What we learned today, Saturday 19 August
With that, we’ll end our live coverage of the day’s news.
Here’s a summary of the key developments:
Labor’s national conference wrapped up. There were wins, losses and somewhere in between for those coming to Brisbane with a cause. Read Sarah Basford Canales’ analysis here.
The director of the controversial conservative campaign group Advance says the no campaign aimed to take advantage of voter confusion about the Indigenous voice to parliament.
The Victorian government has agreed to pay Commonwealth Games bodies $380m in compensation after cancelling the 2026 event, in what the premier, Daniel Andrews, is claiming as “the best outcome” the state could get.
The Albanese government has promised $200m to improve women’s sporting facilities and equipment after the Matildas’ historic Women’s World Cup run sparked an unprecedented outpouring of support for women’s football.
Thanks for reading, and have a pleasant evening.
Updated
Jones accuses Coalition of turning ‘wet and soft and Labor-lite’ after Abbott
The former 2GB broadcaster Alan Jones has been the final speaker on the first day of the conservative political conference CPAC at the Star casino in Sydney.
In a wide-ranging speech, he accused the Coalition of turning “wet and soft and Labor-lite” since the former prime minister Tony Abbott.
When Jones struggled to turn on a light on the podium to read his speech notes, he blamed “renewable energy”, eliciting belly laughs from the audience.
He wore a “vote No” baseball cap on stage.
Updated
Black Lives Matter supporters march against deaths in custody
Black Lives Matter supporters have taken to the streets in Sydney to demand concrete action to end police brutality and Indigenous deaths in custody, AAP reports.
About 100 supporters turned out at Sydney’s Town Hall to demand the federal government implement all recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and end the jailing of underage children.
Paul Silva, the nephew of Dunghutti man David Dungay Jr who died in a Sydney jail after being restrained by five police officers and injected with a sedative in 2015, said authorities don’t treat Indigenous people with dignity.
Silva said:
Indigenous people are outraged that they are being killed by non-Indigenous people. Enough is enough.
We’ve had government inquiries, but the government never listens.
There is never any accountability. Hold the corrective services accountable, hold the doctors and nurses accountable.
He issued a call for political action, telling supporters: “we need to take over the parliaments. It’s now or never.”
It has been three years since mass Black Lives Matter rallies took place around Australia, with tens of thousands of people marching in Sydney against police brutality after the death of George Floyd in the US.
Updated
After two-and-a-half days of discussions, disagreements and backroom deals, the 49th ALP national conference has closed its doors.
The forum designed to allow delegates to tinker with the party’s platform was relatively uncontroversial, with most of the work done behind the scenes in the weeks and months leading up to the conference.
But still, there were wins, losses and somewhere in between for those coming to Brisbane with a cause.
Those wanting further changes to the party’s platform will have to wait for the next national conference in three years.
Read all about it here:
Updated
Back at the CPAC conference, Liberal senator Alex Antic has railed against the government’s proposed misinformation bill - another common bugbear of speakers at the conservative political conference.
The South Australian conservative, who came to the stage as a dramatic voiceover describing him as “uncancellable”, focused mostly on the misinformation proposal, which has been strongly opposed by many conservative politicians and media outlets. Antic claimed the proposal was “Orwellian”, likening it to George Orwell’s ‘1984’ novel.
Antic was critical of social media posts sceptical about Covid and vaccinations had been censored or subjected to fact-checks. He asked rhetorically whether describing the Indigenous voice as a “land grab” would be disallowed under the misinformation proposal.
When talking about media coverage of the misinformation proposal, Antic asked “is anyone from the fake news media here?”, as the crowd laughed.
Media passes to the CPAC event, given to journalists to cover the conference, bear the phrase “FAKE NEWS”.
Plenty at stake for Matildas in third-place playoff
Critics say it’s just a cynical money-grab at the end of a long tournament but, for those involved, there is plenty at stake.
The third-place play-off is one of the more divisive concepts in world football.
Kieran Pender with a scene setter ahead of tonight’s edition between the Matildas and Sweden.
Updated
Drought and war in Ukraine mean grocery prices could rise even higher
Food prices have been rising rapidly and there are reasons to fear they will push even higher. Economists warn some prices might never come down.
The ominous outlook is linked to drought conditions wilting crops in major grain-producing nations, disrupted grain deliveries out of Ukraine and moves by governments to ban food exports to protect their own supplies.
In the longer term, concerns are growing over the enduring effects of a warming climate on production and the danger of high food and energy prices getting embedded into an economy, leaving prices higher for ever.
An increase in supermarket profits arguably doesn’t help.
Read the analysis from Guardian Australia’s senior business reporter Jonathan Barrett here:
Updated
Australia’s newest and largest regional arts centre features malleable theatres, Indigenous art and spaces especially designed to get your camera out.
Read more on the redevelopment of the Geelong Arts Centre, from Tim Byrne.
Updated
Over at CPAC, Ted O’Brien, the opposition spokesperson for climate change and energy, is talking about the need for “zero emissions nuclear energy”.
O’Brien said:
“If we want to have a secure for our kids and theirs, we will not have success with Aukus, unless we have a vibrant civil nuclear industry”.
He’s claiming that other countries with nuclear powered submarines also have “vibrant civil” nuclear industries, and that Australia should follow suit in line with its planned delivery of Aukus subs.
O’Brien believes there is technology already being developed overseas for small scale reactors that will means they will come with “plug and play” capability.
Updated
Nampijnpa Price also described the Indigenous consultation body as “Labor’s voice, the voice of the elites, the voice of politicians”, calling it a “distraction” from what she alleged was inaction on Indigenous affairs.
