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The Guardian - AU
National
Caitlin Cassidy and Amy Remeikis (earlier)

Shorten and Coalition MPs clash over NDIS fraud – as it happened

Coalition Australia Anthony Albanese
Bill Shorten speaks during question time at Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday.
Bill Shorten speaks during question time at Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

What we learned: Thursday 6 June

With that, we will wrap the blog up for the night. If you’re in New South Wales, stay safe and dry out there.

Here were today’s major developments:

Updated

Victoria to hold state funeral for Aboriginal elder Aunty Fay Carter

The Victorian government will hold a state funeral service for the late Dja Dja Wurrung and Yorta Yorta elder Aunty Fay Carter OAM next Wednesday at the Ulumbarra Theatre in Bendigo.

She died on Monday, aged 89.

In a statement, the Victorian government said Aunty Fay was a “tireless advocate who dedicated herself to Victoria’s Aboriginal communities”.

She played an outstanding leadership role in a range of aged care, childcare and health agencies, including founding several key services.

Whether through her work for government or the community-run organisations she served, Aunty Fay strived for the best outcomes for Aboriginal people. Many have lived healthier and more prosperous lives because of her efforts.

The premier, Jacinta Allan, said the word that epitomised Aunty Fay to her was “generosity”.

She was so overwhelmingly generous – with her time, her wisdom and her work. We wouldn’t have the Victoria we do, without her.

Updated

Flood warnings for Shoalhaven region as flood water rescues continue

The NSW SES state duty commander, acting assistant commissioner Dallas Burnes, is appearing on ABC News now detailing the ongoing rainfall situation in the state.

He says there have been 13 flood rescues in the past 24 hours, an update from the figure of nine reported previously, while the majority of other call-outs have been related to fallen trees.

It’s problematic, the rain’s continuing to fall, we’re expecting rainfall in areas that are already wet … [but] we’re as ready as we can be, we’ve just got to wait to see where this rain lands and act accordingly.

Areas of greatest concern are around the Shoalhaven at Nowra and the Hawkesbury Nepean area, including Windsor and North Richmond.

Flood warnings have also been updated in the past hour, with five active across the state.

Updated

Albanese speaks to Narendra Modi after Indian election

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has has a phone call with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, to congratulate him on the election results.

Modi has secured the backing of his political allies in order to form a government after a dramatic election in which his party, the BJP, failed to secure an outright majority.

The opposition alliance performed much better than expected, and some analysts have speculated that Modi could be forced into a more conciliatory style of politics than over the past 10 years.

Albanese posted on X that he had spoken to Modi “to congratulate him on his election victory”. Albanese said Australia and India were “close friends, with strong strategic, economic and cultural ties”.

It is understood the pair discussed plans to grow the economic, defence and security ties and cooperation on the net-zero transition. Albanese and Modi agreed to meet again “at the earliest opportunity in coming months”, sources said.

Updated

Nine people rescued from floodwaters in NSW

Nine people have been rescued from floodwaters, and the NSW SES has been called out to more than 150 incidents as heavy rainfall lashes eastern New South Wales.

Among the flood rescues were seven in the Shoalhaven and Illawarra regions, including four in Nowra. Some 156 incidents had been responded to in the past 24 hours.

Another rescue involved a driver that became stuck in their car on the south coast on Thursday morning. At around 11.20am, the volunteer rural fire brigade in Huskisson was sent out to the car and its driver stuck in floodwaters in Woollamia.

It posted on Facebook that a NSW SES in water flood rescue team successfully rescued the driver and released them to waiting NSW Ambulance crews.

This is a serious reminder to obey all road closures, especially during this period of severe weather.

NSW SES state duty commander, acting assistant commissioner Dallas Burnes, said flood rescue operators were “ready to respond” to the incoming floods and storms.

We’re working closely with the Bureau to identify areas that can expect the greatest impacts this evening and into tomorrow, so we’re well positioned to respond to any incidents. People can prepare their homes before heavy rain comes by cleaning gutters, tying down loose objects such as trampolines, and parking cars away from trees.

And remember, never drive through flood waters. If you come across a flooded road, stop, turn around and find an alternate route.

Updated

Continued from last post:

In a separate press conference, David Crisafulli said the government had pinned “all their hopes on one project” in Pioneer Burdekin, which has yet to win development approval. It’s a central part of the government’s legislated plan for 80% green power by 2035.

Unless the government can outline what that cost will be and the impact on people’s power bills, that renewable energy target isn’t worth the paper it’s written on, which is why we aren’t supporting it.

The election is in October.

Updated

Queensland premier flags spending on renewable energy projects ahead of state budget

The Queensland premier, Steven Miles, has warned of economic chaos in the absence of action on climate change in a major speech for Queensland day.

Befitting the occasion, he held it at the XXXX brewery in Milton.

The easiest way for Rio Tinto to address its carbon emissions is to close down a smelter. And they’re not going to do that. We’re working with them to make sure that they don’t get that. But that is what’s at stake.

Our global trading partners are already pricing in the carbon footprint of products, they’re foreshadowing a future where they will only buy products with low carbon footprints.

Miles announced a record spend on renewables in next week’s state budget, but in a press conference afterwards wouldn’t say if the money represented projects going over budget or new work.

The energy minister, Mick de Brenni, said it would “accelerate the delivery” of projects like the massive Pioneer Burdekin hydroelectric scheme.

The premier also took on the opposition, slamming the Liberal leader, David Crisafulli, for running a small target strategy:

He is absolutely determined to tie himself into the tiniest little goal of a small target so that people don’t see the risk associated with electing him. He’s effectively trying to say to Queenslanders “you can have a Labor government, just without the Labor party.” I don’t think anyone’s going to fall for that.

Updated

Politicians, advocates and activists respond to Nacc decision

Politicians, advocates and activists have been posting their thoughts on the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nacc) decision that it won’t pursue an investigation into six individuals referred by the robodebt royal commission.

Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne said it was a “kick in the guts” for those who had been harmed by the botched scheme and sought justice.

Thousands of people across the country today will be feeling betrayed and angry. For many, this will be a deeply triggering and distressing time. My thoughts are with them.

Asher Wolf, a key organiser who was part of a grassroots campaign that exposed the program, said they were “livid”.

Updated

Women may be put off by ADF’s culture, chief admits

Australia’s defence force chief has admitted its internal culture may be a factor in deterring women from joining, after a survey revealed the extent of sexual misconduct experienced by female recruits.

The survey results from 2021, showed 36% of women at the Australian Defence Force Academy had experienced sexual misconduct.

6% of women said they had been sexually assaulted or been subjected to an attempted assault, against 0% among men.

More than 60% of females had experienced unacceptable behaviour, but 43% took no action.

The most common reasons cited for the recruits included “the behaviour is accepted around here” and “it was easier to just keep quiet”.

The survey results were tabled in the royal commission into defence and veteran suicide and raised in a Senate estimates hearing on Thursday.

Greens senator David Shoebridge pressed defence leadership on whether the ADF’s culture was putting off women.

In response, chief of the defence force, Gen Angus Campbell, said it may be a consideration for female applicants and their families among a range of other factors.

A previous hearing had been told defence was set to achieve just 57% of its recruitment target this year.

– AAP

Updated

On that note, I will hand the blog over to Caitlin Cassidy for the remainder of the day.

Thank you to everyone who followed this session of house sittings and estimates with us. It has been – in the words of every traumatised HSC student and reality TV contestant – a journey.

The Australia News blog will be back with you tomorrow, as the parliament goes dark for a couple of weeks, but Politics Live will be back with you from 24 June.

Until then, please, and always – take care of you and those around you. Ax

Updated

Shorten and Labor shut down Coalition move to have him apologise for ‘misleading the house’ over NDIS fraud

Just finishing off the division in the house over the Coalition’s call to suspend standing orders and have Bill Shorten apologise for “misleading the house” (that is the official parliamentary description for it) when he said that no former NDIS Coalition minister had put out a press release about fraud in the NDIS while NDIS minister (this was not true) – the Greens voted with the Coalition to suspend standing orders (as they do on issues on integrity), while the teals sat the vote out.

(The crossbench have an unspoken rule of sitting out votes they believe to be about politics, not substance.)

But none of it mattered, as the government voted against it, and the government holds the majority in the house.

Updated

Older Australians waiting up to a year for home care packages, estimates told

Older Australians with complex needs hoping for government assistance to allow them to age safely in their own homes are often waiting more than a year for care packages to be allocated to them, Senate estimates has heard.

As of 31 May, some 68,109 older Australians were on the priority waitlist for a home care package to be allocated. These can include support for things like bathing and hygiene, nursing, food preparation, cleaning and independence aids – essentials that can make the difference between being able to live safely at home or not.

The vast majority of those waiting – 36,524 people – were on the list for a level 3 package, worth $39,300 per annum in home supports.

Under questioning from Liberal senator Anne Ruston and the Greens’ Penny Allman-Payne, representatives from the department of health and aged care told the committee that the average wait time for the lowest-level support – level 1, worth $10,300 a year – was about a month, but for level 3, the wait times were upwards of 10 months.

In the nine months to March 2024, the median wait times from first contact with the government agencies to getting care was between one month and 14 months, department officials said, with the average for that same period between two and 15 months.

Russell Herald, assistant secretary, home support operations branch said:

One of the issues we’ve got is that there’s an element of perverse outcome, because the higher [needs] people are waiting longer to get services. And so we want to look at ways to rebalance that, so that those with the higher needs can get in earlier.

The objective for wait time “parity”, officials said, was that everyone on the priority list for a home care package would be waiting about 6 months.

Updated

Q: What do you say that federally elected Greens parliamentarians have done to encourage or to discourage these protests? What is the accusation?

Penny Wong repeats a lot of what we have heard from the government in the chamber for the last couple of days and then adds:

What Adam Bandt should be saying is no violence here is acceptable, and what he should be saying is that no matter how much we disagree, we have to remember we are all Australians, we all need to respect each other, we all need not to diminish each other, we all need to ensure we live as a community respecting each other’s views and right to respect them peacefully.

All I see is Mr Bandt making excuses and seeking to point the finger and blame others. That is not leadership. We all have a responsibility for social harmony in our country, particularly in the most successful multicultural country on earth.

That multiculturalism … does not just happen, you know, the success of a multicultural community does not just happen, it requires all of us to ensure we always speak to that which connects us, that which unites us, that we are united by respect for one another.

Bandt has repeatedly said the party promotes peaceful protests. Earlier at his press conference, he said:

We’ve been crystal clear that as a party of peace and non-violence, protests must be peaceful with respect to people and property.

Last week, I made clear that we’d back the organisers’ calls that there should not be vandalism or similar. We have been crystal clear on that.

And I think had the government been engaging in parliament yesterday in good faith, they would have known that – they would have known that we have made that crystal clear.

What we are expressing support for is peaceful protests across the country, calling for the government to do something to bring pressure to bear on this extreme Israeli war cabinet because the slaughter is getting worse, children are dying because they can’t get enough to eat or drink.

And at the moment, I know the prime minister is desperate to make it about anything other than the children who are dying in Gaza and the people who are being slaughtered. The prime minister is desperate to distract from the ongoing invasion, the massive human suffering that we are witnessing before our eyes, and instead to make it about something else. Because people have been bringing pressure to bear and want the government to join the global calls for peace.

Updated

Australia has ‘not been as good a partner as we would have liked’ to Pacific nations, Wong says

The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has acknowledged shortcomings in Australia’s previous engagement with Pacific island countries, as she sought to build ties with the new government of Solomon Islands.

Speaking from Honiara, Wong stressed the importance of being responsive to each county’s priorities. She told ABC TV:

Well, look, certainly with PNG and Tuvalu and also Fiji, you have seen an approach Australia is taking, where, as I’ve said previously, we do want to be better and more involved members of the Pacific family and that will mean different things with different countries. And so it’s for Solomon Islands to consider how it wants to approach the engagement and look at how the relationship can grow as we move forward.

