisation process that the prime minister had decided upon and has progressed with China. And will do anything to destabilise any meaningful rapprochement.

During a press conference on the sidelines of the Asean summit, Albanese was asked about Keating’s statement and whether the actions of Asio had threatened diplomatic relations with China. He was also asked if Australia was sending mixed messages to Beijing. His response was curt:

No.

Asio has been contacted for a response to Keating’s statement.

Updated

NSW records first apparent lithium battery-related fire deaths

Fire and Rescue NSW is urging caution after what appears to be the state’s first recorded deaths in a lithium-ion battery-related fire last week.

Around 4am on Thursday, four people were inside a townhouse at Teralba, in Lake Macquarie, when a fire broke out. FRNSW investigators believe a battery was compromised and went into “thermal runway” – a process where a lithium-ion cell overheats and gives off toxic gases before exploding in flames.

A statement from FRNSW said two occupants escaped but two were killed, with their bodies recovered from the unstable ruins on Friday and Saturday. Police are working to formally identify the victims and prepare a report for the coroner, who will formally determine the cause of the deaths.

FRNSW is regarding this as the first deaths in the state due to a lithium-ion battery-related fire, and said in a statement:

According to the latest FRNSW statistics, there have been 45 lithium-Ion battery-related fires in NSW so far this year, or five incidents a week.

There were 269 such fires in this state last year at the same weekly rate.

FRNSW is reinforcing its public warnings about the dangers of such batteries when comprised, damaged or allowed to overheat. Commissioner Jeremy Fewtrell said:

These fires are extremely intense and volatile, even our firefighters find putting them out challenging because they burn so hot.

Updated

Storm warning issued for Goldfields, WA

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the Goldfields district in Western Australia, with a moist environment across much of the state today.

People in the Goldfields are urged to take action now, with severe thunderstorms on the way. Locations which may be affected include Laverton, Rawlinna and Zanthus.

The Bureau said a trough from the Goldfields to the Gascoyne district is triggering severe thunderstorms with heavy rainfall likely.

Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding in the warning area over the next several hours.

Updated

Singapore and Australia to cooperate on cross-border crime and shipping

Just looping back to cover the outcomes of the prime minister, Anthony Albanese’s meeting with his counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong, in a little more detail.

The two nations have announced a memorandum of understanding to “enhance border and immigration cooperation”, including the screening and detection of illicit goods. Here’s a part of their joint statement:

It will enhance practical cooperation, such as more timely exchange of information, to combat cross-border criminal conduct and improve border security, border modernisation, training and professional development.

The two leaders have also announced progress on “a green and digital shipping corridor” between Singapore and Australia. This is all about trying to reduce emissions and digitalise shipping. It’s a commitment they’ve discussed at other regional conferences. Here’s part of the joint statement:

Initiatives include trialling net zero and digital solutions across various shipping activities and port operations, with the aim of establishing a zero or near-zero emissions shipping route.

Updated

ACT flags procedural changes after Sofronoff ruling

Just a few moments ago in Canberra, the ACT attorney general, Shane Rattenbury, responded to yesterday’s ruling on the Sofronoff inquiry.

The ACT supreme court found Walter Sofronoff’s extensive interactions with The Australian columnist Janet Albrechtsen gave rise to an impression of bias against former ACT director of public prosecutions Shane Drumgold.

The court heard in February Sofronoff and Albrechtsen had 273 interactions over the inquiry’s seven months, including 51 phone calls, text messages, emails and a private lunch meeting in Brisbane.

After the release of Sofronoff’s report in August, Drumgold resigned from his position as top prosecutor after the ACT government formed the view his position was no longer tenable.

Rattenbury was asked whether Monday’s ruling changed his view on the matter. He responded:

The government did form the view that Mr Drumgold’s position was untenable. These findings do not change that.

Asked whether he believed the finding was regrettable, Rattenbury responded “certainly”.

The ACT government will continue to consider and analyse the decision over the coming days and weeks, including on whether there will be repercussions for Sofronoff’s conduct during the inquiry and how to avoid similar scenarios happening in future, Rattenbury said.

We’ll take a little bit of time to reflect on this. One of the lessons might be that when conducting boards of inquiry that you have not just one member as the board, you might have multiple members. In these circumstances that might have made a difference.

Updated

‘No place for racism in our sport’: Football Australia chief

Football Australia CEO, James Johnson, just spoke to the media from Adelaide after news that Matildas captain, Sam Kerr, has pleaded not guilty in the United Kingdom to a charge of racially aggravated harassment of a police officer.

Johnson said he “woke up to the news” and had questions, but also that “there is a process that is under way in the United Kingdom and that process needs to run its course.”

Without going into specifics, Johnson said the allegation was “very serious” and there is “no place for racism in our sport”.

At the same time Sam has rights … as an individual. She’s pleaded not guilty, we need to remember and respect that …

I haven’t spoken to Sam other than a text message to check in on her wellbeing.

Updated

Up or down? A list of health insurance premium changes

If you’re wondering how much your health insurance premiums are rising this year, we can point you to this resource on the Department of Health’s website – showing the rise for each insurer, from 1 April this year and annual rises as far back as 1997.

As we’ve been bringing you through the day, the health minister, Mark Butler, has approved a 3.03% average rise across the industry, but the reality is that some big insurers are raising their prices well above that. NIB was quick out of the gate to announce a 4.1% increase, while Bupa locked in a 3.61% rise.

There are some going the other way: the alliance of Members Health funds will raise their premiums by 2.82%, while Australian Unity Health is reported to be putting up prices by 1.42%. The Health Care Insurance Ltd will go up only 0.27%, while Defence Health Limited has a flat 1.0% increase.

In contrast, the health department says CBHS Corporate Health Pty Ltd is raising prices by 5.82%, CBHS Health Fund Limited by 4.51%, and Phoenix Health Fund Limited by 3.72%.

Updated

Health bodies call on government to fund climate strategy

More than 40 of Australia’s health organisations have endorsed a call for the government to fund its national health and climate strategy.

The strategy was launched on 3 December last year by the assistant health minister, Ged Kearney, and outlines priorities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Australian health system. It also addresses the impacts of climate change on health and wellbeing across the country.

But the strategy has not yet been funded. The Climate and Health Alliance, plus more than 40 other bodies from the health sector, are calling for it to be funded in the 2024/25 budget.

A joint letter published in today’s Daily Telegraph says:

In the face of more frequent, intense climate disasters, the Commonwealth Government must fulfil its promise of a healthy, climate resilient future in the 2024/25 budget.

The health system must be capable of anticipating, responding to and recovering from the stresses caused by extreme weather and climate disasters.

Asthma Australia, Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation, the Health Services Union and Public Health Association of Australia were among the signatories. You can view the full list here.

Updated

More on the NBN speed boost

Here are some more details from NBN Co, after the announcement it will boost the speeds on its highest speed plans by up to five times for no extra cost.

(We flagged this earlier in the blog here).

That is, if you’re currently on a 100-megabits-a-second-download speed plan that will be boosted to 500Mbps. If you’re on 250Mbps, that will go to 750Mbps and those on 500-750Mbps will see an increase up to 750-1000Mbps.