Ticket categories for CPAC include a $7000 “platinum experience” which gives buyers “an incredible opportunity to mix with keynote speakers, political leaders, business people and media stars in the Star Event Centre corporate boxes, Platinum Lounge and Executive Suite” and “access to the VIP welcome on Friday 18 Aug and VIP after-party Sunday 20 Aug”.
Nampijinpa Price claimed the voice would be made up of “academics and activists from the cities ... from what I refer to as the Aboriginal industry, the people profiting off marginalisation.”
The government has not confirmed details of its proposed model for the voice, saying it would be designed in consultation with Indigenous communities after the referendum. However the Calma-Langton co-design report, held up regularly by the government as a framework, specifically suggests special representation for remote areas and the Torres Strait Islands, in addition to two members from each state and territory.
Nampijinpa Price urged conservative attendees of CPAC to be “relentless in your opposition” to the voice.
“This is where we as a country draw a line in the sand and say “enough is enough”. Enough to the gaslighting. Enough with the woke insidious cancel culture. Enough with the attack on our wonderful shared Australian values,” she said.
“This is the turning point, where we get to teach our kids to be proud to be Aussie again.”
Updated
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says voice will be for elites
Just a little more detail from Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s speech to CPAC earlier today. Price derided the proposed Indigenous voice as “the voice of the elites” in a speech at the Star casino to a political conference selling $7000 “platinum experience” tickets including access to corporate boxes and VIP parties.
The no campaign leader urged the CPAC conservative political conference to vote against the referendum as a proxy for opposing “woke insidious cancel culture”.
Numerous speakers at CPAC - which includes a former prime minister, two former deputy PMs and numerous former federal ministers on its speaking lineup – criticised the voice over concerns it would be a group of so-called “elites”.
The opening morning of the CPAC conference, at Sydney’s Star casino, was devoted entirely to criticising the voice; the event heard from no campaign leaders Nampijinpa Price and Warren Mundine, as well as former PM Tony Abbott, and the director of the Advance campaign group Matthew Sheahan.
Nampijinpa Price, the shadow Indigenous Australians minister and leader of Advance’s no campaign vehicle Fair Australia, mocked PM Anthony Albanese over claims of not being across the detail of the voice referendum. Albanese said in a radio interview last week that he hadn’t read the additional pages published alongside the one-page Uluru statement from the heart.
“He never read it ... You have to be across the detail, you are the prime minister,” Nampijinpa Price said.
Updated
In case you missed it earlier this morning, our chief political correspondent Paul Karp analysed Anthony Albanese’s performance at the Labor conference in recent days. It’s well worth a read.
My colleague Sarah Basford Canales reported earlier that Labor had passed a motion recognising the need to end a ban on LGBTI communities from donating blood and adopt individual risk assessments for all donors.
Advocates have welcomed the move. Spokesperson for campaign group, Let Us Give, Rodney Croome, said:
We thank Labor’s conference delegates for passing a motion recognising the need for a new blood donation policy of assessing all donors for their individual risk instead of the current policy of imposing a three-month sexual abstinance period on gay men, and bisexual men and transgender women who have sex with men.
Ending the gay blood ban and adopting individual risk assessment will mean there is more safe blood for those in need and will make the blood supply less discriminatory.
Updated
Over at CPAC, columnist Nick Cater is invoking the Matildas to paint a picture of the desolation that will come with renewable energy.
Imagine the Matildas playing soccer, they have to stop playing because the wind stops blowing. None of it is manageable is it?
He’s found an eager listener in Keith Pitt, an LNP MP, via a segment called “Cater Cam”.
You shouldn’t have to look outside the window to see if you can put the stove on. That’s where we’re coming to.
Updated
Just a bit more detail on the speech by former prime minister Tony Abbott at CPAC earlier today. Abbott said defeating the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum should be the “main priority” for conservative voters. Abbott claimed Indigenous people wouldn’t have signed up to fight in World War I if they thought Australia was racist.
CPAC’s chairman, Warren Mundine, is one of the no campaign leaders, alongside Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.
Both campaigners were star attractions on the conference’s opening morning, alongside Abbott, who is on the advisory board of conservative campaign group Advance Australia, the leading organisation running the no push.
The referendum proposes to recognise Indigenous people in the constitution by enshrining a representative advisory body to give advice to the government and parliament. Abbott, giving the conference’s keynote address, claimed the voice would create “first and second-class citizens based on how long some of their ancestors have been here”.
The federal solicitor general, Stephen Donaghue, said in a legal opinion that the voice “would not pose any threat to Australia’s system of representative and responsible government”, rather that the voice would “enhance” Australia’s system of government.
In his speech, Abbott said: “This generation of Aboriginal Australians are not victims. This generation of non-Aboriginal Australians are not oppressors.
“This is our biggest task, beating this divisive voice is the most important challenge we face as a nation … this has to be our main focus.”
Abbott went on to claim: “If you go back far enough, there were injustices, there were massacres, but there was justice too for those who perpetrated them.
“But hundreds of Aboriginal men would not have signed up to fight for king and country in 1914 and 1915 if they had been the subjects of a racist empire.”
Updated
Barnaby Joyce is speaking against the Indigenous voice at CPAC. Like many of the speakers, he falsely equates the voice to the House of Lords.
He says it would.permanently enshrine the problems that existed with the former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission.
This time, they’re there for good. Our own House of Lords, quasi-House of Lords. But I tell you what, I think this thing is going down, it’s going down in a screaming heap.
Updated
Albanese delivers concluding remarks and Labor conference closes
Anthony Albanese returns to the stage for some concluding remarks. He thanks the national executive, his parliamentary colleagues and those that helped make the conference a reality.
Labor conferences really do matter. They remind us of the great responsibility that we have and the great privilege that we hold the honour of working for Australia. And I’m proud that that motto that you see up there [he points to the Working for Australia slogan] that idea, that cause, that reason for being has been front and centre over the past three days. And I’m proud of what we’re doing to live up to it every single day to open the doors of opportunity and widen them.