And we look forward to that continued dialogue and we are serious about having a good dialogue on that front. Richard Marles, as you know, was here just a couple of weeks ago. You have me here now. We will continue to have very senior engagement from the Australian government. And we look forward to a very productive discussion.

One thing I would say is we know that in the past Australia has not been as good a partner, as involved a partner, as we would have liked – and we saw that under previous governments. Well, we are serious about making sure we continue the same momentum you have seen since we were elected to office in our engagement with the Pacific, respectful, listening, acting on their priorities.

Updated

Penny Wong continues:

What I would say is we do need a ceasefire. We voted many months ago with over 150 other countries for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. We have President Biden, of the United States, putting on the table a ceasefire plan.

We have seen what is happening in Rafah to civilians, to children.

We have seen all of this, and we in Australia join with others in the world to say to all parties, it is time for people to adhere to President Biden’s ceasefire plan.

Q: I know these things are not always publicly telegraphed but as far as I can discern, there is no public indication that Netanyahu is seriously negotiating the President Biden proposal that has been put to Israel, Hamas and other intermediaries – does this mean prime minister Netanyahu is thumbing his nose at Israel’s most steadfast ally?

Wong:

I’m going to leave commentary to others but what I would say is, when the president of the United States, as you said, a long-standing friend and ally of Israel, puts a ceasefire plan on the table, then it is in Israel’s interests for them to take that forward.

We have seen what is happening, we have seen what is happening in Rafah, we do not want this.

We have said to the Israelis, very publicly, do not go down this path. We again urge alongside all other G7 countries and countries all over the world, we urge all parties to adhere to Preston Biden’s ceasefire plan.

Updated

Question to Penny Wong:

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has threatened what he calls “very strong action” on the northern Israeli border after attacks by Hezbollah launched from Lebanon. The IDF chief, in a similar vein, has said they are, “ready for an offensive there”. Is this threat of the long feared regional escalation and do you take this seriously as such?

Wong:

We have taken seriously the risk of regional escalation or horizontal escalation very seriously from the beginning and you might recall very early on, after the horrific events of October 7, that I called for restraint and I also called, engaged in terms of trying to ensure we could add our voice to those urging against escalation elsewhere, for Israelis and their security, but also for the security of the border region. So, of course, we would urge calm, we would urge restraint.

It is not in the interest of the countries of the region, it is not in Israel’s interests for there to be escalation. That has been the position Australia has advocated for since the beginning.

Updated

Penny Wong meets with new Solomon Islands prime minister

The foreign minister, Penny Wong, is speaking to the ABC from Honiara, where she is meeting with the new prime minister of Solomon Islands, Jeremiah Manele.

This is a country which is important to the stability and future of the region so, of course, I have come here open to, listening to, the priorities that prime minister Manele and others have put to us, what their priorities are, what their economic priorities are.

We are up for a broader relationship, a deeper relationship.

We are already the number one development partner but we understand that this government has priorities in terms of how it wishes to navigate its challenges, and has an economic agenda, it has substantial fiscal issues to deal with. It has a desire, as we do, to see its people engage in meaningful, well-paid work that is high-skilled.

So obviously, these are the sorts of things Australia can work with Solomon Islands on.

Updated

So with the government voting against the suspension of standing orders, this will go to its inevitable conclusion – the suspension motion being voted down. (As the government has the numbers in the house).

Bill Shorten takes this opportunity to talk about what he sees as the Coalition’s record on the NDIS.

(Not great, in case you were wondering).

Dan Tehan says he doesn’t know if Shorten is for or against the suspension of standing orders.

Shorten:

If they haven’t worked out that we’re voting against this suspension motion, then they’re even dimmer than I already thought.

Updated

Bill Shorten returns to apologise to chamber over Coalition press release remarks

Bill Shorten is back in the chamber, and at the table, after the Coalition suspended standing orders to have Shorten return and apologising for “misleading the house” when he claimed in question time that no Coalition NDIS minister put out a press release about fraud while minister for the NDIS.

A succession of former Coalition NDIS ministers read out previous press releases talking about fraud and demanded Shorten withdraw the comments and apologise for misleading the house.

Shorten has come back into the chamber and is ready to fight:

It enrages them [I said] you didn’t put out a press release but you’ve got zero outrage about being crap at managing the NDIS for nine years.

He is made to withdraw “crap”.

I withdraw the word crap, but you know what I mean.

He is made to withdraw again.

I withdraw the word, I apologise, I’m sorry I hurt their feelings, absolutely. Terrible.

Updated

Paul Fletcher is now trying to suspend standing orders to have Bill Shorten return to the chamber and withdraw his comments (the comments that no Coalition minister for the NDIS ever raised the issue of fraud in a NDIS press release) and correct the record.

“What we have seen is the most cynical and deliberate misleading of this house,” Fletcher says.

Tony Burke ask he withdraw “deliberate” (it’s against standing orders) and so he does.

Everyone in the Coalition is treating this issue – of whether Coalition ministers ever issued a press release about NDIS fraud while in government – very seriously.

So far, there has been no response to the Nacc announcement.

Updated

Conroy accuses Greens of dividing community for ‘short-term political advantage’

After question time, the defence industry minister, Pat Conroy, stood to add to his earlier answer about the contract with Israeli defence contractor, Elbit Systems.

Conroy said the Australian government had a contract with Hanwha (a South Korean company) to build infantry fighting vehicles in Australia for the Australian army’s use.

He did not deny that there is an arrangement with Elbit regarding elements of those infantry fighting vehicles, but said Hanwha had signed the contract with Elbit “without the commonwealth being a party to that contract”.

Conroy told parliament:

The recent data published by Dfat and referring to the export of $1.5m in ‘arms and ammunition’ to Israel in February refers to the export of a single item for the Australian Defence Force that will return to Australia, disproving the misinformation being peddled by the Greens. The misinformation being peddled by the Greens political party continues to divide our community … for short-term political advantage.

Updated

Tehan joins list of those alleging misrepresented by Shorten

Liberal MP Dan Tehan is asking for clarification about what the process is if a minister has misled the house from the speaker (he’s trying to get Milton Dick to say that the minister has to return to the house and correct the record), but Dick has been around long enough to see through what he’s doing and tells him he’s been here long enough to know the process.

Tehan is now saying he too was misrepresented by Bill Shorten when saying no Coalition ministers put out a media release on fraud, because he also put out one on the subject.

Tehan forgets to say he has been misrepresented and by who, and just starts reading out the media release he wants to talk about, so maybe he is not as across procedure as Dick thinks.

He also calls Shorten the minister for social services (that’s Amanda Rishworth) and has to be reminded that Shorten is the minister for the NDIS.

Dick looks as if he can not get to the airport lounge fast enough.

Updated

Coalition wants Shorten to correct record on NDIS fraud

Paul Fletcher and Karen Andrews are now challenging Bill Shorten’s assertion during question time that no Coalition minister for the NDIS put out anything about fraud in the NDIS, listing out the media releases they put out on the subject.

They want Shorten to return to the chamber to correct the record.

Updated

Question time over

Now that we have had the worst dixer ever, question time ends.

Pat Conroy “seeks to add to an answer … because the microphone cut out”.

(The microphone cut out because they were out of time for the answer.)

Updated

Competition for worst dixer ever

It has taken to the end of the two week session, but we have it.

The worst dixer, maybe ever:

My question is to the prime minister – when parliament returns in two weeks, which [of] the Albanese Labor government’s plans will be coming into effect, and are there any alternatives being proposed?

Just a reminder, the lowest a MP is paid is $212,000.

Updated

There is another very similar question about PsiQuantum from Melissa Price:

Has the deputy prime minister or his office met with PsiQuantum’s lobbyists, his former chief of staff, Lidija Ivanovski, or the treasurer’s former senior staffer Gerard Richardson or arranged or facilitated any such meetings with any other minister or their staff?

Marles refers the member to his previous answer.

Updated

Richard Marles answered that question:

The decisions around the funding of PsiQuantum have all occurred in the appropriate way, in accordance with all the processes leading up to the budget.

There was appropriate national security assessments done in relation to this investment.

And again, that was undertaken through all the mechanisms of the, the cabinet and the cabinet’s committee processes and all the meetings that have occurred in the process of this have happened in accordance with the cabinet code of conduct.

Updated

Marles questioned over PsiQuantum contract

Liberal MP for Casey, Aaron Violi asks Richard Marles:

My question is to the deputy prime minister. I refer to the government’s decision to commit $940m of taxpayers money to the American company PsiQuantum without holding an open tender process. Has the deputy prime minister or his office met with Lidija Ivanovski lobbyist, his former chief of staff, or the treasurer’s former senior staffer, Gerard Richardson, or arranged or facilitated any such meetings with any other minister or their staff?

This is a continuation of what came up in estimates yesterday. Here is what Paul Karp reported then:

The Coalition wants to grill industry department officials about a contract for King & Wood Mallesons to provide legal services checking the probity of the $1bn deal for PsiQuantum to build a quantum computer in Brisbane.

The one year contract was initially worth $282,300 when first published in August 2023 but has undergone a series of nine variations, and is now worth $3,280,311. The Coalition wants to ask why.

But when Liberal Andrew Bragg tried to get the ball rolling with the department’s corporate group, he was told to ask the technology and investment taskforce which is responsible for the procurement, who is due to appear after 6pm.

After a short adjournment, Bragg returned with some questions about the legal division. Officials said it was “not unusual” to contract external lawyers, as occurred for the PsiQuantum probity contract. Labor’s Tim Ayres said the internal legal capability tended to deal with HR, commercial leases, and risk management. But “executing a process around an investment” was done externally.

Ayres said he anticipated that the Coalition’s “very good questions” would have “very good answers”. “You’re not going to be able to get much satisfaction [from these officials],” he suggested.

Still, Bragg ploughed on. The department’s secretary, Meghan Quinn, said it was “not unusual” for a contract value to be increased if the department was taking a “phased approach” to a procurement, as occurred for the PsiQuantum due diligence and commercial process. As one negotiates complex legal documents that stand for decades, one needs more legal services, she said.

Ayres said the PsiQuantum deal was a “significant investment, not handing out a grant”. Ayres said it was “quite odd” for the Coalition to pick on increasing the value of the contract when it was “absolutely normal” to require more legal services after each phase of due diligence concluded.

Updated

Albanese continues on Gaza:

We have, of course, continued to reiterate our opposition to the ground offensive in Rafah. We called that out, including in advance with the joint statement by myself, the prime minister of Canada and New Zealand, where we said this, there is growing international consensus.

Israel must listen to its friends and it must listen to the international community.

The protection of civilians is paramount and a requirement under international humanitarian law.

Palestinian civilians cannot be made to pay the price of defeating Hamas. We are clear that a sustainable ceasefire is necessary to finding a path towards securing lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians.

Ultimately, a negotiated political solution is needed to achieve lasting peace and security. Australia, Canada and New Zealand remain steadfast in their commitment to a two state solution.

We also have supported the call by President Biden and the US proposition, which would see an end to the conflict.

We have consistently voted for month after month in the United Nations for UN resolutions calling for a cessation of conflict. As President Biden has said, a deal would allow the United States and our partners to begin the work to rebuild homes, schools and hospitals in Gaza to help repair communities destroyed in the chaos

Updated

Australia ‘deeply concerned’ about humanitarian situation in Gaza: PM

Zali Steggall asks:

Prior to the 7 October terrorist attacks, approximately 15,000 trucks a month delivered essential humanitarian aid, including food, fuel and water, to Gaza. I understand that approximately only 2020 trucks entered Gaza last month, so only 13% of previous levels. Many Australians have grave concerns of impending levels of catastrophic food and water insecurity, and a famine may soon be declared. What steps is the government taking within its power to ensure essential humanitarian aid, food and water gets to Gaza?

