What we learned today, Thursday 9 March
And that’s where we’ll leave you this evening. Here’s a wrap of the main events today:
Labor secured Greens support for the national reconstruction fund after the government agreed to an amendment which means the fund can’t be used for coal and gas projects or for native forest logging.
Hundreds of University of Sydney staff and students continued their strike for a seventh day, marking the longest-running campaign of work stoppages at an Australian university.
The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, said the government would continue to work with Senator David Pocock and others on the crossbench to work through the safeguard mechanism deadlock.
Home values fell at a record 12-month pace but the decline is slowing, CoreLogic said.
It came as the National Australia Bank became the first of the major banks to lift its home loan rate, passing on the Reserve Bank’s latest official rate rise to customers in full.
The government’s voice referendum working group met again, with the Greens’ Adam Bandt and Dorinda Cox joining the meeting.
The minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, said she was concerned about Indigenous infant health as some Closing the Gap targets go backwards.
Anthony Albanese said the deepening relationship with India was a “win-win” during his visit to Ahmedabad.
The PM also renewed his promise of “absolute sovereignty” as part of the Aukus deal, ahead of a submarine announcement soon.
Bill Shorten said the robodebt inquiry analysis showed that a majority of victims were women.
The federal government introduced a new category of Help loans in a bid to increase the number and quality of startup businesses in Australia.
The Greens introduced a bill to repeal the Regional Forest Agreements Act, which grants logging operations an exemption from national environmental laws.
A study published in the journal Nature found that smoke from the 2019-20 black summer bushfires temporarily depleted the ozone layer by 3% to 5% in 2020.
Crocodiles have been sighted and residents evacuated as flood waters surge across Queensland’s saturated remote north-west communities.
Updated
Liberal Alex Antic accused of ‘disgraceful comments’ about Ukraine president
The Liberal senator Alex Antic has been accused of “disgraceful comments” about Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, after referring to him as “the little fella from Ukraine” and appearing to forget his name.
In a Senate speech, Antic, the conservative senator from South Australia, referred to the president as “whatever his name is, who cares”.
In a speech about superannuation this afternoon, Antic wandered off-course to take a swipe at Anthony Albanese for marching in “colourful parades”.
Albanese recently marched in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and the WorldPride march across the Harbour Bridge.
If Peter Dutton truly stands with Ukraine, these disgraceful comments from Liberal Senator Antic must be condemned. pic.twitter.com/8fdn6fcTTP
— Senator Tim Ayres (@ayrestim) March 9, 2023
“It doesn’t matter how many parades the prime minister goes off and marches in, doesn’t matter how many colourful parades he goes and marches in, doesn’t matter how many all-expenses trips he takes to go and visit the global glitterati, the little fella from Ukraine, whatever his name is in the green T-shirt,” Antic said.
“Whatever his name is anyway, who cares.”
Antic continued his speech and as cries of protest came from other senators, he responded: “I can’t remember what his name is, he’s just on the screen all the time.”
The Labor senator and assistant minister for manufacturing, Tim Ayres, interrupted with a point of order. Antic, taking his seat, commented “here we go, this is good”.
Ayres asked the acting deputy president, Liberal senator David Van, to ask Antic to withdraw his remarks.
“That was an extraordinary reflection on the leader of Ukraine, who for I thought everybody in this place has been a symbol of a very important struggle for democracy and freedom,” Ayres said.
Antic withdrew his remarks, adding “anyway we’ll move on. I’ve got respect for democracy.”
Updated