Albanese continues:
I also want to thank each and every one of you for the spirit that you brought to this conference, that sense of unity, their sense of solidarity, their sense of engagement. That sense of purpose that has flowed through this conference, and the months leading up to it, with the development of the draft platform to the meetings that have been held here over the last three days. That constructive engagement in every chapter of the platform and the optimism, the urgency, the sense of shared determination that has characterised not only all the contributions made up here on this stage, but all of the conversations in the past three days as well.
And just like that, we’re done. Albanese finishes off his speech, saying:
We came to this conference and pledged to work for Australia. We leave here now to carry on that promise. Living up to the best traditions of the Labor movement and this great party formed in 1891, measuring up to the finest qualities of the Australian people. There are uncertain times ahead but the people of Australia can be sure of this: our movement, our party, our Labor government will be working for Australia every single day.
National president Wayne Swan declares the national conference closed, and delegates begin filtering out of the Brisbane Convention Centre.
Updated
Barnaby Joyce is speaking at CPAC about how progressives do better at the pub on a Friday night than conservatives.
Conservatism so often is seen as a pejorative, there’s something quirky about it. You’re not going have much luck at the pub on a Friday night telling people you’re a conservative, that’s not going to get you far.
And then:
Now, progressives. Just the word ‘progressive’ – you’re already having more luck on a Friday night at the pub as soon as you say ‘I’m a progressive … I’m well-dressed, I’m a sharp dresser and I’m a progressive’. Progressive is seen as a virtue isn’t it? And its adherents are seen as enlightened … but really it’s just social and economic experimentation with people’s lives.
Updated
Greens hammer home housing message outside ALP conference
The Greens housing spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather, has addressed a housing rally outside Labor’s national conference.
He said:
With rents increasing at the fastest rate seen for 35 years, the first Labor prime minister in a decade and every Labor premier across the country met around the table with the power to stop rent increases, with the power to invest enough in public housing, to tackle the scale of the crisis and what did they do? Nothing, nothing.
National cabinet announced $3bn to help meet a target of 1.2m new homes, and agreed to limit rent increases to once a year.
Chandler-Mather said:
We have the money and resources to just stop the scale of this crisis. Just this week, they locked in $368bn for the nuclear attack submarines. And they tell us all they can spend is $500m a year at most from 2025 on social housing. They’re locking in the stage three tax cuts that will see every Labor politician in there get $9,000 extra a year off on their tax up to the tune of over $300bn while they tell renters, they get nothing.
Chandler Mather, an MP, receives at least the same salary as backbenchers ($217,060) and can also expect a tax cut.
Chandler Mather concluded:
Over the next few years, while there’s hundreds of us today there’s going to be thousands next time, hundreds of thousands of people next time until we can no longer be ignored and that is the only way we’re going to get improvements in our lives.
You might see me or other people on the TV but know that the only reason I’m standing there is because people like you stood up and fought back. It is not me that it’s going to win any of this. It is going to be people like you and so thank you for coming today because for us this is the first step towards winning.
Updated
Max Chandler Mather to address housing rally outside Labor's national conference. pic.twitter.com/XlM4Mla603
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) August 19, 2023
Two arrested over Queensland fires
Two men have been arrested and charged with allegedly deliberately lighting fires that sparked a dozen blazes in Queensland’s Western Downs earlier this year.
Financial and Cyber Crime Group officers arrested a 48-year-old and a 23-year-old on Friday in relation to a series of bushfires on 29 and 30 January in Kogan, Hopeland, Crossroads and Wieambilla, west of Brisbane.
The blazes destroyed a house, two sheds and a large area of bushland.
The 48-year-old Wieambilla man has been charged with seven counts of setting fire to vegetation and one count of arson.
The 23-year-old, also from Wieambilla, was charged with nine counts of setting fire to vegetation and one count of arson.
Both men were denied bail and will appear before the Dalby magistrates court on Monday.
- AAP
Updated
Bridget McKenzie spoke to CPAC a little earlier, where she railed against climate alarmism, the voice, and “the modern woke industrial complex”, and said “this country has to go nuclear”.
She said centre-right parties no longer hold government in any mainland state.
We are weakened yet we are still standing. We are under attack but we are protected by the truths close to our heart and the people who push back and will ultimately come back to us.
Updated
Still at Labor conference, a group of First Nations delegates and representatives heads to the stage to deliver their support for the voice.
The wording of the resolution is:
Conference resolves:
To recognise that the Uluru Statement from the Heart is a generous invitation issued by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians for a better future together.
To acknowledge that a voice is the form of constitutional recognition requested by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through the First Nations Constitutional Convention at Uluru.
To welcome the practical difference a voice will make - by closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in a way that we have never been able to before.
Conference resolves to call on the labour movement - members, supporters and affiliates to campaign for constitutional recognition through a voice with excitement, hope and determination.
Victorian senator and Mutthi Mutthi and Wamba Wamba woman Jana Stewart speaks on the resolution:
My connection to this place ... goes back to 65,000 years and more and really, for me, that’s what this referendum is about. It’s about connecting our 65,000 years history on this stage with the Australia that we are today in our constitution. It’s about uniting our nation, regardless of what anybody else says about it. It is about listening to First Nations people because we know that listening gets better results.
Stewart points out the voice will also be about improving outcomes for First Nations people.
It is unacceptable to me, just like it should be to everyone in this room, that my son, a seven-year-old child, is sitting apart from his peers with a life expectancy seven years ... less than the people sitting beside him.
Updated
Another paragraph is inserted into Labor’s party platform urging the government to consider introducing a human rights charter or act.
