What we learned, 21 February 2023
And that’s where we’ll leave you this evening. Thank you so much for your company. Here’s a wrap of the main events today:
• The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, confirmed the voice to parliament referendum will be held between October and December, most likely early October.
• Greens leader, Adam Bandt, has savaged the Labor government for approving a large new gas development in Queensland, claiming the decision was “straight out of [Scott] Morrison’s playbook”.
• Australian security agencies know China is carrying out “blatant” influence operations despite the lack of listings on the nation’s transparency register, the former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull told an inquiry.
• A former frontline Centrelink worker has hit out at former senior officials who have appeared at the royal commission into robodebt, telling the inquiry she “can’t forget” what staff were “forced” to do victims of the program.
• The Fair Work Commission ruled that the 15% pay rise for aged care workers needs to be delivered all in one hit from July this year, rather than splitting the increase over two years as the government had planned.
• The world’s biggest miner, BHP, will sell two more Australian coalmines as part of an ongoing review of its operations.
• Australia’s national science agency, the CSIRO, released a report showing future increases in the strength of El Niño may accelerate the irreversible melting of ice shelves and ice sheets in Antarctica.
• The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, announced that Labor will tighten metadata retention laws in line with recommendations from the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security.
• Activists spray-painted the Woodside Energy logo on to the front doors of the WA parliament this morning to protest the government’s continued investment in fossil fuels.
Until tomorrow!
Updated
Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming’s first speech to parliament condemned
Liberal MP Moira Deeming has given her inaugural speech to Victoria’s parliament, in which she attacked gender affirmation practices for trans people and the rights of sex workers to care for their children, resulting in her being shunned by other members of parliament, one of whom described her views as “utterly vile”.
Deeming, a former teacher who represents the western metropolitan region, said the three areas of law she planned to focus on during her term were “sex-based rights”, “children in brothels” and “transgender affirmation practices on minors”.
She claimed “women and girls are suffering” in Victoria because the “government cannot or will not define what a female is”:
As a result, every woman and every girl in Victoria has lost the right to enjoy female-only sport, female-only change rooms and countless other female-only activities. As a result, what most women would consider to be sexual harassment and indecent exposure is now legal in Victoria.
Deeming also claimed state laws allowing children under 18 months on sex work premises for caring purposes would “inevitably” result in Victoria becoming “the child rape capital of Australia”.
Deeming also attacked the state’s ban on gay conversion practices, claiming the ban “made it illegal for parents and clinicians of gender dysphoric children to seek out any treatments at all, no matter how reasonable, if they’re designed to naturally alleviate the dysphoric feelings and leave the child’s body intact”.
Victoria’s 2021 ban on conversion practices provides safety for people with diverse sexualities and gender expression. Anyone found trying to suppress or change another person’s sexuality or gender identity faces up to 10 years’ jail or fines of almost $10,000 if it can be proved beyond reasonable doubt that their actions caused serious injury.
Some religious, medical and legal groups objected to the bill, but it was welcomed by LGBTIQ+ groups and is being used by NSW independent MP Alex Greenwich as the model for legislation he plans to introduce following the March state election.
Deeming’s comments are in line with those reported by the Guardian at the time of her preselection. At the time, then opposition leader, Matthew Guy, suggested her comments represented her past views rather than her current positions.
Greens leader, Samantha Ratnam, took to Twitter to describe Deeming’s views as “utterly vile”, while Animal Justice MP Georgie Purcell did not partake in the parliamentary tradition of shaking her hand after the speech.
Labor MP and equality minister Harriet Shing also tweeted her support for the LGBTIQ+ community in the wake of the speech:
Today and every day I’m grateful for the resilience, respect, kindness, wisdom, & courage of everyone across our wonderful LGBTIQ+ communities.
— Harriet Shing MP (@ShingvWorld) February 21, 2023
Our safety, well-being, identities, and dignity matter.
Our stories, pain, & Pride all matter.
And our equality will always matter. pic.twitter.com/tzTLoW48H2
Updated