Anthony Albanese reads most of this answer:

Indeed, Australia does remain deeply concerned about the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. We continue to call for safe, unimpeded and sustained access for humanitarian supplies to enable life saving support for civilians in Gaza.

We are committed $62.5m in humanitarian assistance to the region since the 7th of October. That includes $41m in response to support people affected by the conflict, $11.5m to refugee programs in Lebanon and Jordan to address the ongoing regional refugee crisis, $4m to Unicef to provide urgent services, including for women and children in Gaza, and $2m to the UN senior human and reconstruction coordinators, a new mechanism to facilitate expanded humanitarian access into Gaza.

Our funding is being directed to conflict affected people, with a focus on women and children, including to support food, water, medicines and shelter.

We’re also supporting efforts by Jordan and the UAE to assist with the delivery of vital humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza.

[We’ve] supplied 140 Australian Defence Force aerial delivery parachutes for use in humanitarian assistance, airdrops by Jordan and the UAE.

Updated

New ADF recruitment policy questioned

Coalition MP Mark Coulton asks Matt Keogh, the veterans affairs minister:

Has the minister ever advocated to expand recruitment to the Australian Defence Force beyond the five eyes countries?

This is in reference to the stuff up earlier in the week, when the government announced a policy change for ADF recruitment (from 1 July, New Zealand permanent residents will be eligible to apply and from 1 January 2025, permanent residents from the remaining five eye security partnership countries, the UK, the US and Canada will be able to apply).

Keogh, in a press conference, said it was open to any permanent resident from 1 January 2025, which kicked off a day of confusion, until the matter was “clarified” in the afternoon.

(This was all on a day where Keogh was also being touted by some media organisations as a potential replacement for Andrew Giles in the immigration portfolio if Albanese follows through with the expected ministerial reshuffle over the winter break.)

Keogh eventually gets to:

As I said on Tuesday, as did the deputy prime minister, we have spoken about then looking at our Pacific Island neighbours, those that are in our region, and we’ll look to, to that in that direction. After we’ve moved through New Zealanders in July and then other five eyes nations from 1 January. That’s what I’ve spoken about. That’s what I’ve advocated for.

Updated

National corruption watchdog decides not to investigate robodebt royal commission referrals

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nacc) has announced it will not launch a corruption investigation into the six individuals referred to the watchdog after the release of robodebt royal commission’s report. It said it was “unlikely it would obtain significant new evidence” and “it would not add value in the public interest”.

In a statement on this afternoon, the Nacc said:

The Commission is conscious of the impact of the Robodebt Scheme on individuals and the public, the seniority of the officials involved, and the need to ensure that any corruption issue is fully investigated.

However, the conduct of the six public officials in connection with the Robodebt Scheme has already been fully explored by the Robodebt Royal Commission and extensively discussed in its final report. After close consideration of the evidence that was available to the Royal Commission, the Commission has concluded that it is unlikely it would obtain significant new evidence.

In the absence of a real likelihood of a further investigation producing significant new evidence, it is undesirable for a number of reasons to conduct multiple investigations into the same matter. This includes the risk of inconsistent outcomes, and the oppression involved in subjecting individuals to repeated investigations.

The announcement comes almost a year after a royal commission report found the scheme “crude and cruel” and “neither fair nor legal”.

Separate to Nacc’s investigations are concurrent inquiries by the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) and Australian Federal Police.

The Nacc confirmed five of the six public officials it was investigating were also the subject of APSC referrals.

In Senate estimates last week, the APS commissioner, Gordon de Brouwer, confirmed seven findings had been made so far against referred bureaucrats while a further seven are still under way.

The APSC also confirmed four of those facing sanctions were still employed as public servants.

Updated

Wilkie grills PM over gambling advertising

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie asks:

It’s obvious the government doesn’t want [a] gambling advertising ban because it’s [getting] … backlash from the media and big sporting codes and doesn’t want to lose donations from the gambling companies. But this is entirely at odds with community expectations and what an unanimous parliamentary inquiry recommended a year ago. Why don’t you do your job and ban the advertising? [Why] don’t you get it done?

Anthony Albanese goes through what the government has done so far, but Wilkie wants to know what is being done on the actual ban. After a back and forth over point of orders, Albanese gets to the substantive part of the question and says:

Now, the government is continuing to examine further issues. What more can be done, including further restrictions on gambling advertising? But we want to make sure it’s not much good if you’re shutting down an ad in one place, only for it to pop up somewhere else.

The truth is that these issues are complex, because people in 2024 don’t just have televisions or radios – they carry with them devices where ads can pop up and appear, where people can get access not just from Australia, but access from overseas as well, without any controls whatsoever.

Because of the nature of the accounts and the nature of those devices and the nature of the way that the internet operates with VPNs. So we want to make sure that any measures that are taken actually can deliver on the outcome that we want.

We want people to not engage in gambling in a way that damages families – that causes harm, that causes addiction – because we know that can have a devastating impact on the community.

But we do want to make sure that any measures are got right. And that’s why I would encourage the member to continue to work with the government on these issues to make sure, indeed, that we do get it right.

Updated

Faruqi calls proposed cap on international students ‘racist dog-whistling’

In education estimates, the Greens deputy leader, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has described the federal government’s proposed cap on international students as “racist dog-whistling” and “xenophobia”.

Faruqi asked which department the proposal came from – home affairs, immigration or education.

I really want to know where this racist dog whistling was cooked up … the policy is based on what? Speculation, xenophobia as far as I can see … every single person that I have spoken to … opposes international student caps.

The assistant minister for education, Senator Anthony Chisholm, said a “number of reviews” into migration had taken place under Labor, including the Parkinson Review and the Nixon Review, while unable to point to a specific department.

Faruqi:

Why is the government using international students as a football in this match to see which of the two major parties, Labor or Coalition are the most racist?”

Chisholm:

That’s completely untrue and it’s not the way the government are operating. It’s important we maintain confidence in the system and manage it in a sustainable way.

Updated

Sukkar asks Shorten if NDIS funds sex workers and cocaine

Michael Sukkar has a question for Bill Shorten:

The minister designed the NDIS and been responsible minister for two years. Is it still possible for taxpayers money to be spent through the NDIS for [sex workers] and cocaine?

Shorten:

The question is no au revoir today my friend (That is in reference to the a news.com story that Bill Shorten was reportedly sounded out by Anthony Albanese for the French ambassador role. Shorten has said he is not going anywhere).

All … jokes aside, returning to the issue of the NDIS, it has never, ever in the time of the NDIS been legal to spend money on illicit drugs or on [sex workers].

Sukkar has a point of order that is not a point of order. Milton Dick asks for the issue to be handled with respect, and Shorten continues:

The scheme does have its problems with fraud, that is true. And we heard at estimates, the work of this government is going to crack down on it. I went [to] my file about [it] when … the ministers of the government started talking about fraud, and I went through all of the seven Coalition ministers for the NDIS – do you know they never put out one press release on challenging or detecting fraud? Not one. Zero.

Nothing.

So, really, the assumption the opposition member is making is that somehow this – under this government, fraud has started and it was never existing under the previous government.

The real story of the NDIS is that it’s a great idea and is changing lots of lives, there are a lot of good service providers in it and participants are benefiting.

But it is not working as it should. And, yes, I agree, some people are … bleeding participants. There … are reports, which this government [has] been discovering … well, we are the ones discovering the fraud.

Updated

Treasurer defends further accusations over the economy

Sussan Ley is up with the next non-government question and asks Jim Chalmers:

Labor has weakened the economy, hurting small families and businesses with its economic decisions. Yesterday’s national accounts shows that Australia has been in a GDP per capita recession for the last five quarters.

Business owner Stuart Knox told Ten news that if the GFC was ten out of ten, this is 20 out of 20.

Does the treasurer seriously believe that business owners like Stuart are wrong and his economic plan is right?

It seems the coalition have got the memo from their focus groups that it is all about the economy with middle Australia at the moment.

Chalmers:

It is gutsy to ask a question about Stuart and small business when they voted against helping small businesses with their energy bills, and if you really cared about Stuart and his small business, you wouldn’t have done that, Mr Speaker, they wouldn’t have done that, so I think people see through these sorts of questions from those opposite.

Those opposite couldn’t give a stuff about people who are doing it tough, Mr Speaker.

If they have their way, inflation would be higher and growth would be weaker and the budget would be in worse nick. Now I say to Stuart, I say to the small business people of this country, I say to families and pensioners right around Australia, that we recognise that the economy is soft and that times are tough, but more than that, we are responding in the budget [with] cost-of-living relief and support for small business, Mr Speaker.

Updated

Claims and counter-claims over Australia’s military ties with Israel

There were a few claims and counter-claims there regarding military ties with Israel, so let’s try to work our way through the details.

Max Chandler-Mather said “this year, Labor awarded a $917m contract” to Israeli company Elbit Systems. This relates to the project in which Australia is seeking new infantry fighting vehicles. In August last year, the Australian government announced that the primary contractor for those infantry fighting vehicles would be the South Korean firm, Hanwha. Then in February this year, Elbit announced that it had been awarded a contract to supply systems to Hanwha as part of that project. This particular contract is worth $917m.

The minister for defence ministry, Pat Conroy, appeared to suggest this was not a direct contract with the Australian government (although it’s true to say that Elbit is working on systems for infantry fighting vehicles that will ultimately be used by the Australian army).

In his answer, Anthony Albanese took aim at the Greens’ broader messaging about Australian exports to Israel – including Australia’s ongoing role in the F-35 fighter aircraft supply chain. Albanese did not deny Australia’s continued involvement, but said Australia was one of “18 like-minded” countries contributing to the US-led supply chain.

Albanese also specifically took aim at the Greens’ use of exporter-reported trade data from February.

The Greens said in a statement in April: “Just published data from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade shows that in February 2024 alone Australia directly exported over $1.5m in ‘arms and ammunition’ to Israel.”

But Department of Defence officials rejected that characterisation on Wednesday, noting that the data published by Dfat was based on what exporters marked as the most relevant category.

The department’s first assistant secretary, David Nockels, told Senate estimates:

We have assured ourselves that what has been publicly put forward in the media is in fact incorrect and that it is not arms and ammunition. The most recent figure … $1.5m is for a single item – that is a return-to-Australia-item that falls under the category of what we’ve just been talking about in that it supports Australian defence capability.

In other words, the government is saying that is a piece of equipment that is returning to Israel for repairs or work before it is due to return to Australia for Australia’s use.

More details here:

Updated

Treasurer defends accusation government has ‘weakened the economy’

Angus Taylor has another question for Jim Chalmers (this is becoming a daily question time habit):

The Albanese Labor government has weakened the economy and hurt families and small businesses with its economic decisions. The treasurer has said the collapse in economic growth, combined with rising core inflation, is ‘part of a perfectly calibrated plan’.

If a five quarters GDP per capita recession is part of a perfect plan, what economic failure is next in the treasurers plan?

Chalmers:

I said the current economic conditions justify the position we have taken on the budget and I stand by that; and I gave a detailed answer a moment ago about why that’s the case; and I’m happy to repeat the main points that I made earlier on; and that is if we had followed the advice of those opposite – hundreds of billions of dollars of cuts – that would have been diabolical for the conditions that people are confronting right now in a soft economy, and people who are under pressure.

And I tell you what, Mr Speaker, I won’t be taking lectures from the people who left us more than $1tn of Liberal debt, with almost nothing to show for it; and I won’t be taking lectures from the poster child of wastes and rorts in the budget we were left to clean up; and I won’t be taking lectures from those opposite who left us inflation with a six in front of it and it now has a three in front of it.