It’ll be rolled out to customers on the legacy cable network, as well as fibre-to-the-premises. Those eligible in fibre-to-the-node (FttN) or fibre-to-the-curb areas will need to upgrade to full fibre in order to get it.

The upgrade won’t cost NBN retailers any more for the wholesale cost of the plans, but the Coalition has called for guarantees that this won’t lead to higher prices for end customers – something NBN does not set itself.

The shadow communication minister, David Coleman, pointed out that NBN is losing thousands of customers in non-new housing areas. NBN explained last month this was mostly due to people being stuck on poor speeds on FttN – the technology that the NBN adopted under the Coalition government – for customers choosing 5G and other alternatives.

Updated

PM will ‘look forward to’ hearing about location of Coalition’s nuclear reactors

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says he’s looking forward to the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, declaring where the Coalition would like large-scale nuclear power plants and small modular reactors to be based.

Earlier today, Dutton outlined the Coalition’s pre-election energy policy. He spruiked nuclear energy and argued that nuclear plants could be built at retiring coal assets.

At the Asean summit in Melbourne just now, Albanese said the proposal lacked detail:

I look forward to [Dutton] announcing the locations for nuclear reactors in Australia and for there to be an appropriate debate.

I also look forward as well to him announcing where the financing will come for such reactors and whether taxpayers will be expected to pay for this, because we know what the cheapest form of new energy is.

Updated

More on the Coalition cabinet reshuffle

Here are some more details around the Coalition’s shadow ministry reshuffle, which was announced earlier (we had the full details here):

Peter Dutton has announced a reshuffle of his shadow cabinet, bringing in Luke Howarth to replace Stuart Robert as shadow assistant treasurer.

The fellow Queensland MP will serve alongside the shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, and also serve as shadow minister for financial services. Dutton said:

It’s an important role and Luke has a great background in small business. And he will do a fantastic job in those portfolios, he’ll work very closely with Angus Taylor, and also with Jane Hume.

Howarth said it was a “real honour to be put in this position”, adding:

The Australian people are doing it tough under the Albanese Labor government. We’ve never seen the pressure that they’re under with finances in the last two years since the Labor government have been elected.

Melissa McIntosh joined Dutton and Howarth at a press conference at an industrial site in the opposition leader’s outer suburban Brisbane electorate. She has been promoted to the role of shadow minister for energy affordability and western Sydney.

In a statement, Senator Andrew Bragg – who has been appointed shadow assistance minister for home ownership – said this is the largest issue for many Australians.

Too many Australians feel the great Australian dream is out of reach and they will never own a home. It is unacceptable. Home ownership has an unparalleled economic and social benefit.

Updated

Work under way to remove asbestos mulch from Surry Hills park

Work to remove mulch contaminated with friable asbestos from a park in inner Sydney is under way after the dangerous substance was found last month.

At least eight workers in PPE were raking and collecting mulch from around trees at Harmony Park in Surry Hills today.

They were seen loading clear bags containing mulch into the back of a ute.

The asbestos was found at the City of Sydney park almost a month ago after asbestos was first uncovered in mulch at the Rozelle parklands more than a month before that.

Sydney’s lord mayor, Clover Moore, on Monday accused the New South Wales government and the state’s environment watchdog of a “massive” and “costly” regulatory failure over the ongoing contamination crisis.

Moore revealed testing alone had already cost the council more than $200,000.

Updated

Bupa announces 3.61% premium raise

Despite the federal government spruiking its decision to approve an average 3.03% increase to health insurance premiums, yet another major insurer has announced it will raise its premiums above that figure.

Bupa said in a statement that “it will have an average premium change of 3.61% from April 1, 2024.”

“With the ongoing cost of living challenges Australians are facing, we know that many household budgets remain under real pressure,” said Bupa managing director, Chris Carroll, noting the premium rise was “lower than inflation and less than rising healthcare costs”.

The health minister, Mark Butler, earlier said there would be a 3.03% average premium increase, noting that was below inflation and wage rises above 4%.

But so far, all major insurers we’ve seen to have announced their increases have said they’ll be slugging customers more than Butler’s average. NIB earlier announced a 4.1% rise, in line with inflation and wages, while Medibank announced a 3.3% increase.

No insurer we’ve seen so far has announced an increase in line with, or below, Butler’s announced average.

Updated

The ACT government says the recommendations provided by Walter Sofronoff’s inquiry into the Lehrmann trial remain unimpacted while acknowledging his findings against former ACT director of public prosecutions Shane Drumgold were “infected by a perception of bias”.

It comes as the ACT supreme court handed down its decision yesterday finding Sofronoff’s extensive interactions with The Australian columnist, Janet Albrechtsen, gave rise to an impression of bias against Drumgold.

Sofronoff made several “serious findings of misconduct” against the former top prosecutor last August, including that he “at times … lost objectivity and did not act with fairness and detachment”.

A joint statement from ACT attorney-general, Shane Rattenbury, and deputy chief minister, Yvette Berry, released today read:

Mr Drumgold was successful in part in his challenge to the Board of Inquiry report.

The court’s decision yesterday was that the Board’s adverse findings in relation to Mr Drumgold were infected by a perception of bias arising from private communications between the Board of Inquiry and Ms Albrechtsen.

The Court has ordered the territory to pay Mr Drumgold’s costs.

The other findings made by the Board of Inquiry, including those in relation to ACT Policing and the Victim of Crimes Commissioner, are not altered by this decision.

The recommendations from the Board of Inquiry are not impacted by this decision.

Those recommendations offer a practical and pragmatic way forward for the ACT criminal justice system.

This decision has no bearing on the settlement reached with Senator Linda Reynolds last week in relation to defamation proceedings commenced by her.

Measles alert for Sydney – did you visit these places on Tuesday?

NSW Health has issued an alert for people to watch for signs and symptoms of measles after an adult found to have been infectious with the disease caught flights to and from Sydney and visited the city.

Health alerts have been in place for a number of places in Melbourne since late January.

NSW Health has issued the following list of places and times and said anyone who was in these places at these times may have been exposed to the virus and should monitor for symptoms:

Tuesday, 27 February 2024

  • Virgin flight VA815, departing Melbourne at 7:25am on Tuesday 27 February 2024 and arriving in Sydney at 8:53am

  • Sydney Domestic Airport Terminal 2 Arrivals between 8:53am and 9:30am

  • Domestic Airport Station from 9am to 9:30am

  • T8 line 9:09am train from Domestic Airport Station to Central Station

  • T4 line 9:23am train from Central arriving at Martin Place at 09:30am

  • Martin Place Station from 9:30am to 10am

  • Toby’s Estate, 25 Martin Place (previously the MLC Centre) between 10am and 11:50am

  • Gateway Building, Alfred Street, Circular Quay between 11:45am and 4:30pm including the Food Court from 1:30pm to 2:15pm

  • Deutsche Bank Place, 126 Phillip Street, ground floor atrium from 4pm – 5pm

  • Mordeo Bistro & Bar, 126 Phillip Street from 4:30 – 5:30pm

  • St James Station between 5pm and 5:30pm

  • T8 line 5:07pm train from St James Station to Sydney Domestic Airport, Mascot

  • Sydney Domestic Airport Terminal 3 Departures, including food court, from 5:30pm to 7pm

  • Qantas flight QF483, departing Sydney at 6:40pm and arriving in Melbourne at 8:20pm.