The Australian Human Rights Commission has backed the idea, proposing a model earlier this year.
The motion passes, meaning the platform now includes:
Noting that Australia is the only democratic country in the world that does not have some form of comprehensive, national human rights legislation, a federal Labor government will consider whether our commitment to the implementation of human rights standards could be enhanced through a statutory Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities, or similar instrument.
Kirk McKenzie speaks on the motion, saying:
Australia is the only democratic country in the world that does not have comprehensive national human rights legislation. This amendment is designed to encourage our Labor government to correct that deficiency now.
A little earlier at the Labor conference, a motion was moved to ensure Labor commits to better representation for the culturally and linguistically diverse community.
West Australian senator Fatima Payman, who was born in Afghanistan and is the first hijab-wearing politician in parliament, speaks on the motion.
Being elected as the first hijab-wearing woman to the Australian parliament was not a huge step for me, it was a huge step forward for our nation. I’m a representative of modern day Australia.
Just prior to that, Osmond Chiu, a policy officer at the Community and Public Sector Union, implores the party to do better on representation.
We still have a lot more to do when it comes to culturally diverse representation in Australian politics. The census shows that we are now firmly a multicultural country, a migrant majority nation, but often it’s only in name. Nearly half the population has a non-Anglo Celtic backgrounds and a quarter have an overseas non-European cultural backgrounds. But our parliaments, and even our own party, do not reflect that level of cultural diversity.
Now these conversations can be uncomfortable, but they will not go away. They will grow louder as we become an even more culturally diverse country.
Like everything else at this conference, it passes.
Updated
Andrews says the government was faced with extreme blow-outs and was forced to make a difficult decisions. He says the state could either have accepted the blow-outs or cancelled the Commonwealth Games.
Or do you make a different choice and say ‘right, that’s all cost, and no benefit’, acknowledging that this has been painful, distressing, it’s not been an easy process for our athletes, our Commonwealth Games officials.
Updated
Andrews said cancelling the Games and paying the compensation was the best option available. He said not paying the compensation would have led to legal fights.
The second option is to, if you like, fight this and say, ‘well, no, we’re not we’re not going to pay a break fee’. And all that would mean is that we would be off in the Court of Arbitration for Sport. On the other side of the world, and possibly multiple courts on the other side of the world. And indeed, some courts here. Supreme court, high court … will be a lawyer’s picnic it will drag on for years. And who knows what the ultimate number would have been who knows, who wins and who loses in those sorts of matters together? With the inevitable appeals and appeals on appeals.
He says the government entered the negotiations with goodwill.
I’m very grateful that they have entered into these negotiations in the spirit of goodwill, and that we’ve got a final binding settlement to these matters. That’s in everybody’s interests. The treasurer will make a few comments and then we’re happy to take a few questions.
Updated
Andrews speaks about $380m Commonwealth Games compensation
Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, is speaking in Melbourne about the payment of $380m in compensation for the cancellation of the Commonwealth Games. Andrews says the $380m to be paid in Commonwealth Games compensation is “the best outcome that Victoria could get”.
He says the payment mean there will be no court action and no more dispute.
This is the best outcome that Victoria could get in those commercial terms. So, this brings to an end this matter there can be no further appeals, there can be no further action. And that is a good thing. As I said that means the Commonwealth Games, authorities can focus on finding a host venue for ‘26 and beyond. And we can focus on getting thousands of houses built for regional Victorians …
Just before I hand to the treasurer, I just want to give you a sense of what the three options here were. We could we could we could sort of push on and we could deliver these games at a cost of between $6bn and $7bn and potentially even more than that.
Updated
Disability advocate and Labor Enabled delegate, Tony Clark, now passes a motion calling on Labor to initiate a review of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.
It also calls on Labor to develop a Disability Action Plan to increase representation of disabled members of the ALP.
It’s seconded by NDIS minister Bill Shorten, who waives his right to speak.
Clark said:
The act is failing. There is no question it’s failing. An act that is designed to protect people ... it is not protecting people because the onus is placed on the individual who lodges a discrimination complaint to prove that discrimination. It becomes too hard.
Delegates, we need to review this act and we need to contemporise it. We need to review it in light of the racial discrimination and sexual discrimination act. We need to bring these together because people are people, whether you have a disability or not.
Updated
We’re again zipping through the motions here at national conference today. It’s been a long few days already and the party are hoping to wrap things up here by 1pm today.
Delegates are also waiving their chance to speak on some motions. One that passes is a push for the Labor government to continue advocating to lift bans on some in the LGBTQI+ community from donating blood.
The party’s platform now includes this paragraph:
This conference calls on the Albanese Labor government to continue working with the TGA, the Australian Red Cross, community-based HIV/AIDS groups and others towards lifting the categorical ban on blood donation and unscientific deferral periods by gay men, bisexual men and transgender women who have sex with men, and sex workers.
Updated
At the Labor conference, a motion to strengthen the wording in the party’s platform on LGBTQI+ conversation practices is now being debated.
It proposes to include a more explicit opposition of the practices: “Labor opposes all forms of conversion and suppression practices”.
West Australian senator Louise Pratt said:
Delegates, I want this morning to give you an insight into the kind of conversion practices that still occur in our community ...
Their phones were taken off them and they would be forced to pray their own gay or queerness away. They were even asked to pray – in some cases, young Aboriginal people were asked to pray their Aboriginal culture and identity away.
It also passes.
Updated
Southern right whales headed for Sydney Harbour
Sydney Harbour could be the home to two very rare southern right whales, as a mother and her newborn calf nurse ahead of their treacherous journey to the Antarctic.
The NSW Parks and Wildlife service first spotted the pair on 27 July in Coffs Harbour and have been tracking them as they made their way down the coast.