Updated

Anthony Albanese continues that answer:

I am pleased to state that permits are required, export permits are required for a wide range of goods and technology, many for civilian and commercial purposes and their listed publicly on the defence industry checklist.

It is beyond my comprehension why anyone in this place would seek to suggest that Australia were participants in a conflict when we are not. When we are simply not. When we are simply not.

When we have called for repeatedly, repeatedly called for a ceasefire.

When the member says about the F-35 program, Australia first engaged in 2002 – Australia is one of 18 like-minded nations, including Norway, Denmark, Canada and [the] Netherlands, [which] operate the F-35 and contribute to its global supply chain. They know that that is the case as well, Mr Speaker.

That they seek, they seek in a divisive way to raise these issues in order to, in order to than weaponised them and cause division.

He tries to hand over to the minister for defence industry, Pat Conroy, to speak about the Hanwha contract, but they are out of time.

Updated

Greens MP questions PM over contract with Israeli weapons corporation

Max Chandler-Mather:

This year, Labor awarded a $917m contract to Israel weapons corporation Elbit systems, the same company that made the drone that Israel used to bomb the World Central Kitchen convoy, killing Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom.

Elbit is one of the largest suppliers of the Israeli military as it carries out a genocide in Gaza. Elbit Systems is blacklisted in other countries for violation of humanitarian law, why won’t the Government cancel the Elbit System contract?

Anthony Albanese:

It is a fact that there have been no weapons or ammunition exported to Israel in the last five years. That information was confirmed in Senate estimates just this week, defence officials confirmed that recent data published by DFAT referring to the export of weapons to Israel in February refers to the export of a single item for the Australian Defence Force that will return to Australia once it’s fixed.

This is proving the misinformation being peddled by yourself. At that time, it is a fact that defence export permits that were issued to Israel over the last five years is for items under than weapons and ammunition is of ADF equipment which has been repaired.

Now, the export permits should not be confused with weapon sales but I suspect the member knows this.

Chandler-Mather raises a point of order on relevance, saying the prime minister has not spoken about the Elbit contract.

Tony Burke:

The misinformation continues on the point of order, the question was much broader than that and was asked on television, people heard the question was much broader than that and the Prime Minister is being relevant.

The government is really hoping that line is going to catch on.

Updated

Dutton asks PM to ‘rule out’ governing with Greens support

Back in question time, Peter Dutton has a question for Anthony Albanese:

Given the antisemitic conduct of the Greens political party and the prime minister’s justified condemnation of them yesterday, will the prime minister rule out governing with the support of the Greens?

Milton Dick says that is bordering on a hypothetical but says Albanese can answer if he wishes.

Albanese wishes:

I am reminded of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and what the meaning of life is. In this case, the meaning of life is 78, which is how many members we have over this side. We seek a majority government. I said very clearly and consistently so.

Dutton has a point of order which is not a point of order.

The prime minister was asked a direct question, to show the Australian people whether he’s got any backbone …

Dick sits him down with another warning about using points of order to make additional statements and Albanese continues:

He is very angry, the leader of the opposition. And perhaps his angry because one by one, the people who were sitting there who go and set up the back there, one by one, he loses people. He lost them before Calare, he lost the member for Monash, up there, Hollie Hughes, of course, Senator Hughes, he lost last week. The one thing that people facing preselections in the Liberal Party hope for is that they don’t get endorsed by this bloke.

Because in the previous preselections, he endorsed candidates, endorsed two of them, and the only one that got out, the one that got up, was the one he didn’t endorse, Mr Speaker.

And now, he sits in the Senate. [David Sharma]

Mr Speaker, we seek, as the Australian Labor party, to govern by ourselves. We are not part of a coalition - you are. You are. The only coalition party in this – place, is a Liberal party with the National party.

The [agreement] when they [were] last in government, they refused to publish, refused to publish the deal between the Liberal party and the National party.

The Australian Labor party proudly does not govern in a coalition with any political party, nor will we in the future, Mr Speaker.

Nor will be in the future.

Updated

Adam Bandt ‘not fit to be in public office’ over Gaza position, Dutton tells 2GB

Ahead of question time, Peter Dutton spoke to Sydney radio station 2GB where he again criticised Greens leader Adam Bandt.

When asked about Bandt by Hadley, Dutton said people should have a conversation with their kids and grandkids about how “evil” the Greens were.

They’re all about radical causes, and somehow Adam Bandt, who I think is not fit to be in public office, has led a party now that is central to what we’re seeing on campuses and the distribution of, of hate and antisemitic messages online the chanting of ‘river to the sea’, etc.

And people, as we’ve talked about before, in the Jewish community, are living in fear, and when people say that this is a repeat of the 1930s, every decent, honourable Australian should stand up to make sure that, that it’s not a repeat of the 1930s.

Earlier, Bandt was asked directly for a response to Dutton’s comments on 2GB.

Bandt replied:

I will not be lectured to about peace and non-violence from a prime minister and opposition leader who back the invasion of Gaza.

Updated

Littleproud asks PM to commit to preference Greens last

Question time begins and opens with the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, asking the prime minister:

Will the prime minister commit to preference in Green candidates last in every electorate at the next election?

There are questions over whether the question is in order, but Milton Dick allows it and says the prime minister can answer it if he wishes.

Anthony Albanese:

You have hinted in your ruling what my answer will be, which is that those matters are all matters for the organisation of the party that we went through, but we certainly won’t be taking lectures from the mob who want to preference One Nation.

Updated

Question time will be delayed, as both Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton will make statements on indulgence on the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

Victoria apologies for racism in education system

At today’s hearings of the Yorrrook Justice commission, the head of Victoria’s department of education, Jenny Atta, issued a formal apology for past practices, including ‘enforcing racist stereotypes’ about Aboriginal people, actively excluding Aboriginal children from schools – in some cases as late as 1956 – and perpetuating a ‘mindset of low expectation’ for First Nations students.

Atta said:

I acknowledge and unreservedly apologise for the historical failings of the Victorian government education system. I acknowledge and apologise that still today we have not been more effective in eliminating racism in all its forms from our schools, ensuring that a culturally safe learning environment exists across all parts of our system, and ensuring young people are supported to reach their full potential across our system.

I take this opportunity to recommit the department to learning from the findings and recommendations that will emerge from these hearings and continue to strengthen Aboriginal self-determination in education.


The hearings will continue into the afternoon when the leadership of each the Melbourne, Monash and Deakin universities appear. Truth telling will be on the agenda given the University of Melbourne’s recent release of a book chronicling its own legacy in dealing with Aboriginal people.

Updated

The last question time until the parliament resumes on 24 June is about to get under way.

If you need to grab something to get through it, no judgment here.

Updated

PM says he has called out antisemitism ‘my whole life’

The prime minister was in Adelaide this morning after speaking at the ACTU conference.

He was asked about what happened in question time yesterday:

Q: What made you finally join with Peter Dutton to call out the Greens and antisemitism?

Anthony Albanese: I’ve called out antisemitism my whole life.

That was the entire response.

Updated

Here is the historic moment the NSW premier apologised for laws that criminalised homosexuality:

Updated

Greens MP calls for $1100 fine for release of one helium balloon

Back in the NSW parliament, Greens MP Kobi Shetty has called for the state to go further on its helium balloon release ban by making the letting go of one balloon an offence, with a $1100 fine.

Currently, the release of more than 20 balloons is banned because of the impact they can have on the environment and marine life.

There is no sign the Labor government will support the change.

Updated

The exchange Natasha May reported on earlier during health estimates about ACT health costs won’t come as a surprise to anyone who has had to access the territory’s health system, but here is how it played out:

Updated

Liberal MP argues government unable to discuss antisemitism separate to Islamophobia

The Liberal MP, Julian Leeser, has told parliament the government is “unable to say antisemitism without saying Islamophobia in the same breath”.

Leeser was seeking to suspend standing orders to bring on debate about his private member’s bill to set up a commission of inquiry into antisemitism at Australian universities, saying “so many Jewish Australians are always at the forefront pushing back against the bigotry against other groups and yet at our time of need we feel abandoned”.

According to the explanatory memorandum, Leeser’s proposed inquiry would have similar powers to a royal commission and would “exclusively focus on antisemitism on university campuses in Australia” and “would not extend to other aspects of Australian life, except to the extent that it bears on antisemitism at universities”.

A 16-paragraph motion that passed the parliament with bipartisan support in October included condemnation of “all forms of hate speech and violent extremist activity, including antisemitism and Islamophobia”.

Leeser told parliament today:

Can I say, as a Jewish Australian, I am so sick and tired of this government, the human rights commission, universities and other bodies in Australia being unable to say antisemitism without saying Islamophobia in the same breath.

To fail to singularly identify and call out the particularity of antisemitism, and indeed the largest increase in antisemitism in our history, in and of itself is antisemitic.

And it creates some sort of dangerous narrative for our social harmony that suggests a Jewish-Muslim conflict here in Australia when so much of the antisemitism is actually propagated by the militant socialist left.

Islamophobia is a bad thing and it should be called out and it must be called out and properly dealt with. After the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, there was heightened Islamophobia in this country, and no one was saying at that time we can’t mention Islamophobia without mentioning antisemitism in the same breath. But the level and scale of antisemitism at the moment is unprecedented in the history of this country.

Figures compiled by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry show 662 antisemitic incidents were reported in October and November 2023, representing a 738% increase compared with the same months in 2022.

The Islamophobia Register Australia has said that in the seven weeks after 7 October, it received 230 reports of Islamophobia, a 13-fold increase when compared with previous levels. Both organisations have reported a “surge” in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents reported on Australian university campuses.

The parliamentary debate was adjourned.

Updated

MPs applaud people affected by laws in public gallery

The NSW premier finishes speaking and there is applause from the MPs directed at those in the public galleries who have been invited to attend today, either because they were directly affected by the laws, were related or loved those who were, or were part of the fight to overturn them.

Updated

Minns calls NSW’s former treatment of lesbians ‘deeply wrong’

Chris Minns said lesbians were also targeted, losing jobs, family and, in some cases, their children because of the laws and attitudes of the time:

This was a time when many lesbians felt invisible, like they didn’t exist. If their partner was sick or dying in hospital, they may not be allowed in to see them.

The state didn’t recognise their relationship or see them as what they fundamentally were – part of a family.

Others were judged as unsuitable mums had their children taken from them just because of their sexuality.

… This was deeply wrong. And all of it was our fault.

So today we say we are very sorry.

Updated

Minns outlines ‘severe’ punishments and court ordered medical treatments gay community endured

Chris Minns is going through some of the personal testimony of people who were prosecuted under NSW’s old laws, who were unable to get jobs because of the criminal record that came with being found guilty of being homosexual and were persecuted by the police.

Minns:

Because the punishments were severe if they were caught, men could be arrested and locked up. To save themselves, they were encouraged to inform on their partners and on other members of the gay community, and that was to avoid jail time.

Many also accepted the so called court endorsed treatments that included, shamefully, electric shock therapy, where a voltage was pumped through a patient’s body while they were shown pictures of naked men and others were given drugs designed to bring on nausea and vomiting.

Now, of course, none of it works – you can’t shock someone out of who they love, and you can’t rewire their basic humanity.

And one of the great advantages in recent years has been the discrediting of aversion therapy and conversion therapy and other forms of pseudoscience.

Updated

NSW premier Chris Minns continues:

Forty years ago, New South Wales ended the legal criminalisation of homosexuality in this state.

And here, today, as a parliament and as a state, as people who want to make good, we’re here to apologise for every life that was damaged or diminished or destroyed by these unjust laws.

To those who survived these terrible years and to those who never made it through: we are truly sorry.