Measles symptoms include fever, runny nose, sore eyes and a cough, usually followed a few days later by a red, blotchy rash.

Dr Vicky Sheppeard, director of the Public Health Unit at South Eastern Sydney local health district, said in a statement:

Measles is a vaccine preventable disease that is spread through the air when someone who is infectious coughs or sneezes. The virus can stay in the air and infect others up to half an hour after the infectious person leaves a room.

Symptoms may appear between 7 and 18 days after an exposure, so it’s important for people to stay vigilant if they’ve been exposed, and if they develop symptoms, to please call ahead to their GP or emergency department to ensure they do not spend time in the waiting room with other patients.

This should be a reminder for everyone to check that they are protected against measles, which is very infectious.

NSW Health has advised people who are unsure of whether they have been fully vaccinated seek one, as additional doses are safe.

Updated

‘Entirely legitimate’ to ask ICC to investigate but court is often ‘overwhelmed’, says international law professor

Here’s some more background on the application to the ICC.

The letter asking the office of the prosecutor at the ICC to investigate the prime minister and others over alleged accessorial liability to deaths in Palestine cites Australia’s decision to freeze funding to the United Nations agency working in Gaza, the approval of defence exports to Israel and government support for Israel’s actions.

Moustafa Kheir, principal solicitor at Birchgrove Legal, said:

As lawyers and barristers, it is impossible to sit back and watch sustained breaches of international law while Albanese continues to refer to the perpetrator as ‘a dear friend’.

Don Rothwell, a professor of international law at the Australian National University, said it was “entirely legitimate” for individuals or groups to ask the ICC to investigate matters but he said the court was often “overwhelmed” by large numbers of such applications.

He said the ICC focused its attention on “the most egregious breaches of international criminal law”.

The ICC generally receives referrals from nation states or the UN security council but Article 15 of the Rome Statute states “the prosecutor may initiate investigations proprio motu on the basis of information on crimes within the jurisdiction of the court”. Birchgrove’s communique claims there would be a “reasonable basis” for the prosecutor to do so.

In Albanese’s first response to the Hamas attacks in Israel on 7 October, he tweeted:

Israel has a right to defend itself and it will be doing so.

The government’s subsequent comments shifted to raise Palestinian human rights concerns as a growing number of Labor MPs spoke out about civilian deaths in Gaza.

Albanese last month joined Canadian and New Zealand counterparts in a joint statement warning Israel against a “devastating” and “catastrophic” ground offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza and pleading that Israel “must listen to its friends”.

Updated

Albanese says letter to ICC has ‘no credibility’ and is result of ‘misinformation’

The prime minister, 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. Albanese said the letter had “no credibility” and was an example of “misinformation”.

In a statement on Tuesday, the law firm Birchgrove Legal said it had spent months documenting alleged complicity in relation to alleged genocide in Gaza under Article 15 of the Rome Statute.

The letter to the ICC was reportedly endorsed by more than 100 Australian lawyers. It cited “unequivocal political support for Israel’s actions” and “permitting Australians, either explicitly or implicitly, to travel to Israel to join the IDF and take part in its attacks on Gaza”.

During a press conference on the sidelines of the Asean summit in Melbourne, Albanese dismissed the 92-page communique and pointed to the Australian government’s call for a ceasefire in the region:

I don’t wish to comment particularly on something that clearly has no credibility going forward.

I don’t think that peaceful resolution is advanced by misinformation and there has been substantial amounts of misinformation about what is occurring and we stand by our position.

Australia joined a majority in the UN to call for an immediate ceasefire and to advocate for the release of hostages, the delivery of humanitarian assistance, the upholding of international law and the protection of civilians.

If you go back to the resolution that was carried with the support of both major parties, in October, we have made it very clear that every innocent life matters, whether that it is Israeli or Palestinian.

Updated

‘A very successful arrangement’: Singapore defends paying Taylor Swift to skip other Southeast Asian nations

Taylor Swift fever seemingly has no boundaries.

Her Eras tour – and the significant economic boost it has brought to many cities – has filtered into diplomatic discussions at the Asean summit in Melbourne.

The crux of the issue is Singapore’s decision to offer Swift’s team an undisclosed fee to ensure she performs nowhere else in Southeast Asia.

This has led to a huge influx of tourism to Singapore, and reportedly, not everyone within the Asean community is impressed. Many other nations would have enjoyed a slice of that economic bump.

Singapore’s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, was asked about the payment at a joint press conference with the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese:

Our agencies negotiated an arrangement for her to come to Singapore and perform and to make Singapore her only stop in Southeast Asia.

There was a certain incentive provided to her from our tourism development fund … and a deal was reached.

It has turned out to be a very successful arrangement. I don’t see that as being unfriendly, sometimes one country makes a deal and another country doesn’t.

Updated

Peter Dutton announces changes to shadow ministry

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has announced changes to the Coalition’s shadow ministry, in a statement issued just now:

  • Luke Howarth will become the shadow assistant treasurer and shadow minister for financial services.

  • Melissa McIntosh is promoted to the shadow ministry as the incoming shadow minister for energy affordability and shadow minister for Western Sydney.

  • Senator James Paterson will become the shadow cabinet secretary, in addition to his existing portfolio responsibilities in the shadow home affairs portfolio.

  • In addition to his existing portfolio responsibility as shadow minister for defence, Andrew Hastie will assume additional responsibility as the shadow minister for defence industry and defence personnel.

  • Phillip Thompson will add shadow assistant minister for defence industry and defence personnel to his existing portfolio responsibilities as shadow assistant minister for defence.

  • Senator Andrew Bragg will become shadow assistant minister for home ownership.

  • James Stevens will become shadow assistant minister for government waste reduction.

  • Senator Paul Scarr will become shadow assistant minister for multicultural engagement.

  • Senator Hollie Hughes will become the shadow assistant minister for mental health and suicide prevention, and shadow assistant minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Updated

Fire ant senate inquiry hears of health impacts

On day two of public hearings of the senate inquiry into the spread of fire ants in Australia, authorities have warned of the potential health impacts of the invasive insect if left to run rampant.

Prof Adrian Lowe of the University of Queensland said that with most of the landmass of Australia suitable for red imported fire ants (Rifa), 8.6m Australians could be stung each year, with 174,000 of those potentially developing anaphylaxis and 650,000 seeking medical assistance.

Rifa stings are three times more likely to cause anaphylaxis than bee stings, while 30% of those who live in Rifa zones would be stung each year, the committee, chaired by senator Matt Canavan, heard. Bee stings, meanwhile, are experienced on average once every six years.

With sensitivity to allergic reactions and anaphylaxis increasing with the number of stings experienced, the associated health burdens of Rifa “will be a massive problem,” Lowe said.

Kylie Hollinshead from Allergy and Anaphylaxis Australia told the committee in Newcastle that “a family barbecue at the park … or sending your child to school would take on very different meanings” for fear of the pest.

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Three arrested after climate protest on West Gate Bridge

Three people have been arrested after a climate protest on Melbourne’s West Gate Bridge during peak hour traffic this morning.