Park ranger Andy Marshall said the calf was born about two days before the sighting and had been resting and nursing at Coffs Harbour, Scott’s Head, Port Macquarie, Forster, Port Stephens, and Swansea along NSW’s north coast.
“Continuing their current trajectory, we expect the pair to reach Sydney sometime this weekend,” Marshall said.
Quiet, undisturbed time in shallow, sandy bottom bays and protected beaches is a critical stage in southern right whale calf development.
Park authorities are asking the public to keep a distance as the calf nurses, consuming about 300 litres of milk a day to gain the strength before the pair embarks on a long and treacherous voyage towards the Antarctic.
“The biggest threat to the survival of southern right whales in NSW waters is disturbance from people getting too close,” Marshall said.
- AAP
In the meantime, check out this footage of southern right whales from July:
Updated
Unions are moving resolutions at the Labor conference on young workers’ rights.
Jordan Mumford from the retail union, Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association, is moving the following paragraph be inserted into the party’s platform.
Labor recognises that many young people have unique expectations placed on them in their employment and care responsibilities. Labor will support young people through access to affordable housing, secure employment opportunities and the accumulation of superannuation on every dollar earned. Labor will support unions in pursuing fair wages for young people.
Mumford said:
The discriminatory 30-hour week rule for under 18s sees 375,000 young workers in this country not earn a single cent in superannuation, it sees those 375,000 workers potentially tens of thousands of dollars worse off come retirement.
Ninety per cent of workers under the age of 18 in this country do not work enough hours to be paid superannuation, and super on every dollar. We’ll close this injustice and make super fair for young people. I call on your support to support the amendment.
It passes.
Updated
Linda Burney invokes Whitlam on voice
A little earlier, Indigenous affairs minister Linda Burney spoke at Labor’s national conference to open a section called Bringing People Together.
It will focus mostly on issues affecting Indigenous Australians and we’re expecting it to centre around the voice.
Burney called on Labor supporters to get out and campaign for a yes victory.
But delegates, I can’t lead this on my own. We must do it together. We need to get out there, to knock on doors, have the conversations in your communities, delegates. When we have power over our destiny, our children will flourish. They will walk into worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country. Don’t forget, to borrow a phrase from a former Labor prime minister, it’s time.
Updated
Message of division the key to no vote, Advance Australia director says
Matthew Sheahan, director of controversial right-wing campaigning outfit, Advance Australia, is giving an insight into the group’s voice tactics at CPAC. He boasts the group’s ability to mobilise and communicate is more powerful than the main right-wing parties in Australia. He says their polling showed messaging of the voice creating “division” was key to running a successful ‘no’ campaign.
But the big problem which we discovered and expected was that very few people knew about the referendum. But this was an opportunity because it gave us a chance to shape the conversation, to talk about things like the Uluru Statement and treaty, all on our terms.
He says they have field teams in the key battleground states and they are attempting to recruit 40,000 volunteers for 170,000 volunteer hours for polling day and pre-polling.
We’ve done the work of strategically ranking the booths within the key states so we are putting our resources where it counts. It’s a huge effort, an enormous logistical undertaking.
For some background on Advance Australia, you can read this by the Guardian’s Josh Butler:
Updated
Albanese said that Labor had taken on the voice because it is a “bold undertaking” and it is the Labor way to take on challenges that will make the country better.
He said:
We take them on not because they’re convenient, but out of conviction.
Albanese paid tribute to people on “all sides of politics” who had supported the voice, particularly those who have “had the courage to break with their party leadership”.
Albanese said that the voice “came from the grassroots” and this is where the referendum will be decided, through conversations, calls, door-knocks.
He said:
Delegates, there is no more powerful force for change than our great Labor movement at its best ... After this referendum a bit like the apology to the stolen generations, a bit like the 1967 referendum, when all this is done, people will look back and ask why didn’t we do it earlier. Because there is everything to gain and absolutely nothing to lose ... When there are only winners, it’s our responsibility to get out there and win this.
Albanese then got a standing ovation for saying the voice would make “our country just that little bit greater”.
Updated
Albanese has said the voice referendum is “not a journey that we began” but said the Labor government had been “given the great privilege of joining and responsibility to make sure that all Australians hear the words of the Uluru Statement from the Heart”.
Albanese urged Labor members to “campaign like you have never campaigned before”, to explain the “clear question before the Australian people: saying yes to constitutional recognition, and saying yes to listening in order to get better results.
He said:
And I say this: if not now, when? Saying no, therefore, doing the same thing and accepting that this is good enough. This referendum will not be decided by delegates in this room, but by people that you and other campaigners for yes talk to around our country. Those direct conversations.
Updated
Albanese says voice an opportunity to 'bring all Australians together'
Anthony Albanese is addressing Labor’s national conference, speaking after Indigenous affairs minister, Linda Burney, on the upcoming voice referendum.
He said:
Right now the chance to be our best is once again calling out to us. The chance to close the gap, between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in a way we’ve never been able to before. The chance to bring all Australians together in a moment that will shine even more brightly than the desert light that shone on Vincent Lingiari and Gough Whitlam. With a yes vote that resounds right across our continent.
Updated
Jacinta Price, shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, has just finished speaking at CPAC.
She criticised the voice in much the same terms as other speakers.
She says:
The polls may be going in our direction but we cannot get complacent … the yes campaign are funded by the elites. Qantas is giving them free flights, the City of Sydney is giving them free office space.
They have the corporate elite, mainstream media, and now even government departments. What do we have? I tell you what we have, we have you [CPAC attendees].
Updated
Women Onside ‘delighted’ by sport funding package
The federal government’s $200m Play Our Way program has been welcomed by women’s sports groups.
