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The Guardian - AU
National
Jordyn Beazley and Amy Remeikis (earlier)

Coalition senators split in voting on Ralph Babet motion on abortion – as it happened

Fatima Payman CFMEU Coalition Penny Wong Australia Peter Dutton Labor Daniel Hurst Prabowo Subianto Human Rights Watch
Simon Birmingham in the Senate chamber last Thursday
Simon Birmingham in the Senate chamber last Thursday. The Coalition senator opposed a motion regarding abortion moved by UAP senator Ralph Babet. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

What we learned: Tuesday 20 August

This is where we’ll wrap up the blog for today – but first, a quick recap:

Updated

Coalition senator says Parliament ‘is not our playground’ and ‘the things we do here matter’ amid divisive abortion motion

Maria Kovacic, a Liberal senator, told the Senate when it was considering a motion regarding abortion proposed by the UAP’s Ralph Babet:

What is critically important in relation to this issue, and any other issues for that matter, that this chamber addresses is that we keep in mind the language that we use, the accuracy of the information that we share and the transparency for the reasons that we share them.

This is not our playground. The things that we do here matter.

There are also questions as to the accuracy of the information contained in this motion. This is a matter of great sensitivity. There is no question about that. The motion as set out is very black and white. The matters for which it deals with are not.

Kovacic told the Senate that the constitution was clear that abortion was a matter for the states, not for the federal parliament:

More broadly, the complexity of issues that arise from the contents of this motion are challenging for most people, but particularly for women, and they are deeply personal. They are not decisions that are made either lightly or flippantly, and should not be open to judgment by others. In many cases, these decisions are informed on the basis of medical necessity, and we should think very, very carefully as to the appropriateness of elected representatives making healthcare decisions for Australian women.

The Greens senator Larissa Waters told the Senate:

I am appalled that once again, we’re here debating women’s choices over their own bodies, choices that are no one else’s to weigh in on. Senator Babet’s claims are incorrect. Late-term abortions resulting in a live foetus are extremely rare, and they only occur in situations of lethal foetal abnormalities or serious risks to the pregnant person.

Medical practitioners are already subject to ethical responsibilities that manage those complex situations, and moreover, the vast majority of terminations in Australia occur prior to 16 weeks, at which time a foetus would not survive outside the womb.

If you want to prevent unwanted pregnancies, then support the calls by the Greens to make contraception free, but you just want to control women’s bodies.

Updated

Coalition split over support for failed United Australia motion on abortion

Coalition senators have split when voting on a divisive motion regarding abortion, with a Liberal moderate imploring fellow politicians to “mind the language that we use” because “this is not our playground”.

Ralph Babet, the United Australia party senator, sought to move an urgency motion on “the need for the Senate to recognise that at least one baby is born alive every seven days following a failed abortion and left to die, and that Australia’s health care system is enabling these inhumane deaths; and for the Senate to condemn this practice, noting that babies born alive as a result of a failed abortion deserve care”.

The urgency motion failed to secure adequate support, with 18 voting in favour of Babet’s motion and 32 voting against, but it split the Coalition. Those voting in favour of Babet’s urgency motion included Coalition senators Michaelia Cash, Sarah Henderson, Bridget McKenzie, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Hollie Hughes. Those opposing Babet’s motion included Coalition senators Simon Birmingham, Andrew Bragg, Jane Hume and Maria Kovacic.

Babet told the Senate that he could not understand “how we can bang on every single day in this place about the importance of human rights while allowing the most vulnerable human beings to be treated like garbage”.

But Kovacic, a Liberal moderate senator, told the Senate that there were “questions as to the accuracy of the information contained in this motion”.

Continued in next post.

Updated

Highlights from the meeting between Australia and Qatar

Let’s return to the meeting between the Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, and the prime minister of Qatar, a country that has been playing a key role in attempting to broker a Gaza ceasefire agreement.