Victorian police said in a statement that three people climbed on top of a truck that was stopped across inbound lanes of the bridge at about 7.45am, before lighting a flare.

Police negotiated with the group, however they refused to come down from the truck.

Police said search and rescue officers used a cherrypicker to arrest and lower the trio to safety at about 9.45am.

It is expected they will be charged with public nuisance and obstructing a roadway, police said. No one was injured during the incident.

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Big trade balance gain but may not be big enough to offset other GDP drags

There are more December quarter figures out this morning from the ABS that will go into tomorrow’s release on GDP growth for the end of 2023.

Before this week, economists had tipped GDP growth would come in at about 0.2% for the quarter alone and about 1.5% from a year earlier.

Today we got trade and public spending figures that will add a bit to the growth numbers, but perhaps not enough to counter the effects of other components (especially the 1.7% drop in stocks held by companies).

We’ll get the full numbers tomorrow, but it’s possible economists will predict quarterly growth closer to zero or even negative.

On the plus side, Australia’s current account balance increased by $10.5bn to a surplus of $11.8bn, the ABS said. That balance was about $7bn more than economists had expected, and that does help give GDP a bit of a lift.

Exports were up 3% versus a forecast of a small drop, and imports were down 2.6% or double the amount expected. The “net export” contribution to GDP will be 0.6 percentage points, or triple the 0.2pp amount expected, AFR reports.

(The drop in imports does point to weak domestic demand, and hence is not so great news.)

Meanwhile, governments reported a net operating balance improving $12b to a surplus of $2.2bn in the quarter. Tax revenue is up 13.1% to $201.6bn (a trend that makes a second consecutive federal budget surplus more likely), while borrowing was $12.3bn.

The change in public demand is expected to add 0.1 percentage points to GDP growth. That’s a modest help but well less than the 0.7pp contribution the CBA had been forecasting, to cite one bank.

Given inventories changes lopped a full percentage point off GDP for the quarter (vs no net contribution expected), today’s numbers might not make up for that subtraction. Anyway, we’ll watch for a few of those revisions this afternoon but we shouldn’t be surprised to see a few “negative” forecasts for December GDP.

“Did the RBA really need that 13th interest rate rise to cool the economy?” may be one of the questions getting a bit of air over coming days.

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Singapore and Australian leaders address different attitudes to China within Asean community

The leaders of Australia and Singapore have addressed different attitudes within the Asean community towards China and its territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Yesterday, Malaysia’s prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, repeated his recent comments about a rise of “China-phobia” in the west. These differences are important, as Asean members must negotiate and reach bipartisan consensus before making statements about issues like the South China Sea. Here’s Anwar’s comments:

If they have problems with China, they should not impose it upon us. We do not have a problem with China.

At a press conference today, Singapore’s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, has outlined some of the differences between nations in more detail:

Asean countries have a common position in the South China Sea but we also have different national perspectives going beyond the Asean. The positions we take on those claims are different depending on where we stand and Singapore takes no position on the claims. We have a strong view on international law and on freedom of navigation, which we have stated many times.

The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, also reiterated Australia’s position:

We have strongly put our view that freedom of navigation through the South China Sea is important. A large percentage of trade goes through the city. Whether it be on its way to China or Japan or the Republic of Korea in particular. It is an important waterway and we support freedom of navigation and we also support the application of international law.

Our position on China remains very consistent, which is that we want to cooperate where we can, we will disagree where we must, but we will always engage in our national interests.

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Pilot dies after single-occupant plane crash in WA

A male pilot has died after a single-occupant plane crash at Bunbury airport in Western Australia last week.

According to a statement from police, about 2.45pm on 1 March, police were advised a privately owned aircraft had crashed at the end of the runway on the eastern side of the South West highway.

The male pilot was treated at the scene, but has died as a result of injuries sustained during the crash.

WA police has advised the Australian Transport Safety Bureau of the crash and a report will be prepared for the coroner.

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Albanese and Singapore leader Lee Hsien Loong give joint press conference

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and his Singapore counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong, are holding a press conference on the sidelines of the Asean conference in Melbourne.

Albanese has begun his opening remarks by announcing a series of new government grants to support Australian and Singaporean businesses to reduce their carbon footprint, along with progress on a green shipping lane between the two nations and “cross-border electricity trading”.

Albanese has congratulated his counterpart after his confirmation he will step down as Singapore’s leader later this year, after more than two decades:

On a personal note, I thank him very much for his friendship over longer than the time that I have been prime minister. It is a warm relationship.

He is an extraordinary leader for our region and I wish him very well for this future.

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Medibank announces premiums will rise by average of 3.31% from April

As flagged in our previous post, Medibank has announced its health insurance premiums will increase by an average 3.31% in April.

According to a statement, Medibank said this equates to a $2.30 rise a fortnight for a single on a bronze hospital and extras policy, or $11.80 a fortnight for a family on a silver hospital and extras policy.

The chief customer officer, Milosh Milisavljevic, said:

Premium increases are never welcome, which is why we have worked hard to ensure this year’s is as low as it can be, despite rising health costs in the private system. It’s also lower than the price rises seen in other insurances, such as car and house insurance.

You can now read our full story on this below:

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Ruston accuses health minister of delaying insurance premium increase announcement until after byelection

The shadow health minister, Anne Ruston, has accused the government of having “shamelessly delayed” its announcement on increases to private health insurance premiums, claiming Mark Butler waited until after the weekend’s Dunkley byelection to announce the rise.

Butler, the health minister, said this morning he’d approved an average 3.03% private health premium rise across the industry. He painted it as a government win on cost of living issues, below wage and inflation rises of 4% - but the first two major insurers to announce their changes quickly said they’d increase premiums well above Butler’s figure.

NIB said it would increase premiums by an average 4.1%, while Medibank said their number was 3.31%.

Ruston has previously accused the government of waiting until after Dunkley to announce the rise. Butler said it was “not unusual” for the annual decision to be made in early March, before taking effect in April.

In a statement to Guardian Australia, Ruston claimed it was “the price hike the government wanted to hide”.

It is the longest Australians have had to wait in 15 years to find out how much more they will need to fork out for private health insurance.

This seriously brings into question the prime minister’s excuse last week that the government was negotiating with the health funds for ‘the best deal possible.’ Does Minister Butler really expect us to believe he was at the negotiating table over the weekend in the middle of a byelection?

Ruston claimed the government had “shamelessly delayed this announcement, with no apology to the families who need to prepare for the additional expense in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis”:

We also know that this is only an average industry price increase, so some consumers will be paying substantially more than the increase announced today – with less time to budget or shop around.

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Queensland Greens MP to be away from parliament for weeks after serious car accident

Queensland Greens MP Amy MacMahon will be absent from state parliament until at least early April after she was involved in a serious car accident last month.

The member of South Brisbane was transported to hospital in a serious but stable condition after a two-car collision in Kangaroo Point on 12 February.

A 26-year-old woman has been charged with dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm.

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Ali King says fellow Queensland MP took photo of her phone during parliament sitting last year

A Queensland Labor MP has claimed another MP breached the rights and privileges they possess as an elected official by taking a photo of her phone during a parliamentary sitting last year.