We’re sorry for every person convicted under legislation that should never have existed; for every person who experienced loss as a result of that legislation; everyone who lost a job, who lost their future, or who lost the love of family and friends.

We are very sorry for every person convicted or otherwise, who were made to live a small life because of these … laws.

People who reached the end of their days without ever voicing who they really were, without ever experiencing the greatest of human joys which is the joy of love.

We are sorry.

And as a state, we told you, you were wrong.

But the truth is, you are never wrong. These laws were wrong.

Updated

Minns apologises to LGBTIQ people for laws that criminalised homosexuality

The NSW premier, Chris Minns, is issuing an apology in parliament to LGBTIQ people who were discriminated against by laws that criminalised homosexuality.

I move that this house, on behalf of the people of New South Wales, apologises unreservedly to those convicted under discriminatory laws that criminalised homosexual acts; recognises and regrets this parliament’s role in enacting laws and endorsing policies of successive governments and decisions that criminalised, persecuted and harmed people based on their sexuality and gender; recognises the trauma that people of diverse sexualities their families and loved ones have endured and continue to live with.

And lastly, acknowledges that there’s still much more work to do to ensure the equal rights of all members of the LGBTQIA plus community.

Updated

Alex Greenwich tells committee examining equality bill to ‘get out of our pants’

Independent NSW MP Alex Greenwich – who’s promoting his equality bill to address barriers to LGBTQ+ health and wellbeing – says he has one message for colleagues: “Get out of our bedrooms, get out of our pants and let us live our lives.”

A parliamentary committee has recommended the bill proceed for consideration next week. Greenwich will today seek a commitment from the NSW attorney general, Michael Daley, to develop the legislation so it can be passed.

The bill would ensure access to gender affirming state documentation, a model for consent in medical procedures on people with intersex variations and removal of targeted discrimination, including in schools.

The NSW premier, Chris Minns, will today formally apologise to those affected by past laws which criminalised homosexuality.

Greenwich said the stories of those affected by that criminalisation were “eerily similar” to the experiences felt by people in the community today.

Forty years later, we are still the last in the nation when it comes to LGBTQ rights.

Updated

Senator Sarah Henderson is pressing the department of education as to why legislation to reform the indexation of student loans is yet to have been implemented.

The measures, outlined in the budget last month, would wipe out around $3bn in Hecs/Help loans by changing indexation to whatever is lower out of the CPI or the WPI to account for soaring inflation.

At the beginning of the month, loans rose by 4.7%, however the education minister said this would be reversed once legislation passed and backdated to 1 June 2023.

Henderson:

The minister received the recommendation in the Universities Accord final report last December, why did the minister sit on his hands and not have this legislation ready?”

Assistant education minister Senator Anthony Chisholm says that’s a “ridiculous assertion”.

We said that we were going to deal with this in the budgetary context which is what we’ve done … it should be something welcomed from those opposite and I look forward to their support for the legislation.”

Henderson repeats she finds it “extraordinary” legislation isn’t ready.

Chisholm:

We are a different government to yours Senator Henderson, I know you’re used to the chaotic nature of your show but that’s not how we operate. We go through these things in a methodical manner.”

A weary Chair says as much as some might be enjoying the “to-ing and fro-ing”, it makes for a “very long day” for the rest of us.

‘I want every crook out of the scheme’: Shorten does media rounds on NDIS fraud

The NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, has continued his media spree this morning to draw attention to issues of fraud within the NDIS.

Officials from the National Disability Insurance Agency told a Senate estimates hearing on Monday night “dozens” of dodgy service providers had sold participants illegal substances bought with NDIS funding.

Talking to ABC radio this morning, Shorten said the scale of fraud within the system is still not entirely clear because “crooks don’t self-report”.

What we’ve got to do is not just do whack-a-mole, which is what we’re doing. We’ve intensively increased resources at the Safeguards Commission [watchdog] and the NDIA while we try and catch people, detect them, increase the industrial level of our policing, so to speak.

The Victorian Labor frontbencher pointed to the difficulty in pleasing all sides, saying “far-rightwing” critics attack the government for not doing enough while others warn talking about dodgy providers or participants doing the wrong thing is “demonising” them.

I want every crook out of the scheme. I loathe them. I think ripping off disabled people is just scum activity, and I can’t stand them.

Discussing flagged changes to the scheme’s registration requirements, Shorten explained the “laissez-faire” approach could not continue.

NDIS participants can currently choose between registered and unregistered services providers. The NDIA estimates there are more than 150,000 unregistered providers while those registered amount to just below 20,000.

Shorten said:

The NDIS has been a remarkable experiment in the unregistered world of just laissez-faire. Just pay the money and don’t worry about who or what’s doing anything. That’s not sustainable. There’s a lot of great unregistered providers, don’t get me wrong. But we can’t have this system where some people have a driver’s licence to go on the road and others drive and don’t have to have a driver’s licence.”

Updated

There has been a heated exchange in Senate estimates over the government’s future gas strategy - specifically, its decision to quote an Indigenous corporation opposed to gas expansion in a strategy that argues the fossil fuel has a long future.

My colleague Graham Readfearn reported last month that the Nurrdalinji Native Title Aboriginal Corporation believed its views had been misrepresented in the strategy released by the resources minister, Madeleine King.

The strategy quotes the corporation saying energy security is a “pressing issue” and loss of electricity supply made it difficult to store medicine and food and “hard to sleep and for children to turn up at school”.

Samuel Sandy, the corporation chair, said its submission supported “solar, not gas” and asked the government to remove its quote from the report.

The Greens senator Dorinda Cox raised the issue with officials from the Department of Industry, Science and Resources.

The department secretary, Meghan Quinn, defended the use of the corporation’s quote, reasoning it was “not used in the context of gas”.

It was used in the context of energy security for regional communities.

Cox argued that - given the report says the country will need new sources of gas for use “to 2050 and beyond” - the context of the entire strategy was gas.

While Quinn said the department had been given permission to quote the corporation, Cox said it did not “have permission to use it in that context”.

It is a lack of respect for black people.

Nacc decision due on individuals referred over robodebt

The national anti-corruption commission will publish a statement on its decision following the referral of individuals by the royal commission into the robodebt scheme.

The statement will be published today at 3pm AEST on the commission’s website.

Updated

Mark Dreyfus was then asked about the internal debate in the Labor party over Gaza.

Host:

Isn’t there a bit of a double standard in the Labor party – Josh Burns criticised the government’s policy on the Middle East and he seems to be allowed to. Fatima Payman from WA criticised the government policy and gets punished. Isn’t that a double standard?

Dreyfus, in what he says are general comments, not applying to anyone directly says:

I think that every person in public life in Australia has got a responsibility to bring the community together, not to divide it.

I’d urge everyone participating in this debate about the shocking events that have occurred in the Middle East starting with the massacre of October 7th – everyone commenting has got a responsibility to think about the language that they’re using, to think about not directing personal attacks, think about not raising prejudice and hatred in the community.

… I’m not commenting on anyone in particular, I’m offering here a general comment about the way in which people participating in public life need to be careful about what they say and need to be careful about not spreading disinformation and misinformation.

They need to be trying to bring the community together, not to divide it and not blame members of the Australian community for events occurring on the other side of the world in a horrible conflict that many, many Australians are very concerned about, but let’s not turn on each other when we are trying to debate and discuss the events in the Middle East.

Updated

Dreyfus tells ABC he hopes News Corp chair adheres to standards mentioned in NPC address

Earlier this morning, the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, spoke to ABC radio Melbourne, where he was asked about News Corp executive Michael Miller’s speech to the national press club yesterday.

Miller said social media companies had a responsibility to act responsibly and that they “monetise misery”.

Asked about that, Dreyfus says:

There’s been a lot of criticism of the way News Corp has conducted its business as well. And everyone in the media has a responsibility in what they publish. Everyone in the media has a responsibility to make sure that what they are publishing is accurate. That it doesn’t needlessly stir up disharmony in the community

… Everyone in the media has a responsibility to not publish misinformation and disinformation.

So if Mr Miller is to be taken as offering a general commentary about the behaviour of media companies, that’s a good thing, but it’s hoped that he his own media company can keep to those standards.

Updated

Let’s take a moment to analyse that last exchange.

It is true that in late October the Australian government was calling for “humanitarian pauses”, but the language shifted over time, with Australia voting in December at the United Nations for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” and the release of hostages.

In February the Australian government said a major ground offensive in Rafah would be “unjustifiable”, with the foreign minister, Penny Wong, saying: “Our message to Israel is: listen to the world; do not go down this path.”

The government has been reluctant to call for a “permanent ceasefire”, saying any sustainable, enduring one would involve Hamas laying down its arms. But on Tuesday, Wong strengthened her language to say: “This war must end.”

The leader of the house, Tony Burke, evidently had had enough of the criticism from the Greens. He told parliament yesterday he could not see “why misinformation coming from the left is somehow noble when misinformation coming from the right is so wrong”. Burke told parliament:

The harm that is being done is beyond belief. To be telling people when there is a government calling for ceasefire that somehow it is calling for conflict is deliberate misinformation.

Bandt says Labor called for temporary ceasefire so ‘people can be fed and then the bombing can start again’

Adam Bandt accused the government of failing to “bring some pressure to bear to stop this slaughter”. The Greens leader said Labor had merely offered “hand-wringing tweets and statements that the extreme war cabinet of Benjamin Netanyahu just ignores”. Which led to this exchange with a journalist:

Reporter: Are you denying that Labor has actually called for a ceasefire in Gaza?

Bandt: Labor has been refusing to call for a permanent ceasefire.

Reporter: They’ve called repeatedly for a ceasefire, they’ve voted for a ceasefire.

Bandt:

I’m really happy to finish the sentence. Labor has refused repeatedly to call for a permanent ceasefire. What they’ve called for is a humanitarian ceasefire … a pause so that people can be fed and then the bombing can start again. And Labor has refused to actually do anything that would make a ceasefire more likely.

Reporter: Where has the government said that they want a ceasefire so that the bombing can resume again – where has the government said that?

Bandt:

Repeatedly. Labor has called for a humanitarian ceasefire, a pause. You go back and you have a look at the exact words that they have used. That’s what they’ve been calling for.

Updated

Liberal senator says education minister’s response to accusations of antisemitism at universities ‘far too little, far too late’

Over in education estimates, Senator Sarah Henderson is continuing to press Labor senator Anthony Chisholm on the education minister’s response to accusations of antisemitism on university campuses.

She points to a letter sent to all tertiary education providers last month by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) requesting universities comply with “threshold standards”. Henderson says:

Surely the government needs to know whether universities are complying with the threshold standards and with the law.

Rebuffing this, Chisholm says the education minister, Jason Clare, has been in regular engagement with universities and TEQSA regarding campus safety.

Henderson interjects that Clare’s response has been “woeful”.

This looks very hands-off to me … it is far too little, far too late, I would put to you.

Chisholm replies:

That’s just completely untrue, Senator Henderson.

The minister wrote to all university vice-chancellors, he’s regularly engaged in meetings with different elements of the higher education sector including those from the Jewish communities as well, he’s met with TEQSA … there has been strong and consistent action from the minister on this matter now for a number of months including the 23 times he’s spoken out against antisemitism.

Henderson:

I reckon I’ve spoken out against antisemitism more than 20 times in one week so that is not a great benchmark, minister, given what is going on in this country.

Updated

Bandt pressed on whether he will condemn actions of protesters at MPs’ offices

During the press conference, Adam Bandt was repeatedly asked by reporters whether he condemned some of the actions by protesters outside electorate offices. The Greens leader was asked by one reporter:

Will you condemn them today and will you ask them to stop the blockade so that members of the community can access these offices?

Bandt said:

We’ve been crystal clear that as a party of peace and nonviolence, protests must be peaceful with respect to people and property.