Kerry Harris, chair of Women Onside, said:
Women Onside is delighted by the Albanese government’s announcement of substantial new funding for women’s sport. The past four weeks have demonstrated the depth and breadth of passion for women’s football and its commercial viability in this country. We are excited by the potential for this funding to level the playing field and supercharge the growth of the game in Australia. It will leave a lasting legacy from this incredible World Cup.
For further details of the package, as reported by the Guardian’s Tory Shepherd:
Updated
Anthony Albanese’s ally Tim Ayres helped elect members of right to Labor national executive
Anthony Albanese’s lieutenant Tim Ayres and the industrial left helped elect members of the right to Labor’s national executive, ensuring a 10-10 split between the left and right.
The move has enraged some who argue the move amounted to a factional stitch-up, with one source labelling Ayres a “faceless man” for his role in the contested election on Friday evening.
The decision by the left effectively locked out challengers including the United Firefighters Union’s Peter Marshall and the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union’s Rita Mallia.
Although Labor’s left faction has rising influence in the party, Albanese was understood to be keen to avoid a ballot that could upset the balance on the executive, on which he holds the casting vote.
With speculation ahead of the conference that a vote could be averted, Marshall put up his hand to force a ballot and the CFMEU put forward Mallia, a move that could have delivered the left an 11-9 majority if elected.
Guardian Australia understands that Albanese allies including the industrial left in Victoria and assistant trade minister, Tim Ayres, used left votes to elect Labor right MP Sam Rae and staffer Shannon Threlfall-Clarke, another right member hailing from the Australian Workers Union.
Marshall told Guardian Australia: “I am very pleased with the result, it showed there is a coalition of unions and rank and file members who want to see more democracy in the Labor party.
“We’ve heard at conference that Labor is a festival of democracy. The reality is very different.
“We will continue to argue the case for more proper engagement with unions and rank and file members.”
A source familiar with the national executive process said “Tim Ayres is a faceless man, only interested in doing the numbers.”
Other senior members of the parliamentary party in the left faction praised the outcome, arguing it was the correct decision to preserve balance in the party and exclude Marshall.
One left faction source said it was unfair to blame Ayres personally, given it was left votes from Victoria and Queensland, not New South Wales, that helped elect the right members, and it had been the “collective judgment” of the left to do so.
Another senior left source said that Ayres “had made an extraordinary contribution industrially, organisationally and in terms of policy”.
“The current strength of the left is in large part due to the leadership role Tim Ayres has played, and the collaborative and focused way he has conducted himself in party matters.”
The right faction is also understandably pleased, with one right faction source telling Guardian Australia the move to lock in a 10-10 balance was necessary to exclude Marshall.
One left faction source said it was unfair to blame Ayres personally, given it was left votes from Victoria and Queensland, not New South Wales, that helped elect the right members, and it had been the “collective judgment” of the left to do so.
Another senior left source said that Ayres “had made an extraordinary contribution industrially, organisationally and in terms of policy”.
“The current strength of the left is in large part due to the leadership role Tim Ayres has played, and the collaborative and focused way he has conducted himself in party matters.”
Albanese, who attended both the left and right faction dinners on Thursday, is understood to have proclaimed at the left dinner that as a member of the left he “always voted the ticket”.
The comment was interpreted as a rebuke to the New South Wales Ferguson left and others who had wanted the left to field more than 10 candidates in the ballot.
Under Albanese’s leadership national executive has shifted to a culture of decisions by consensus, with no contested votes in that time.
Guardian Australia contacted Ayres and the prime minister’s office for comment.
Updated
Agitators descend on ALP conference
The ALP national conference is in its final day – which Paul Karp and Sarah Basford Canales will cover for you – but some of the biggest action on this glorious Brisbane day will be outside the conference centre.
Bob Brown’s forestry rally will reach Brisbane today, with an event planned for Musgrave Park. After Labor watered down its environmental arm’s attempts to have a ban on native forest logging included in the platform, advocates have vowed to increase the pressure on the party until it acts.
The Greens are also holding a rally outside the conference, where Griffith MP and agitator-in-chief, Max Chandler-Mather will make a direct appeal to Labor left members to join the Greens.
Chandler-Mather quit the Labor party in 2013 following the party’s decision to establish off-shore detention centres in Nauru. He says progressive Labor members will not find much succour in the “modern Labor party”.
Chandler-Mather plans on making a direct appeal to Labor left members at the rally later this morning:
“Join us, fight with us. We still have a chance at a future where climate catastrophes don’t get worse every year and everyone in this country has a safe place to sleep at night. Don’t lose your fire and back down. There is a future worth fighting for.”
Updated
Tony Abbott is still speaking at CPAC. He is talking about the outpouring of grief and support he received when he was “turfed” as prime minister. But he urged people not to quit the Liberal party in protest, but instead try to change the party.
He appears to be urging CPAC attendees to do the same and references the power of individuals, pointing to Jesus and John Howard, among others, to make change.
My friends as you know, I was lucky enough to be leader of the Liberal party for six years … but I want to tell you that I am extremely proud of my successor Peter Dutton. There would have been dozens and dozens of political savants telling Peter Dutton not to oppose this divisive voice. He would have been told over and over, the opinion polls are against you, do not oppose this voice. And yet because he is a man of courage and conviction, that is exactly what he has done.
Updated
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews and treasurer Tim Pallas will address the media at 11am about the compensation payment of $380m they have made for cancelling the Commonwealth Games. We’ll bring you that as soon as it happens.
Abbott continues, describing the voice as “entrenching victimhood and institutionalising grievance”.
Beating this divisive voice is the most important challenge we face as a nation right now … this has to be our main focus. But there is a bigger problem right now, and that is that we have a government that is making our country worse, not better.