A photograph of the phone of the state member for Pumicestone, Ali King, was sent to Nine News by an unnamed MP. It showed a text message from the now premier, Steven Miles, which advised King to apologise for telling prospective Queensland Health employees to send their resumes to her office.

Miles initially denied sending the message but revised his statement in parliament today, saying he did not recall sending the message when asked about it several months later (We had this just earlier in the blog here).

King alleged the image was taken by another member of parliament who was sitting behind her:

I submit that the actions of the member of parliament who did this amount to a serious and deliberate contempt of this parliament also that their actions amount to intimidation of a member of parliament.

This is a serious breach of the rights and privileges of a member of this house. [This] is a breach of trust by an elected official.

The matter has been referred to the Queensland parliament’s ethics committee.

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The West Gate Bridge in Melbourne appears to be clear now, after a climate protest interrupted traffic earlier this morning.

Around 8am, three activists with Extinction Rebellion stood on top of a large truck that was blocking three lanes of traffic. They draped a banner over the truck, which read “climate breakdown has begun” and “declare a climate emergency”.

We had all the details on this earlier in the blog here, and here.

Antoinette Lattouf and ABC to start mediation in April after journalist sues over sacking

Journalist Antoinette Lattouf and representatives of the ABC will commence mediation next month, after she sued the broadcaster in the federal court for allegedly breaching its employee enterprise agreement by “sacking her without a proper basis and without due process”.

The claim in the federal court, which had its first mention today, follows a separate application with the Fair Work Commission for unlawful termination, claiming she was sacked from a casual presenting role on Sydney’s Mornings radio program over her political views and her race.

The broadcaster was three days into a five-day radio hosting contract with ABC Sydney when she said she was told not to return for the final two shifts. The ABC has said she “failed or refused to comply with directions that she not post on social media about matters of controversy during the short period she was presenting”.

Lattouf had shared a post from Human Rights Watch alleging Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.

The ABC has argued that because Lattouf was a casual employee she was not sacked, and that she was paid for the full five days.

In a hearing of the federal court in Brisbane today, Justice Darryl Rangiah ordered that the ABC had until 22 March to serve and file a defence and that Lattouf’s team had until 29 March to serve and file any reply.

Mediation is scheduled to begin on or after 1 April.

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Long-awaited leadbeater possum recovery plan released

The destruction of habitat for the leadbeater’s possum caused by native forest logging in Victoria will affect the critically endangered species for decades to come, according to a long-awaited government recovery plan.

The environment and water minister, Tanya Plibersek, has released a plan that outlines necessary actions to try to ensure the survival of the much-loved possum, whose populations have experienced severe declines as a result of habitat loss, largely driven by timber harvesting.

Although native forest logging ended in Victoria in January, its legacy, combined with impacts of bushfires, means the availability of suitable habitat for leadbeater’s possums is expected to continue to decline “until at least 2065”, according to the new plan.

It says this makes it “extremely challenging to achieve” recovery of the species in the short term but “actions taken or not taken now” will influence whether or not the possum becomes extinct within the next 50-100 years.

Plibersek said the federal and Victorian governments recognised how important the plan was to the future of the species and she was committed to “leaving nature better off for our kids and grandkids”:

Sadly, historical timber harvesting in Victoria and bushfires have had a devastating impact on Leadbeater’s Possum habitat.

The new recovery plan has been a long time coming. It replaces a previous, almost 30-year-old plan from 1997. The new plan was delayed for years, with past governments subject to pressure from industry over the possum’s conservation status.

Among the objectives the plan sets for the federal and Victorian governments is the establishment of “a whole of landscape management regime” to ensure “all current and future suitable habitat across the species’ known range is maintained, enhanced and effectively managed to maximise its suitability for Leadbeater’s possum”.

Business group calls for improved ‘political risk’ insurance to boost investment in south-east Asia

The Business Council of Australia‘s chief executive, Bran Black, has welcomed the Albanese government’s $2bn fund to “turbocharge” trade and investment in south-east Asia, with a focus on clean energy and infrastructure.

Black has held a short press conference on the sidelines of the Asean conference in Melbourne to talk about trade and investment opportunities for Australian businesses operating in south-east Asia.

Black has also supported calls for a new form of political risk insurance, which would allow Australian investors to partly or fully share risk with government agencies that also have an interest in the investment. The insurance would guard against the risk of projects collapsing due to political instability, or issues like corruption. The proposal was raised in a recent report by Australia’s special envoy for southeast-Asia, Nicholas Moore.

Here’s Black’s take:

That recommendation, particularly, is very interesting. We are very interested in seeing what that would look like... No business relationship can be risk free, but to the extent that you can minimise risks, to the extent you can work together, that’s ultimately [a good thing].

The Queensland premier has apologised for denying he sent a text message to a Labor colleague in response to a question asked in parliament earlier this year.

Nine News reported on Monday the premier, Steven Miles, allegedly sent a message to member for Pumicestone, Ali King, which advised her to rise during a parliamentary sitting and apologise for telling prospective Queensland Health employees to send their resumes to her office.

In February, Miles denied sending a text message to King and a right to information request returned no correspondence.

But in parliament today, Miles rose to correct the record after Nine obtained a photograph of King’s phone taken in the chamber by another MP.

Miles said he answered to the “best of” his “recollection” at the time.

I wish to update the House and advise that I, as the Member for Murrumba, did text the Member for Pumicestone during the Question Time which was the subject of the Members question and [right to information request].

The text message was from 6 months prior, and I did not recall it at the time.

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Katie Kiss to become Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner

Attorney-general Mark Dreyfus has announced Katie Kiss will be the next Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner.

In a statement, Dreyfus said the commissioner’s role is to lead the Australian Human Rights Commission’s (AHRC) work relating to the human rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Her five-year appointment will commence on 3 April, filling a vacancy after June Oscar’s appointment concluded. Dreyfus said:

Ms Kiss has extensive experience in public policy and human rights, including work promoting and protecting the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples for a wide variety of government and non-government organisations.

I congratulate Ms Kiss on her appointment and thank her for taking on this important role. I also take this opportunity to thank Ms Oscar for her outstanding contribution during her term of appointment.

The AHRC also welcomed Kiss’ appointment. President Rosalind Croucher said this is a “delicate and critical time”, and after the “disappointment” of last year’s voice referendum, it has become “even more imperative for Australia to heal and find solutions to support and empower its First Nations communities”.

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Independent MP for Kooyong Monique Ryan says that the Coalition’s nuclear push is “not a serious policy contribution”.

Earlier today, opposition leader Peter Dutton said the Coalition’s pre-election energy policy would include large-scale nuclear power plants and small modular reactors.

Ryan, in a post to X, responded to the announcement and said:

Raising nuclear now is not a serious policy contribution. It is a way to keep the climate wars going for as long as possible.

NSW premier says new polling is a ‘good wake-up call’ for his government

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has said new polling showing falling support for Labor is a “good wake-up call for the government”.

Labor’s primary vote has dropped to 34% while the coalition’s primary has increased to 38%, new polling shows. When it came to power in March 2023, Labor had a primary vote of 37%, while the coalition garnered 35.4%. We had all the details earlier in the blog here.