Last week, I made clear that we’d back the organisers’ calls that there should not be vandalism or similar. We have been crystal clear on that.

And I think had the government been engaging in parliament yesterday in good faith, they would have known that – they would have known that we have made that crystal clear.

What we are expressing support for is peaceful protests across the country, calling for the government to do something to bring pressure to bear on this extreme Israeli war cabinet because the slaughter is getting worse, children are dying because they can’t get enough to eat or drink.

And at the moment, I know the prime minister is desperate to make it about anything other than the children who are dying in Gaza and the people who are being slaughtered. The prime minister is desperate to distract from the ongoing invasion, the massive human suffering that we are witnessing before our eyes, and instead to make it about something else. Because people have been bringing pressure to bear and want the government to join the global calls for peace.

After further questions, Bandt said:

Of course everyone deserves a safe workplace. There is no place for violence in this country. And we have made that crystal clear.

Updated

Sarah Basford Canales reported on this a little earlier in the education estimates hearing – video have pulled together some of the exchange between Sarah Henderson and Mehreen Faruqi:

Updated

Approved gas project was the only application Victoria received since 2014, premier says

Jacinta Allan said the reason there have been no other gas extraction projects approved in a decade is not the government’s doing. She said it was because the industry haven’t made any other applications in that time:

There are a number of exploration permits that have been issued, and that exploration is under way onshore and offshore right now. But the reality is the decision by the minister and the announcement by the minister today regarding Beach Energy – that’s the first production license application that the government has received since 2014.

So that itself speaks to the industry understanding that the resource that was once there in terms of the gas resource is not there into the future. So this is the first production application that has been approved since 2014 because it’s the only one that has been received by the government since 2014.

Allan:

Investors, businesses, companies are out there exploring for gas. I think it reflects the reality that it is a diminishing resource and it is one that, whilst it will play a role in our energy transition, it’s not going to play the role that it once did.

She said a condition of the new project’s approval was to make the gas available to Victorian domestic users first. She said the project will have a 15-year lifespan and will support a number of jobs.

Updated

‘Gas has a role to play’ in energy transition, Victorian premier says on approval of gas project

Earlier at her press conference in Mortlake, Jacinta Allan was asked why the government had approved its first offshore gas extraction project in a decade. She replied:

We’ve always been really clear that as Victoria makes that critically important transition to renewable energy that gas has a role to play. But in recognising that gas has a role to play in that transition, we also need to recognise what the lead scientist tells us, what the evidence tells us, that gas is a diminishing resource.

As we prepare Victoria for future energy security, we have to take on board the advice of the experts who tell us we need to, where we can, support households and businesses to become all electric. It’s a cheaper source of energy but also, too, it maintains the availability of that diminishing gas resource for those businesses and manufacturers and parts of the power industry that need that ongoing gas supply.

It’s really a commonsense transition. Coal powered fire stations are on the way out and we need to replace that energy with new renewable energy sources.

She said by 2035 gas will be “the final 5%” of Victoria’s energy:

But let’s be clear, 95% of Victoria’s energy will come from renewable energy sources.

Updated

AFP charges man who failed to comply with visa-mandated curfew under new conditions

The AFP has released a statement after a 29-year-old man allegedly failed to comply with his visa-mandated curfew.

The AFP charged the man, 29, yesterday (Wednesday 5 June, 2024) after locating him in Perth.

It will be alleged the man breached the conditions of his Commonwealth visa on Monday 3 June, 2024, by failing to observe his residential curfew obligations.

The man has been charged with: one count of failing to comply with a curfew condition, contrary to section 76C (1) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth).

Under the law, the offence carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment and a $93,900 fine.

The Albanese government applied conditions to a range of visas after the high court ruled indefinite detention was not lawful.

Updated

Parliament tensions an ‘attempt to distract from Labor’s ongoing complicity’ in Gaza invasion: Bandt

The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, is holding a doorstop (a short press conference) in Parliament House.

Bandt has told reporters that the Greens condemned antisemitism, Islamophobia and the invasion of Gaza.

The Greens condemn antisemitism. The Greens condemn Islamophobia. The Greens condemn the invasion of Gaza.

In parliament this week, we’ve seen a desperate attempt from Labor to distract from Labor’s ongoing support of the invasion of Gaza that has now seen over 36,000 people killed.

And in a desperate attempt to distract from Labor’s ongoing complicity and support for the invasion, they made a serious of outrageous accusations attempting to link the Greens to certain events that have happened at electorate offices – we are not going to be lectured to about peace and nonviolence by a prime minister that backs the invasion of Gaza.

He read out his earlier statement about the attorney general’s comments, but flagged that he wouldn’t take questions about that particular legal matter.

Bandt released this statement a little earlier this morning:

My lawyers have written to the Attorney-General regarding what I consider to be defamatory statements he made about me and the Greens yesterday.

I understand a number of media outlets have chosen to stop broadcasting and publishing his statements because of legal concerns. I welcome their restraint.

I think that the first law officer of this country should not make utterly unfounded statements and spread disinformation. No politician should do that.

I would prefer not to have to pursue these matters legally, and I hope the Attorney will respond in a proper way. The Prime Minister and Labor are not the victims in these matters. The victims are the over 36,000 people killed in the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the hostages, and the 1200 people killed on October 7, compounded by the failure of the Labor government to take action against the Israeli government’s invasion.

Updated

Medicare cost finder website cost $24.2m, health department official says

Senator David Pocock also asked about the cost of the Medicare cost finder website, which the department says was $24.2m for the total amount expended including the estimate for 2023-24.

Pocock: So over a million dollars per doctor on the website?

Galvin: If the metric is solely those doctors who have decided to list their fees. Our metric is how many people visit, how many services do we have information on.

Pocock: You could have the vast majority of people who visit be bitterly disappointed.

Galvin says there are 1,300 items listed on the website, and 150 services that doctors have identified that they think are appropriate for individual doctors to list their fees. He says 640,000 people have visited the website.

Updated

Health officials suggest Medicare site for comparing surgery costs despite it listing just 20 doctors nationally

The Senate health estimates has kicked off again today, and independent senator for the ACT David Pocock is seeking answers to why out-of-pocket surgery costs are thousands of dollars higher for the nation’s capital.

Pocock is citing data from Private Healthcare Australia that he says shows people in the ACT pay $2,500 more in out-of-pocket costs for shoulder reconstructions or repairs than the median for the rest of the country, $3,000 more for knee replacements, and $2,000 more for prostate surgery.

The example Pocock says he finds particularly “staggering” is that gallbladder removal is $1,500 more expensive in the ACT when in every other single jurisdiction it is $600 or less.

Penny Shakespeare, a deputy secretary in the department, says the primary factor as to why out-of-pocket costs differ are the individual decisions by treating surgeons as to how much they charge. Shakespeare says the government’s Medicare cost finder website allows people to compare fees, with information to assist people in ACT to compare what average costs are for a procedure before they agree to have it.

Pocock: How many doctors’ fees are registered on the Medicare cost finder website?

Another department official, Brian Kelleher, says:

Currently there are 20 doctors that have listed fees on the individual fee disclosure element of that website.

Pocock: In the ACT?

Kelleher: No, nationally.

Pocock:

Twenty doctors? … Ms Shakespeare, you just told me people can go to the website and see the different fees and make their mind up and now you tell me your website has 20 doctors in Australia with their fees.

Shakespeare: There are different parts to the website. There are individual doctors able to disclose their particular fees and then we have average fees broken down by jurisdictions.

Pocock: How does that assist people to shop around if there’s 20 doctors with their fees?

Shakespeare: All of the surgeries … they’ll be able to see what the charges are nationally in other jurisdictions and the average in the ACT.

Pocock: So Canberrans can then decide to travel?

Shakespeare: That is something that people are able to consider.

Updated

Victoria approves first gas extraction project in a decade

The Victorian government has approved its first gas extraction project in a decade, burying the decision in a media release on renewable energy projects.

The premier, Jacinta Allan, and the minister for energy and resources, Lily D’Ambrosio, are holding separate press conferences in Mortlake and Glenrowan, where a new windfarm and solar farm are each being built.

In a media release, they said the projects were key to Victoria’s plan to “transition to 95% renewable energy generation by 2035 while the remaining 5% is gas peaking power” and noted the approval of a new gas project.

They said they had approved Beach Energy’s plan to pipe gas from an offshore gas field in the Otway Basin near Port Campbell, in western ­Victoria, “on the condition that Beach Energy make best endeavours to sell to domestic customers first”.

The decision comes after the government last year updated their Gas Substitution Roadmap and introduced a suite of policies to transition away from gas, including a ban on new gas connections for new dwellings, apartment buildings, and residential subdivisions from 1 January 2024.

Victoria is the country’s largest consumer of gas, with more than 2m households and small businesses using it largely for heating, as well as for hot water and cooking.

Burning gas produces about 16% of the state’s total emissions, with households and small businesses responsible for almost two-thirds of those emissions.

Updated

What happens when someone ‘moves a motion to suspend standing orders’?

It can be a little confusing, so I thought it might be time to give an explanation on what it means when someone moves a motion to suspend standing orders.

The standing orders is essentially the business of the day, which, in the house, is set out by the government.

If a member wants to try to change what the house is doing, or debate something which is not on the agenda, then first they have to move a motion to suspend standing orders.

That just means they want the house to vote with them to switch up the business of the day, to debate the issue the member believes should be on the agenda.

When doing this, they always go to the substantive issue they want debated – so they’ll move a motion to suspend standing orders and then talk about the issue they want the house to discuss instead.

It is very rare for a suspension of standing orders to proceed if the government doesn’t want it to – because the government controls the numbers in the house. So more often than not, a government MP will deny the request to suspend standing orders, and the house votes.

When it is voting, the vote is about the suspension itself, and technically is not about the substantive issue the member has raised.

Of course, if the government did want the debate on the substantive issue, it could either agree to suspend standing orders and let the debate happen, or it could schedule the debate on the agenda itself.

Updated

Just after the house sitting began for the day, the Liberal MP Julian Leeser attempted to suspend standing orders to change the government business of the day and bring forth debate on his private member’s bill, which would establish a “commission into antisemitism at Australian universities”.

The government moved the debate be adjourned (so no vote just yet).

Updated

Liberal and Green senators withdraw remarks after heated exchange over antisemitism and Islamophobia

Officials from the education department are appearing at Senate estimates and things are getting heated between senators over questions about antisemitism on university campuses.

Liberal senator and shadow education minister, Sarah Henderson, is asking Labor senator Anthony Chisholm why the education minister, Jason Clare, hasn’t called out recent encampments on campuses.

Henderson said:

I again ask you: why has your government not condemned that horrific level of antisemitic activity at some university campuses, particularly the encampments?

Chisholm responds the Labor government condemns antisemitism, Islamophobia and “all racism on campus” before Henderson interjects:

I’m not talking about Islamophobia, I’m talking about the encampments.

The Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi then interjects:

Because you don’t think it exists? That’s why you’re not talking about it.

Henderson snipes back at Faruqi:

You don’t have the call and you have no credibility [pause] on this issue.

The Labor chair, Tony Sheldon, attempts to calm the “circus” and asks Henderson to withdraw the “unparliamentary” comment.

Henderson responds:

I haven’t made a comment that is unparliamentary, Senator Fehreen [sic] has misrepresented …

Greens senator Larissa Waters interjects:

Yes you have – that’s not even her name.

Eventually, both Faruqi and Henderson withdraw the comments and the hearing continues.

Updated

Dorinda Cox says creation of Jabiluka reserved area is ‘great news’ for traditional owners

The Greens senator Dorinda Cox has welcomed news that the NT government has created a reserved land area over Jabiluka, which means no new mine proposals can move forward in the protected area.