Updated
Abbott tells conservative conference Australia is 'the least racist and most colour-blind country on Earth'
Former prime minister Tony Abbott is delivering the keynote address to the CPAC conference.
He says the voice referendum is an “absolutely critical time in our history”.
Are we going to be a nation of constitutional equality or are we going to be a nation that reflects Bob Hawke’s immortal words that this is a country with no hierarchy of descent … or are we going to be a nation where people are first or second-class citizens based on how long some of their ancestors have been here in Australia.
He says “thank God for Warren Mundine and Jacinta Price”, sparking applause.
Abbott refers to himself as an “English, Welsh, Dutch, Australian who happens to live in what was once Gadigal country but what is now the great city of Sydney”. He describes Australia as “the least racist and most colour-blind country on Earth”.
He surprises no-one by announcing he will be voting ‘no’ in the referendum.
Updated
Warren Mundine is addressing the conservative CPAC conference at the Star in Sydney. Mundine is chair of the CPAC board. The conference is described as the “largest and most influential gathering of conservatives”.
He is highly critical of the voice and says it is putting race and division back into the constitution.
The myths and lies within the yes campaign, I always love it when people call me all these racist names, and they have a hashtag #antiracist and #voteyes, and I have never heard names like this since I was a kid … they want to drag us back to the bad old days. So we’ve got to stand up and fight for our liberties and freedoms.
Updated
Rowland is asked whether giving greater prominence to free-to-air on digital television will form part of the proposed media reforms. She is asked whether, given that former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce watched the wrong Matildas game against France, there is something wrong with the current system.
Albanese interjects:
It might be that there’s something wrong with the former deputy prime minister.
Rowland says:
We took a very clear policy to the election that we would legislate a prominence framework in Australia. We have been undertaking consultation on that and the sector, itself, has been very in that regard. One of the key things here, again, is that Australian content needs to be capable of being found. That is the ultimate goal of a prominence framework. We’ve seen in the United Kingdom, a similar framework being under development, and we know that again, these multinational companies that produce this hardware are able to charge rents for where this content appears on a screen.
Updated
Anthony Albanese is asked about other matters. He is asked whether the government will review its housing policies after the national Labor conference passed motions for progressive tax reform and greater taxation of corporations to fund social and affordable housing.
We’ve announced the policies and we’re implementing them. What we need is the Greens political party and the Coalition and One Nation who make up the ‘noalition’ – who say no to increased social housing – to support that legislation in the Senate. It’s extraordinary that we have legislation that will see 30,000 additional social homes being built in coming years. 4,000 of which are reserved for women and children escaping domestic violence.
There’s funding there to fix up remote housing for Indigenous Australians. There’s funding there for veterans at risk of homelessness. And for the minor parties, and indeed, the alternative party of government, to be saying no to that - I just find extraordinary.
Updated
Albanese says a local government and community-based sporting clubs will be among the entities eligible for funding.
This is important at the grassroots level, and we have listened to the feedback that we have had, including the comments that the Matildas have made, the comments that you just heard, made here as well about the importance of facilities being grown. This will be eligible for local government, community-based sporting clubs, to put in bids for funding as part of this $200m program.
He is asked to comment on reports that Prince William will not travel to Australia for the world cup final between England and Spain.
He says:
I’m not going to comment on Prince William and his activities. That is a matter for him. I will be here cheering the Matildas tonight.
Updated
Tal Karp, former Matildas captain, says the Matildas achievements must be backed by the creation of a legacy for future Australian sportswomen.
She says:
Matildas have taken us on an epic journey. We have been with them every step of the way, but it is not just what happened on the football field, it has to be about the legacy, about what we do next, to make sure that kids regardless of where they come from to be that starry-eyed little kid like I was, but see women on TV like them, they have – can have the opportunities, the playing fields, the facilities that enable them to be at their best. It is an absolute privilege to have this opportunity to work alongside some amazing former athletes and I’m excited to see this changing the game when it comes to women in sport in this country.
Updated
As has been foreshadowed, Michelle Rowland, communications minister, says the government will also take steps to ensure major women’s sporting events are available to Australians to watch.
As the prime minister and minister Wells have articulated, this has really been a step change for women’s sport and sport overall in Australia. But one aspect that has failed to keep up is our regulatory scheme. We have an anti-siphoning list that is stuck in the analogue age.
Over the last decade, as streaming services have emerged, as sports around the world have moved behind paywalls, we have not seen this aspect of regulation in Australia reviewed or updated to be fit for purpose. That is why at the last election we took a very clear policy to review and update the anti-siphoning regime, to ensure that it is fit for purpose.
Updated
Anika Wells, sports minister, says the government has learned the lesson of the sports rorts scheme. She will not be making final decisions on funding approvals, and will instead leave decision-making to the expert panel of former sportswomen.
We want to put athletes at the heart and listen to the athletes’ voice and that’s what we are doing with this program that we are announcing today.
Wells says the Matildas have inspired the nation, and it’s now the government’s turn to do its part for women’s sports.
They have more than delivered on their mission, so now it is time for us to do our part. The next generation is inspired and now we need to build them the safe and welcoming spaces in sport to facilitate their participation and success in the years to come.
Updated
Albanese continues:
This is about ensuring that the next generation of Sam Kerrs and Mackenzie Arnolds get not just the applause as Mackenzie and Sam have, but they get the infrastructure and facilities that they need. We are going to see an explosion in participation in sport, and that is why this $200m will make a difference to not just recognise that this has been a moment of national inspiration, but to seize the opportunity for the next generation coming up to be able to fulfil the dreams that are being felt right around our nation.
Updated
Albanese says an expert panel will help design the $200m Play Our Way program. That panel includes Tal Karp, former Matildas captain, star basketballer Lauren Jackson and netballer Liz Ellis, and paralympian Madison de Rozario.