Responding to this, Minns said:

The temptation is to say there’s only one poll [that] counts (the election) and to shrug it off. But I have to say we take it seriously and it’s a good wake-up call for the government.

The message to MPs would be to have a renewed focus on living cost increases that were affecting families, he said.

We have to constantly be working on their behalf and delivering to household budgets.

– with AAP

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PM and Asean secretary-general discuss Myanmar ahead of bilateral meetings

The Asean summit in Melbourne is beginning to kick into gear today. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has half a dozen bilateral meetings scheduled with the leaders of Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste, Brunei, Cambodia and Indonesia.

This will be a last chance for Albanese to meet with the outgoing Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, who will soon be replaced by Prabowo Subianto.

Albanese has just concluded a meeting with the secretary general of Asean, Dr Kao Kim Hourn, which among many topics, focused on the regional bloc’s “efforts to find a resolution on Myanmar”.

Three years on from the military coup, the situation in Myanmar is being discussed by many leaders ahead of a negotiated statement by the group of nations.

Earlier this morning, the independent MP for Goldstein, Zoe Daniel, argued that Asean hadn’t done enough on the issue and needed to do more. Daniel cited “a desire within Asean for economic cooperation and to try to take that route with the junta as a form of leverage”.

Updated

Prime minister Anthony Albanese has shared this photo to social media ahead of further Asean meetings in Melbourne today.

He thanked “all the staff working around the clock to make this summit possible”.

Foreign minister Penny Wong has shared photos meeting with Thailand’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister Dr Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara:

And her meeting with Timor-Leste’s foreign minister Bendito Freitas:

NBN reveals plan to turbocharge high-speed tiers

NBN has launched a proposal to provide five times faster download speeds for customers connected to the nbn network, via fibre to the premises (FTTP) and hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) technologies.

According to a statement, the accelerated speeds would be made available to customers who are already using one of the three highest-speed products, and to those who upgrade to one of those three higher speed tiers in the future.

nbn is proposing to introduce the accelerated speeds within the next 12 months and today issued an industry consultation paper and, in addition to canvassing a number of implementation considerations, it is seeking retailer input on the potential to introduce the changes even sooner.

In total, approximately 9 million homes and businesses would have access to the upgraded speed tiers by December 2024, growing to up to 10.2 million eligible premises, or approximately 90 per cent of nbn’s fixed line network, by December 2025.

Anna Perrin, chief customer officer, said that ten years ago, the average Australian home had seven internet-connected devices and consumed around 40 gigabytes per month.

Today, some people would use that much data in a day.

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Insurer NIB announces its premiums to go up by 4.10% on average

Private health insurance provider NIB has announced its premium will increase by an average of 4.10%, effective 1 April.

This is steeper than the 3.03% increase announced by health minister Mark Butler just earlier.

In an ASX announcement, CEO and managing director Mark Fitzgibbon said the increase reflects the return of hospital and ancillary treatment post Covid, and a rise in health and medical treatment costs.

According to Fitzgibbon, claims inflation has moved back to long-term trends and “it’s crucial that insurers are able to price for this”.

We’re doing our very best to maintain affordability yet spending is growing across healthcare, driven by an ageing population, the rose of chronic conditions and the cost of new technologies.

We’re not sitting back passively responding to inflationary pressure by just lifting premiums. We have a range of new measures designed to help members maintain good health as well as reduce out of pocket expenses.

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Haven’t heard gender representation issue raised: Liberal Cook candidate

The Liberal candidate for Cook, Simon Kennedy, has spoken to Sky News after he won preselection last night. Kennedy defeated the local mayor, Carmelo Pesce, and war widow Gwen Cherne and is now pretty much a lock to win the safe Liberal seat.

Asked about the issue of poor representation of women in the Liberal Party, Kennedy claimed he hadn’t “heard that issue raised” because voters are far too concerned with the cost of living.

Kennedy said that Cherne is “an outstanding candidate” who has a “bright future ... hopefully in the Liberal party”.

Kennedy noted he had done a press conference with the member for Hughes, Jenny Ware, and the area is also represented by Eleni Petinos at the state level, in the seat of Miranda.

Kennedy said that party had preselected Gisele Kapterian an “outstanding candidate” in North Sydney.

Updated

Electric vehicles accounted for 9.6% of car sales in February

Battery electric vehicles accounted for 9.6% of car sales in Australia this February, according to the federal chamber of automative industries.

One in five vehicles sold were powered by low emissions technologies.

Chief executive Tony Weber said the growth in EV sales proves that “where a battery electric product exists which suits the driving habits of Australian motorists, work and recreation needs they will purchase these vehicles”.

The Tesla Model 3 was the third highest selling vehicle overall, with 3,593 sold in February. The Ford Ranger was most popular, followed by the Toyota HiLux.

Motorists’ strong preference for Utes – accounting for 20.3% of sales last month – demonstrate the challenges with the proposed New Vehicle Emissions Standard, the chamber said.

Out of 21,327 utes sold in February, only one was an EV.

Updated

Here is more from health minister Mark Butler on the 3.03% private health premium increase:

I wasn’t prepared to just tick and flick the claims of health insurers, as the Opposition was urging me to do. I asked insurers to go back and sharpen their pencils and put forward a more reasonable offer for the 15 million Australians with private health insurance.

While we know that any increase will be hard to bear during a global cost of living crunch, the Albanese Government has ensured that health insurance premiums will fall relative to Australians’ wages and Labor’s tax cuts mean all Australian taxpayers will get a tax cut on 1 July, so Australians earn more and keep more of what they earn.

Private health insurers must ensure their members are getting value for money. When costs rise, Australians want to know that higher premiums are contributing to system-wide improvements, like higher wages for nurses and other health workers and ensuring that affordable services are available.

Private health premium increase announced

Health minister Mark Butler has announced a private health premium increase of 3.03%.

A statement from Butler says:

The 3.03% increase is well below the annual rise in wages, social security payments and inflation, with wages rising by 4.2% and inflation increasing by 4.1% in 2023, and social security payments increasing in line with inflation.

This is the second year in a row that wages, as measured by the wage price index, have grown faster than health insurance premiums.

The increase in health insurance premiums is much lower than the increase to the cost of other insurance products, which rose by around 17% in 2023.

A total of 14.7m Australians hold private health insurance cover and accessed more than $23.5bn in health and medical benefits paid by insurers in 2023, the statement said.

All premium changes will apply from 1 April this year.

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Voters deliver message to Minns Labor government

Voters have delivered a “sobering reminder” to the NSW government with poll support dropping less than a year after Labor took office, AAP reports.

Labor’s primary vote has dropped to 34% while the coalition’s primary has increased to 38%, a Resolve Political Monitor poll published by the Sydney Morning Herald shows.

When it came to power last March, Labor had a primary vote of 37% while the Coalition’s was 35.4%.

The premier, Chris Minns, is still preferred by 35% of voters polled but the opposition leader Mark Speakman’s popularity has risen three percentage points to 16%.

The treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, described the results as a “sobering reminder” for the Minns government, and told Sydney radio 2GB that “obviously we can lift our game, I’m the first to accept that”.

I’m not surprised by the fact that people expect more from this government.