Cox said the commonwealth government also has a role to play:

This announcement of a special reservation today in Jabiluka is great news for the Mirrar People. It is secured under Territory legislation, protecting this culturally sacred place to the traditional owners and is sacred to Australia’s history.

This decision by the Lawler Government paves the way for a decision by the Commonwealth Government to incorporate this stunning cultural landscape within the Kakadu World Heritage Area once the mining lease expires.

I am urging the Albanese Labor Government to work with the Mirrar people for the inclusion of this culturally significant place into the current World Heritage Listing of the neighbouring Kakadu National Park - as Australia’s oldest treasure belonging to the oldest continuing culture in the world.

Updated

NSW police minister says ‘we need to look’ at Staying Home Leaving Violence scheme

The New South Wales police minister, Yasmin Catley, has promised the government will look at the Staying Home Leaving Violence scheme after it was revealed Molly Ticehurst was promised help that never eventuated before her death.

Asked her response to calls from Molly’s parents Kate and Tony Ticehurst for the program to be reviewed and funding to be cut to the provider that promised their daughter assistance, she said:

If the system has let Molly down, indeed, if the system lets anybody down who is a victim of domestic violence then it’s the government’s responsibility to look at that and make sure that that doesn’t happen.

If the system is letting victims down then we need to look at those failures and remedy.

She said the government needed to make sure the services that were supposed to keep women safe were doing that.

Updated

‘Our futures are tied together’: Penny Wong meets new Solomon Islands PM

The foreign minister, Penny Wong, is in Honiara where she is meeting with the new Solomon Islands’ prime minister, Jeremiah Manele.

Asked what Australia can offer to the Solomons, Wong says:

We see ourselves as part of a Pacific family. We see that we share a region, we share an ocean, we share history. We are so close in terms of our geography. But what is most important is our futures are tied together.

We see that your development, your security, your stability, that is to us because we are all more secure, we are all more prosperous when all the countries of the region can grow, develop and assure their own sovereignty and stability. We believe that in a world that is more contested, what we want is a region, the Pacific Islands region, that is peaceful, stable and prosperous.

We want a Pacific island region where all of us can make our own decisions, can exercise our sovereignty without fear and we can all grow and live together peacefully. That’s what we want and that’s what we seek to offer.

As I said to you, we come … respectfully to listen, and we want to work as equal partners. What you see is senior members of the Australian government, the second and third most senior people in our government have been hearing just a matter of two weeks and that tells you something about the priority give this relationship.

Updated

Mark Dreyfus’s comments on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing yesterday

In case you missed it: yesterday after question time the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, went on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, where he was asked about some of the protest action which is occurring outside some MPs’ electorate offices at the moment.

It was raised in estimates that there had been 725 threats to MPs in the current financial year. Dreyfus, asked how many electorate offices were not being used as usual because of threats or attacks on them, said it was “variable” and then said quite a number of MPs’ electorate offices had been “attacked [and] criminally damaged”.

In the interview, he said he was “very concerned about the role the Greens political party has played in this”.

Dreyfus went on to make more allegations of what he saw as the Greens’ role in the protests, which is what Adam Bandt is referring to in his statement announcing legal action.

The Greens have denied they have encouraged violent protest and have repeatedly said they support peaceful protests.

Updated

Estimates has started and on today’s menu we have:

Community affairs – it is still health, so you’ll hear about PBS listings in there. It’ll also cover off some of the issues in aged care.

Economics – today will be where the environment meets economics, so you’ll hear questions on critical minerals. A lot of questions on critical minerals. Gas will make an appearance as well, no doubt.

Education and employment – the focus will be on universities and tertiary education, and the ANU leadership will be fronting, so you can imagine some of the questions that will be coming forward given some of the commentary in the past few months around the protests.

Foreign affairs, defence and trade – we are still on defence.

Updated

Adam Bandt says his lawyers have written to Mark Dreyfus after comments in media

The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, says his lawyers have written to the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, over comments Dreyfus made in the media yesterday.

This came after a fiery question time, which we have covered off here:

Bandt says he considers Dreyfus’s comments that came after question time to be defamatory:

My lawyers have written to the Attorney-General regarding what I consider to be defamatory statements he made about me and the Greens yesterday.

I understand a number of media outlets have chosen to stop broadcasting and publishing his statements because of legal concerns. I welcome their restraint.

I think that the first law officer of this country should not make utterly unfounded statements and spread disinformation. No politician should do that.

I would prefer not to have to pursue these matters legally, and I hope the Attorney will respond in a proper way. The Prime Minister and Labor are not the victims in these matters. The victims are the over 36,000 people killed in the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the hostages, and the 1200 people killed on October 7, compounded by the failure of the Labor government to take action against the Israeli government’s invasion.

Updated

Assistant minister to PM uses stickers and a map to question where Coalition’s nuclear reactor plan is

The assistant minister to the prime minister, Patrick Gorman, has tried to bring attention back to the missing nuclear reactor location plan that the Coalition has been promising for the last three months. (It was meant to be earlier in the year, then the budget-in-reply, and then “June/July”.)

Gorman came to doors* this morning with some props – stickers and a map. Here is how that played out:

So that members of Peter Dutton’s front and backbench – some of whom have already ruled in or out a nuclear reactor – can in fact place them on this map. So are we going to have a nuclear reactor in Gladstone?

[places sticker on Gladstone]

Are we going to have a nuclear reactor in Newcastle?

[places sticker on Newcastle]

Are we going to have one of Mr Dutton’s nuclear reactors placed right in the heart of Gippsland?

[places sticker on Gippsland]

Are we going to have a nuclear reactor placed somewhere in the Barossa Valley?

[places sticker on Barossa Valley]

Again, a location that’s been previously identified. Or, you know, Mr Dutton sometimes forgets about Western Australia. Sometimes he wants to take away our GST. Sometimes, he has other wild ideas about the West. But does he want to put a nuclear reactor in Collie, just south of Perth?

[places sticker on Collie]

Or are there other locations? If I’m wrong, which I might be, Mr Dutton is more than welcome to come and tell us where in fact, his nuclear reactors will go.

*There are several entrances to the parliament where journalists cannot stop MPs as they come in (under the rules), so if an MP comes through the main doors, where journalists are, it is because they have been sent out to spread the talking points of the day. We call this doors, because, well, it’s at the doors. Same with a “door stop” – that is just shorthand for “we stopped these people as they entered or exited a door”.

Updated

Eightieth anniversary of D-day today

Today marks 80 years since the Normandy landings, also known as D-day.

Operation Overlord was the first step in the liberation of France in the second world war and remains the largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare.

Most Australian infantries had been called to the Pacific by that point of the war, but at least 3,200 Australians were part of “the day of days” and were mostly involved in the air response, serving with British units.

While it is often reported that 12 Australian airmen and two sailors died on D-day, that doesn’t take into account that the campaign continued for three months. Over that time, more than 1,000 Australian airmen were killed, and June 1944 is considered the worst month for casualties in the history of the royal Australian air force.

Updated

Gambling linked to financial abuse, Sharkie says

Rebekha Sharkie said gambling wasn’t just about money, with abuse also linked to problem gambling issues:

Look, the evidence is there. We actually need more evidence and we need more investment in researching the harm that gambling causes. We also know there’s a causal link between many older Australians that are experiencing financial abuse, often from their children or other family members, who have got a gambling addiction.

And we know one in six older Australians have experienced some sort of financial abuse. So, look, this is a huge issue in our country. We’re the biggest losers in the world. We lose more than $1,000 each per man, woman and child, whether it’s online wagering, or whether it’s, you know, including pokies … It’s a title I don’t want our nation to have.

We lose $25bn a year and those figures are nearly six years old.

Updated

Government not showing leadership on gambling reform, Mayo MP Rebekha Sharkie says

Mayo independent MP, Rebekha Sharkie, is pushing to put gambling reform back on the national agenda.

Sharkie said it was beyond time for the government to act.

We’re just not talking about it because the government is not taking a leadership role in this. It’s been nearly a year since the late Peta Murphy – she was chair for the committee – the social services and legal affairs committee that released a report. This is a government majority committee, the report was called ‘You Win Some, You Lose More’.

The minister hasn’t even responded to this report yet and it’s been a year. That report called for 31 recommendations, things like, you know, reducing – eliminating, actually, gambling advertising.

We knew back in 2022 that gambling companies spent hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising. And parents are finding that they can’t really watch sport with their children without this continual bombardment.

We know there’s a huge link between family violence and gambling in the home. In fact, [it is] three times more likely … there will be domestic family violence in the home of greater severity and frequency if there’s a gambling issue in the home.

But we also have the major parties who I think are addicted to gambling revenue themselves. Collectively they have taken close to $9 million in the gambling donations according to the centre for public integrity over the last couple of decades.

Updated

Greens continue to misrepresent government position on Gaza: Gallagher

Katy Gallagher sits in the Senate, not the house, and so was not involved in question time yesterday, when all the tensions spilled over.

Asked about what happened on ABC News Breakfast, Gallagher said:

I think we’ve been clear about our concern for the people of Gaza: the fact we’ve been calling for a ceasefire, the fact we’ve been calling for more humanitarian assistance to go, and to go quickly.

I think some of the frustration you saw in the parliament was with the continuation of the Greens misrepresenting the commonwealth government’s position.

We recognise that there’s a lot of concern and fear and distress in the community about the events in the Middle East. I think the point the prime minister was making yesterday and has made before is that it’s the role of political leaders, leaders in the community, to try and bring the country together, not stoke … division and fear.

And … I know that many of my colleagues haven’t been able to open their electorate office as they normally would. And that pressure is being reflected, I think, in frustration in the prime minister’s comments. We should all be together, standing as a parliament … not stoking division and not spreading misinformation across the community.

The leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt, responded to the Coalition and Labor attacks against his party in the chamber yesterday saying:

This house is united in condemning antisemitism and condemning Islamophobia – and we also condemned the invasion of Gaza.

Children are dying because the Israeli army has engineered a famine and instead of talking about the victims, the prime minister wants to make it about himself.

Updated

Katy Gallagher says inflation moderating ‘in welcome ways’

The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, is next on the “the economy is tough, but we’ll get through it” government carousel, telling ABC News Breakfast:

The inflation trajectory in other countries has been, you know, it’s the same in terms of the trajectory [as in Australia]. But in other countries it peaked earlier than it did here. So we are seeing inflation moderate in welcome ways.

We want that to continue. The Treasury forecasts have that continuing. Getting back into the band target rate. [That’s 2-3%.]

We’ve got some good things happening. We’ve got jobs being created, we’ve got very low unemployment, we’ve got wages moving again. We’ve got tax cuts coming through. We’ve got energy bill relief all coming at a time when households are doing it tough. And we hope that provides some support to those households.

But at the same time, when we look at some of the opportunities with the net zero transition and the focus we’re putting on a future made in Australia … we focus on growth [and] new areas to grow the economy at a time when the people expect their government to be doing these things.

Updated

Chalmers asked about Dutton’s claims in question time of protesters denying Holocaust

Yesterday, question time erupted over the domestic tensions sparked by the war in Gaza, with Anthony Albanese accusing the Greens of spreading “misinformation” over the government’s position on Gaza and Peter Dutton saying the Greens stood “condemned”. The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, hit back and said he would not be “lectured to about peace and nonviolence by people who back the invasion of Gaza”.

During his speech, Peter Dutton equated protesters with Holocaust deniers, saying:

Six million people were gassed in the second world war, and we have got people in our country today out there on university campuses and outside MP’s offices denying that that took place, or saying the biggest attack on the Jewish population since that time, the slaughter of 1,200 people, somehow does not count for anything and that it shouldn’t be condemned. They should be ashamed of their actions and it has no place in our country.

On ABC RN Breakfast, Jim Chalmers is asked about Dutton’s claim and whether there is any evidence protesters were denying the Holocaust.