It is about learning from women as well with real world experience, navigating community sport right up to the professional level, to make sure that we get this right. , which is why we are announcing as well today an expert panel to help design the Play Our Way program, and to ensure that it produces the most needed facilities at the most needed locations.
Updated
PM outlines details of Play Our Way program
Anthony Albanese is speaking alongside sports minister Anika Wells in Brisbane about his government’s $200m announcement for women’s sports.
He says:
It has been an extraordinary period for women’s football, but for women’s sport in general. The idea 20 years ago, if you could have predicted that women’s team sport would be played in front of packed crowds with cheering Australians at live sites right around the country would have been seen as being optimistic. The truth is that the Matildas have inspired a nation.
Updated
Scientists call for increased monitoring of Southern Ocean
Hundreds of scientists are calling for Southern Ocean monitoring to be urgently expanded so “astonishing” Antarctic sea ice losses can be better understood.
Some 300 scientists from 25 countries issued a joint statement on Friday at the conclusion of the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS) conference in Hobart.
They describe a chronic lack of data about the Southern Ocean, which encircles Antarctica.
Record high temperatures and low levels of sea ice, as well as dramatic shifts in penguin populations, are among “striking” recent changes in the region.
SOOS scientific steering committee member Dr Andrew Meijers said the Southern Ocean absorbs about 40% of the carbon dioxide that ends up in the world’s seas.
“Global warming is really ocean warming,” he said.
“The Southern Ocean controls the rate of melt of the Antarctic ice sheet, which is the single greatest uncertainty in projecting future sea level rise.”’
- AAP
Updated
Anthony Albanese and ministers Wells and Rowland meet some young soccer players. pic.twitter.com/n1EG6QeMF5
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) August 18, 2023
We’re expecting to hear from prime minister, Anthony Albanese, shortly about the $200m commitment to women’s sports, on which we’ve reported this morning.
The federal government is expected to provide the funding to improve women’s sporting facilities and equipment. It follows the Matildas’ incredible Women’s World Cup performance, which has been transformative for sport in Australia.
We’ll bring you Albanese’s comments as soon as possible.
Updated
Push to recognise Palestine stumbles ALP conference
An internal push within the Labor Party to recognise Palestine during this term of government has failed to take flight after backroom discussions averted any amendments on the national conference floor.
For the first time since 2015, the party’s policy platform on the conflict was left unchanged, with pro-Israel groups chalking it up as a win.
Palestinian advocacy groups expressed disappointment on Friday after hoping for “a more definitive step towards recognition”.
While no resolution or amendment was proposed, Macquarie MP Susan Templeman told the conference audience on Friday morning she wanted to reaffirm the platform’s existing statement to recognise Palestinian statehood as an issue of priority.
Former trade union official Michael Easson delivered the pro-Israel side, saying it is a “vibrant” and tolerant democracy that will hopefully “be the future for the Palestinians”.
Improvements to Australia’s aid budget were also canvassed in Friday morning’s conference discussions.
Labor recommitted to the ambition of raising the aid budget to 0.5% of the country’s gross national income, committing to “a plan and pathway to achieve this target”.
Advocacy groups, such as the Australian Council For International Development, welcomed the boost but called for the government to increase it further.
The council’s chief executive, Marc Purcell, said Australia’s aid offering remained at the “bottom of the league ladder”.
“We know that the government can and wants to do better. We now need to see their plan in getting there,” he said.
In the fast-moving session, Labor also passed a series of motions pledging to improve the rights of asylum seekers and refugees.
Delegates passed amendments to grant asylum seekers study and work rights while their protection claims are processed.
The party’s policy platform was also changed to back the appointment of a special envoy for refugee and asylum seeker issues and to initiate a parliamentary inquiry into immigration detention.
Updated
Victoria to pay $380m in compensation for Commonwealth Games cancellation
The Victorian government has agreed to pay Commonwealth Games bodies $380m in compensation after cancelling the 2026 event.
Premier Daniel Andrews made the shock announcement last month that Victoria would not host the Games as planned due to concerns they would far exceed initial cost expectations.
Following the announcement, mediation was launched between the state of Victoria, The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), Commonwealth Games Federation Partnerships (CGFP), Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA).
Lawyers for the state government travelled to London last month to negotiate what the cost would be for terminating the contract.
Following confidential “good faith” discussions, Victoria agreed to pay the three parties a total of $380m.
“All parties engaged respectfully and made appropriate concessions in order to reach an agreement,” the groups said in a joint statement.
- AAP
Updated
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our rolling news coverage. I’m Stuart MacFarlane and I’ve got some breaking stories for you before my colleague Christopher Knaus takes over.
Our top story this morning is that Anthony Albanese’s government will promise $200m to improve women’s sporting facilities and equipment after the Matildas’ historic Women’s World Cup run sparked an unprecedented outpouring of support for women’s football.
As the Matildas prepare for their third-place playoff against Sweden in Brisbane on Saturday, the government will declare the national team had “changed sport forever”, while unveiling a new funding package and flagging moves to make more major events available on free-to-air television.
The Labor national conference will wrap up in Brisbane today, with Indigenous affairs policy on the agenda before party processes are finalised. Yesterday an internal push within the party to recognise Palestine during this term of government failed to take flight after backroom discussions averted any amendments on the national conference floor. For the first time since 2015, the party’s policy platform on the conflict was left unchanged with pro-Israel groups chalking it up as a win.
At the opposite end of the political spectrum, the Conservative Political Action Network Conference (Cpac) will be held in Sydney, centring around the theme “We are One” and encouraging people to vote “No” to an Indigenous voice to parliament. Warren Mundine, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Barnaby Joyce will be speaking, with Tony Abbott today’s keynote speaker.
Let’s get into it.