It’s a sobering reminder to us that we have to stay focused on what the people of NSW elected us to do, which is to get on with the job of rebuilding essential services and deal with cost of living pressures.

Mookhey said over the past 12 months, the Labor government had been dealing with “standard turbulence” any government could expect to deal with. But cost of living pressures were continuing to take its toll on residents with the poll indicating voters expected more support.

Updated

Football Australia has just released this statement, following news that Matildas captain Sam Kerr is to face trial in the UK accused of the allegedly racially aggravated harassment of a police officer.

Football Australia is aware of the legal proceedings involving Sam Kerr in the United Kingdom. As this is an ongoing legal matter, we are unable to provide further comment at this time. Our focus remains on supporting all our players, both on and off the field. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide support as appropriate.

Extinction Rebellion protesters in Melbourne say they urge Australia and Asean to declare climate emergency

Circling back to the climate protest on the West Gate Bridge in Melbourne:

Protesters with Extinction Rebellion said the action coincides with the Asean summit in Melbourne. They are calling on the Australian government to declare a climate emergency, and push for other Asean leaders to do the same.

The protest was also staged in the lead-up to “Rebel for Life” from 13-16 March – a period of disruptive actions by Extinction Rebellion and other groups calling on the government to declare a climate emergency.

According to a post on their Facebook page, there were three activists who stood on top of a large truck blocking three lanes of traffic. The banner they draped over the truck read “climate breakdown has begun,” and “declare a climate emergency”.

Here is a screengrab from the VicRoads camera, showing the truck blocking lanes of traffic on the West Gate Bridge just earlier:

As of 8.50am AEDT the truck still appeared to be on the bridge, according to the VicRoads camera.

One of the protesters, 51-year-old concrete truck driver Brad Homewood, said:

Our government must declare a climate emergency and urge the leaders of all governments to do the same. The Asean climate talks should be seriously addressing the need for urgent, global action to halt the warming and begin the enormous task of climate repair before it’s too late.

Updated

Thousands of WA homes still without power after outages caused by pole damage

More than 10,000 homes and businesses in Western Australia remain without power, after yesterday’s outage affected a peak of 47,000 customers.

According to Western Power, the outages affecting metropolitan Perth and the hills districts are a result of pole damage following light, drizzly weather. This can trigger pole top fires, with about 70 pole fire incidents reported.

Western Power said in a statement yesterday afternoon:

All available crews are working as quickly and safely as possible to make hazards safe. Once hazards have been made safe, crews will assess poles for replacement and conduct repairs.

Each pole change can take up to eight hours, depending on the type of pole, and due to the large number of pole replacements required unfortunately some customers may be without power overnight and into tomorrow [Tuesday].

Updated

Climate protesters block traffic on Melbourne’s West Gate Bridge

Climate activists appear to be staging a protest on the West Gate Bridge in Melbourne this morning.

Labor MP Sarah Connolly shared this video from around 8am local time, showing peak-hour traffic chaos on the bridge:

VicRoads says three lanes are closed citybound on the bridge “due to a police incident”, with two right lanes remaining open.

Please merge safely, and watch out for people on the roadway.

The video shared by Connolly shows a truck across multiple lanes of traffic. A VicRoads camera of the bridge shows the truck appears to still be there, affecting commuters.

9News has reported that protesters placed a large banner over the truck saying “declare a climate emergency”, with the Extinction Rebellion logo.

Updated

‘This is a nuclear fantasy’: Chalmers lashes Coalition’s energy policy and spruiks renewables

Making the rounds on breakfast television this morning, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has lashed the Coalition’s nuclear-focused pre-election energy policy.

As we reported earlier, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, said the Coalition’s policy would include large-scale nuclear power plants and small modular reactors. He argued the technology of today “doesn’t resemble anything that you have seen in the past” and suggested nuclear plants could be built at retiring coal-fired stations.

Speaking on Sunrise, Chalmers began by spruiking renewables as the “cheapest” and “cleanest” way to “satisfy our energy needs into the future”.

He argued that nuclear is “the most expensive option, the most divisive option and longest to build.”

[Dutton is] more interested in cheap and divisive politics than cheap and reliable power. We see that in this more-or-less culture war over nuclear energy, this is a nuclear fantasy. It’s more expensive, it takes longer, and we here in Australia our advantages and our future lies in renewable energy.

Chalmers argued that nuclear would cost “hundreds of billions of dollars”, take decades to build, and would “turn our back as a country on the big renewable energy opportunity before us”.

Updated

NZ prime minister’s Asean arrival delayed by plane breakdown

The New Zealand prime minister, Chris Luxon, is scrambling to make his way to Melbourne on commercial flights after a breakdown of his Defence Force plane, AAP reports.

Luxon is attending his first international gathering of leaders today after accepting an invitation from prime minister Anthony Albanese. However, his plans to take a NZDF 757 from Wellington airport went awry when maintenance issues grounded the plane.

Radio NZ reports Luxon scrambled to get from the Rongotai defence force base to Wellington airport, where he caught an Air New Zealand flight to Auckland before transferring to a trans-Tasman flight to the Victorian capital.

The delay means the Kiwi prime minister will miss a few of his bilateral meetings at the summit, where he is meeting southeast Asian leaders back-to-back all day.

A number of accompanying staff and media were left at Rongotai base, hoping to attend the Melbourne talks if the plane is deemed flight-worthy.

The recurrent faults are an ongoing issue for New Zealand leaders, which Luxon has previously labelled “incredibly embarrassing”. Unlike Albanese, who has a similar plane at his disposal, New Zealand leaders must borrow the plane from NZDF duty when they seek to undertake international travel.

Updated

Dunkley byelection shows voters reject ‘politics of fear and loathing’: Daniel

Turning to domestic issues, Zoe Daniel said the Dunkley byelection demonstrated that the “politics of fear and loathing” is not landing with voters.

Daniel said she was pleased to see another woman elected in Dunkley, and that the women’s vote should not be underestimated:

I can’t tell you how many women walked out of the polling booth [in 2022] and gave me a wink and a little thumbs up on election day last time and I think both the government and the opposition need to pay heed to that.

There were two lessons to be gained from Dunkley, she argued: not to take anything for granted, and that the “politics of fear and loathing” did not land. She said:

I don’t think it would land in my electorate [either]. I think people see straight through that kind of rhetoric and people are interested in reasoned conversations about the issues affecting our nation, as well as cost of living and how pressure on families can be alleviated.

Updated

Zoe Daniel says Asean has not done enough on crisis in Myanmar

The independent MP for Goldstein, Zoe Daniel, was just on ABC RN to discuss the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. She argued that Asean hasn’t done enough on the issue, and needs to do more.

Daniel acknowledged that the situation is “tricky” but said she is “quite mystified” about the “lack of attention this gets in Australia, given the amount of attention that we give to other conflicts in the world”.

Daniel said she has been exerting pressure on the government since she was elected to impose sanctions, but Australia is still “way behind our allies in the US, the EU and Canada” in sanctioning “particularly state-owned enterprises to prevent that financial flow that is, in effect, funding a war by the junta against its own people”.

Q: Why has Asean been slow to take action on Myanmar?