Chalmers:

It’s not for me to factcheck Peter Dutton’s speeches.

Pushed, Chalmers said:

I haven’t checked the political and historical views of every protester. And my point, and I say this even it had yesterday’s events in the parliament not happened. You know, our job is to try and calm this division, not stoke it.

That’s certainly what the prime minister’s objective is, my objective, the government’s objective. And I think there are a lot of people of goodwill around the country, including people with a direct interest in this horrendous conflict in the Middle East, who want to make sure that when we are expressing legitimate views, sometimes those views are not unanimous or certainly not unanimous.

Now, we’ve got a responsibility to do that in the most responsible way. And that hasn’t always been a feature of the contributions made in the parliament and elsewhere.

Updated

‘One-off’ events such as concert spending not the primary driver of consumption figures: Chalmers

There is, of course, a question about whether or not Taylor Swift should return to Australia to help the economy.

Sigh.

Jim Chalmers makes it clear that Swift-related spending did not lift Australia out of recession.

It’s not the primary driver of the consumption figures in the national accounts yesterday, but there were some one-offs. There was some one-off spending, concerts and sporting events as well.

… You know, one of the really stark features of the national accounts, which hasn’t got a lot of attention, is that discretionary spending – you know, spending that people don’t have to do spending that people choose to do – only grew 0.1% over a whole year, which is, I think, a pretty stark reminder of the pressures that people are under.

Yes, there was some one-off spending. Yes, Taylor Swift was very popular when she was here. And those concerts were incredibly well attended. But overwhelmingly the story of consumption, our economy, is people focusing on the absolute essentials. And we saw that in the national accounts too.

Updated

Treasury and RBA forecast economic growth, says treasurer

Jim Chalmers says the economy barely grew, but Australia is not in a recession:

The definition of a recession is a couple of quarters of negative growth and we haven’t had any quarters of negative growth.

We’re unusual in the world in that regard.

I think something like three-quarters of OECD economies have had a negative quarter and we haven’t, and so we’re not contemplating that outcome here … The Treasury forecasts, the Reserve Bank forecasts, and others expect our economy to continue to grow.

But we’re not waiting for the worst case scenario to help people. And yeah, one of the defining features of the budget … is that cost-of-living help.

A lot of people said don’t provide that help. A lot of people said you know, slash and burn in the budget – that was wrong advice, that was the wrong commentary and we know that now, because the economy is so soft and so we are already providing help to support people, most importantly, but that support will arrive at a time when the economy is soft, and that’s important too.

Updated

Chalmers denies nation heading into recession but admits economy ‘very weak’

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is continuing on his “it’s challenging, but let’s not jump to the ‘R’ word” media tour. He tells ABC radio RN Breakfast:

Our expectation in the Treasury forecast is that the economy will continue to grow, but it is growing very slowly right now – it barely grew in the first three months of the year.

We expected it to be very weak, and it was, and the point that we’ve made about the budget is that in this context, you get a lot of free advice.

People say you should slash and burn in the budget, you shouldn’t be providing cost of living relief. And what these national accounts have proven, really, is that advice was horrendously wrong.

We got the budget right. Because we’re repairing the budget, we’re fighting inflation, but we’re doing that in a way that doesn’t smash an economy which is already weak.

Updated

Going fully electric would save households more than $600 a year for next four decades, report says

Households would save an average of $608 a year for the next 40 years if new residential buildings in New South Wales were required to be fully electric, according to a report commissioned by climate organisation 350 Australia.

And if new commercial buildings and public infrastructure such as hospitals and schools were also required to go electric it would save a total of $1.3bn over 40 years.

The modelling, by consulting firm Strategy Policy Research, finds greenhouse gas emissions for newly built homes and new commercial buildings would be reduced by 90.6% and 77%, respectively, over the same period.

350 Australia said the research strengthened the case for councils in NSW to use their local planning laws to require new developments to be electrified after the Minns government said last year it would not follow other state governments in introducing a ban at state level on new residential gas connections.

Waverley, Parramatta, Lane Cove, City of Sydney and Inner West councils are among several local government areas that have already passed new planning rules or are taking steps towards rules requiring electrification for new developments.

Chief executive of 350 Australia, Lucy Manne, said the modelling showed electrifying homes was a “win-win” solution:

It cuts energy bills for local residents and small businesses during a cost of living crisis and reduces climate pollution, at almost no cost to councils. It will be low-income people and renters who will benefit most from council-led electrification.

Updated

Australia only granted defence export permits to Israel for repair of equipment since conflict, estimates told

There has been a lot of talk about what defence exports Australia has granted for Israel in senate estimates – Daniel Hurst reports on the most recent questioning:

The Australian government has granted eight permits to send defence-related equipment to Israel since the Gaza conflict erupted, but said they related to items requiring repair by Israeli manufacturers before being returned.

After facing months of criticism from the Greens over the issue, the government has given its most detailed account yet of Israel-bound equipment.

It also hit back at what it labelled as “misinformation” about the alleged supply of arms and ammunition to Israel.

Officials told a Senate estimates committee hearing that eight defence permits for Israel had been approved since the 7 October attacks, six more than previously known.

Updated

The former prime minister Scott Morrison has had a chat to Bloomberg where he says everyone should calm their farm over the prospect of a second Trump presidency:

There’s been a lot of baseless hyperventilation about this.

People are getting themselves tied up in knots over things looking from this side of the Pacific into a US polity which they, I don’t think, understand. They’re overreading any number of things here.

Updated

At the start of his speech to the ACTU conference in Adelaide, Anthony Albanese referenced what he was missing:

I have to say, over the years, some of us from New South Wales and Queensland always had a suspicion that the Victorians and South Australians were running this show.

And now we have the proof: the outrageous decision to hold conference in Adelaide on State of Origin Night.

Given the result, he is probably glad he missed it.

Updated

Good morning

Hello and welcome to the final house sitting day until the parliament resumes on 24 June.

Thank you to Martin for starting us off this morning – it’s another cold and blustery one in Canberra, and that’s not even taking into account the bluster from within the chamber or Senate estimates committee rooms.

You have Amy Remeikis with you for most of the parliament day – I’m on my third coffee already and there’s a higher than not chance cake will once again become a breakfast food. It’s been that sort of week.

Ready? Let’s get into it.

Updated

Life Chances: a look at the landmark Melbourne study that began in the 1990s

Our report on the 34-year-long Life Chances survey mentioned at the top comes complete with two videos.

One of them explains the background to the project launched in inner-city Melbourne in 1990 when Australia – and Victoria especially – was battling recesssion:

In another, we see excerpts from the life of Isabel, one of the subjects interviewed by Stephanie Convery for the article:

Updated

A closer look at yesterday’s GDP figures from our economics writers

Our economics columnist Greg Jericho has been sifting through yesterday’s GDP numbers and it’s not a pretty sight.

He writes that although Australia is not in recession, “we may as well be” with the figures showing growth of just 0.1% in the March quarter “essentially a rounding error away from going backwards”.

Annual growth is not much better and – excluding the topsy-turvy pandemic years – the year-on-year expansion of 1.1% is the slowest we have seen in Australia since March 1992. What’s more, when you also discount the boost provided by population growth (read: immigration), “we have now had five consecutive quarters of the economy going backwards”.

Read his full article here:

And if you didn’t see it last night, our economics correspondent Peter Hannam has been dissecting what the RBA governor, Michele Bullock, had to say to Senate estimates ahead of those GDP numbers.

She made it clear she “won’t hesitate to act” by lifting interest rates, should the recent modest falls in inflation go into reverse.

Peter cites Saul Eslake, an independent economist, who says that if monetary policy is working, then GDP growth should slow. Exactly what the March quarter national accounts show.

“It will actually be an achievement worth celebrating if the RBA (and other central banks) can get inflation down to their targets without having a ‘recession’,” Eslake says. “So far, they look on course to do that.”

Read Peter’s full article here:

Updated

More on the local streaming content rules

Screen Producers Australia chief executive, Matthew Deaner, told Guardian Australia that yet another delay in bringing forward the legislation was “hard to fathom”, given the lengthy consultation process.

“We are concerned at how this is now impacting our members and the people they employ,” he said.

“The enormous uncertainty around what the streamer investment obligation will entail is causing a great deal of angst in the industry as well as a near-freeze in [local content] commissioning activity.”

A government spokesperson said the government remained committed to introducing content obligations for streaming platforms, but “consultation is taking longer than we had hoped”.

“The stated target implementation date in Revive is 1 July 2024 and the government is working to get the proposed legislation right,” the statement said.

The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the step back amounted to a broken election promise.

“This is a blow for the Australian screen sector and audiences who want to see their own Australian stories on screen,” she said. “These are huge companies like Netflix, Disney and Amazon that pay little tax in Australia, despite making massive profits off the back of Aussie customers. At the very least they should invest some of that revenue back into the local economy.”

In November last year, Acma found that streaming platforms had spent $11m less on producing Australian content in 2022/2023 than the previous financial year.

In September, a collective of streamers including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Stan, Disney+ and Paramount Plus released a report arguing that local content quotas were unnecessary because they already made a meaningful cultural and economic contribution to Australia’s creative economy.

Updated

Albanese government to miss deadline on local content requirements for streamers

Legislation to compel streaming companies such as Netflix, Disney and Amazon to reinvest in Australian content has been delayed once more.

It now seems certain the Albanese government will not meet its promised 1 July deadline for the new rules to come into effect.

On 30 January 2023, the arts minister, Tony Burke, promised to introduce requirements for Australian screen content on multinational streaming platforms to ensure continued access to local stories and content by the third quarter of 2023.

That deadline was missed, but the government said last September the new regulations would nevertheless commence “no later than 1 July 2024”.

A senate estimates hearing on 30 May heard that the process of drafting the legislation, promised as part of the government’s five-year cultural policy to revive Australian arts and culture, was still in the consultation phase.

The 1 July deadline appeared to be readjusted to a vague “in the near future”, according to Burke’s assistant minister in the hearing, senator Carol Brown.

Updated

Welcome

Good morning and welcome to our rolling news coverage. I’m Martin Farrer with some of the best of the overnight stories before my colleague Amy Remeikis takes up the reins.

Anthony Albanese last night accused the Coalition of “secret” plans to cut wages through changes to industrial relations laws as he hit back against opposition attacks on his “secure jobs better pay” legislation. Speaking to the Australian Council of Trade Unions conference in Adelaide, the prime minister said the Liberal and National parties’ “gut instinct is always to gut workers’ rights”. It comes as Australia teeters on the brink of a recession according to national income figures yesterday. We’ve got more coming up from our economics experts.

At midday in Sydney the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, will deliver a formal state apology today to thousands of LGBTQ+ people who were convicted under anti-homosexual laws that were taken off the statute book 40 years ago. However, it will come too late for some convicted under the laws such as Peter “Bon” Bonsall-Boone who died in 2017, his partner Peter De Waal tells us. More coming up.

It’s one of the eternal questions – how much of who we are is determined by the chances we were given at birth? We have a fascinating report today about a groundbreaking inequality study which picked 164 newborn babies in 1990 and tracked their life progress. With the subjects now reaching the age of 34, the Life Chances study comparing housing, income, family structure and education among other factors is wrapping up, but our inequality reporter Stephanie Convery has spoken to three of the participants – Nick, Alan and Isabel – to hear their stories. “The more I’m out in the world, the more I see that how you’re raised and how your parents have been raised can really affect your life outcomes,” Isabel says. More coming up.

And it now seems certain the Albanese government will not meet its promised 1 July deadline for new rules that would force streamers to produce more Australian content. Screen industry people says it’s causing a “great deal of angst” with a “near-freeze” in local production activity. We’ll have more on that too, soon.

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