Daniel said there was an economic element, and that countries in Asean view it as difficult to impose anything on the junta:

There’s also I think, a desire within Asean for economic cooperation and to try to take that route with the junta as a form of leverage … My concern though is that, I think, that we might be heading down the path of a form of normalisation with the junta and you’ve currently got a situation where about 30% of the country is in stable control of rebel ethnic groups, and the junta is really only holding the major cities.

Any form of normalisation with the junta that is pushed by Asean, and I think will be raised with the Australian government for support this week, could backfire because it could in effect allow the junta to enter some of those areas that are reasonably stable and are actually managing themselves.

Updated

Dutton outlines Coalition energy policy featuring large and small nuclear reactors

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has this morning outlined the Coalition’s pre-election energy policy, which would include large-scale nuclear power plants and small modular reactors.

He was spruiking nuclear energy on Sunrise, and argued that nuclear plants could be built at retiring coal assets:

So [if] there’s a coal fired generator that’s already got an existing distribution network, [it has] wires and poles there to distribute the energy across the network to homes and businesses, [and] that’s what we’re interested in.

Sunrise host:

Australia is starting from ground zero on this. Why didn’t the Coalition get the ball rolling on nuclear while in government for 11 years?

Dutton argued the technology of today “doesn’t resemble anything that you have seen in the past”, and the technology is “unbelievable” compared to what it was 50 or 70 years ago. He wouldn’t name a specific suburb where these plants would be located, instead pointing to any suburb with an existing coal-fired power generator.

Last October, centre-right thinktank Blueprint Institute was calling for a “drastically accelerated deployment” of renewable energy, batteries and electricity transmission infrastructure and argued there is no prospect of nuclear energy playing a role in Australia before 2040. You can read the full story from our climate and environment editor Adam Morton below:

Updated

‘Two-way investment’ with south-east Asia central to trade fund, treasurer says

As Daniel Hurst reported, the federal government will set up a $2bn fund to “turbocharge” trade and investment in south-east Asia, with a focus on clean energy and infrastructure.

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, was asked how the funding would work while on ABC News Breakfast just earlier:

What this new investment facility is all about is making sure that we can turbocharge that two-way investment, which is so important to the region, but also to our country, its employers and workers as well.

What you’ll hear from us today is really a big focus on investment, trying to get that two-way investment and trade as good as it can be, because we recognise that when the region is more secure and more prosperous, our people here in Australia are more secure and prosperous as well.

And how can Australian companies gain access to this funding? Chalmers said the government would “make clear all of those arrangements”, and added:

For the purposes of explaining to your viewers today, it’s a $2bn facility, it’s all about making sure that we can make this two-way investment more attractive to people, to investors, also de-risk it where we can. It’s in the interests of every Australian we get this two-way investment [and trade] happening the best it can be.

Updated

Women take up surf training amid spike in regional drownings

A grant provided to Surfing NSW has helped 150 women receive their coaching certificates, as almost 100 people drowned during summer, AAP reports.

Through the grant – one of 22 under the state government’s Investing In Women program – Surfing NSW targeted regional and remote areas that accounted for 60% of drownings along the coast, up 9% over the previous year.

Programs support officer Kathy Walton said:

Beaches aren’t patrolled all the time … we’re giving those skills to regional areas and surfers, then they’re able to use those skills when it’s an unpatrolled beach … It’s very beneficial to the community.

Gendered perceptions of surfing are improving on the back of Australian champions such as Layne Beachley, Stephanie Gilmore and Tyler Wright.

The grants also helped local businesses, with some participants filling roles at understaffed surf schools.

Updated

As Martin flagged earlier, the Liberal party overnight selected management consultant Simon Kennedy to contest the Cook byelection created by the resignation of Scott Morrison.

You can read the full story on this from Paul Karp and Amy Remeikis below for all the details:

Updated

As we begin the second day of the Asean summit, foreign affairs minister Penny Wong has shared these images of meeting with her Malaysian counterpart, Mohamad Hasan.

Wong wrote on X:

Australia and Malaysia will work even more closely together on shared challenges and opportunities including cyber security, higher education, sports, and nuclear non-proliferation.

Updated

Good morning, Emily Wind here reporting for blogging duties. Many thanks to Martin for kicking things off! I’ll be bringing you our rolling coverage today.

See something that needs attention on the blog? You can get in touch via X, @emilywindwrites, or you can send me an email: emily.wind@theguardian.com.

Let’s get started.

Australian program to eradicate red fire ants is a ‘shambles’, Senate inquiry told

Our reporter Daisy Dumas watched yesterday as senators were given the shocking truth about the government’s national program to eradicate red imported fire ants.

It has received more than $1.2bn of federal and state funding taking it through to 2027 but the parliamentarians were told that the scheme was an “absolute shambles” beset by a lack of transparency and waste.

The eradication objective is so large, said Richard Shannon, who formerly worked on the program, that “it’s the equivalent of putting man on the moon”.

“We are further away from eradication than we were five or six years ago when I was part of the program,” he said, adding that it was “too clandestine”.

Read Daisy’s full story here:

Updated

Trade push to south-east Asia

Australia will set up a $2bn fund to “turbocharge” trade and investment in south-east Asia, with a focus on clean energy and infrastructure.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will announce the fund in Melbourne on Tuesday when he addresses a gathering of 100 chief executives from Australia and south-east Asia.

Albanese will say in a speech that he is pursuing “the most significant upgrade of Australia’s economic engagement with Asean for a generation”, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

He will also promise to improve access to longer term visas for south-east Asian travellers, saying this “demonstrates unequivocally that Australia is open for business, tourism, and trade”.

The $2bn south-east Asia investment financing facility is to be managed by Export Finance Australia. It is expected to provide loans, guarantees, equity and insurance to increase Australian trade and investment in south-east Asia.

“The government I lead has made it clear: more than any other region, south-east Asia is where Australia’s future lies,” Albanese will tell business leaders, according to speech notes distributed to media in advance.

Read Daniel Hurst’s full story here:

Welcome

Good morning and welcome to our rolling news blog. I’m Martin Farrer, bringing you the overnight headlines before Emily Wind takes the helm.

The Liberal party last night chose management consultant Simon Kennedy to contest the Cook byelection created by the resignation of Scott Morrison. Kennedy beat off competition from the mayor of Sutherland shire, Carmelo Pesce, and war widow and veteran family advocate commissioner, Gwen Cherne. But installing Kennedy, who failed to win Bennelong in 2022, means the party won’t boost its small number of women MPs.

Anthony Albanese will today focus on foreign and trade policy as he announces a $2bn plan to boost trade with south-east Asia with a speech to business figures at today’s session of the Asean summit in Melbourne. Improved visa access, better finance opportunities to boost trade and investment, and on-the-ground support for businesses in Indonesia and Vietnam have all been flagged to strengthen Australia’s standing in the region. More coming up.

And there was some shocking testimony at a Senate hearing last night into the government’s program to eradicate fire ants. Senators heard the plan had descended into “absolute shambles” and the country was further from getting rid of the destructive and potentially lethal insects than it was five years ago. The committee heard the impact of the invasive species could be worse than rabbits, cane toads, foxes, camels, wild dogs and feral cats combined.

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