One of the main items on the agenda was an attempt to deepen trade and economic ties. But developments in the Middle East were also on the agenda, with the Australian side expecting to hear an update on progress on the ceasefire talks.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, who holds the dual roles of prime minister and foreign affairs minister of Qatar, said at the beginning of the meeting that it was a “critical moment” for the region. He said he looked forward to discussing “recent developments in our region, mainly the war in Gaza and also what’s happening on the regional level”. He said:

Also, I would like to convey my condolences for the loss of the Australian citizen in the World Central Kitchen incident. Also we want to thank you for all your contribution to the Palestinian cause and to the Palestinian people.

It also sounded like he thanked Wong for the resumption of funding for the UN aid agency Unrwa, although the parliamentary division bells were ringing at the same time so one or two words couldn’t be heard clearly.

As we reported here earlier, Wong said at the beginning of the meeting that the situation in Gaza was “catastrophic” and the humanitarian situation was “unacceptable” and reiterated Australia’s backing for a ceasefire.

Updated

PM warns against stereotyping while defending Palestinian visas

Anthony Albanese has hit back at the opposition over questions about the visas his government has granted to Palestinians fleeing Gaza since the October 7 attack.

Speaking in question time, the prime minister warned against the danger of “stereotyping people because of their race or their faith”, saying “Hamas … are enemies not only of the people of Israel, but also, they are enemies of the Palestinian people”.

Updated

Defence minister hails Indonesian cooperation on boat arrivals

Richard Marles has said there has been an “increase in our cooperation” with Indonesia after being asked if there has been an increase in attempted boat arrivals from the country.

The defence minister, speaking on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing a short time ago, said that cooperation could be furthered by a defence agreement negotiated with Indonesia, saying it would provide a “much greater opportunity and ease by which our defence forces can operate together” on boat arrivals.

Asked if there has been fewer boat turn backs because Indonesian authorities are doing more at the point of departure, Marles said:

I can’t go into the specifics of that. I very much understand your question, though. I think a level of cooperation that we are engaging in, in respect of this, is definitely yielding results for Australia and for Indonesia.

My colleague Dan Hurst has more on the security pact here:

Updated

Children’s commissioner finds evidence of ‘most egregious’ human rights breaches in Australia

The national children’s commissioner says interviews with more than 150 young people about their experiences in the criminal justice system have revealed “evidence of the most egregious breaches of human rights in this country”.

Commissioner Anne Hollonds released a landmark report on Tuesday, titled Help Way Earlier, which calls for the establishment of a national taskforce to reform child justice systems.

It also recommends raising the age of criminal responsibility, a cabinet minister for children, and a ban on the use of solitary confinement.

More on this story here:

Updated

Hello, I’ll now be with you until this evening.

Jordyn Beazley will take you through the evening. Politics live will return very early tomorrow morning for the second last sitting day of this sitting.

No doubt, it will be more of the same, but we are also waiting on what will happen with the NDIS bill and also the aged care reforms.

We’ll bring you all of that as it happens tomorrow – until then, take care of you.

Updated

In case you haven’t seen it yet:

Penny Wong holds meeting with Qatari prime minister

Let’s cut away from the domestic political unhinging for a moment.

While the House of Reps question time was still under way, Penny Wong reiterated her call for a Gaza ceasefire at the outset of a meeting at Parliament House with the visiting prime minister of Qatar.

Qatar has been playing a key role in attempting to broker a Gaza ceasefire agreement.

The media was allowed in for the start of the meeting with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, who holds the dual roles of prime minister and foreign affairs minister of Qatar.

Wong told her counterpart:

Can I also express publicly our recognition of and our appreciation for the work that your country and you yourself have been playing in the negotiations for a ceasefire.

This is a very hard task, but so important for increased humanitarian [access], the return of hostages and a ceasefire to protect civilians …

We know the situation in Gaza is catastrophic and the humanitarian situation is unacceptable. Not only the loss of life but we now see the emergence of polio and it makes a ceasefire all the more important.

We’ll bring you more details about the meeting a little later.

Updated

The Greens senator Nick McKim had some advice for the prime minister a little earlier today in the Senate:

Updated

What did we learn in QT?

It was another day of not learning a lot. Less than usual, and that is saying something.

It is obvious that the Coalition is intent on continuing to prosecute what it thinks is a winning issue, which is the security arrangements around Palestinian visas. Peter Dutton and his team think national security is one of his strengths and it is an arena the Coalition want to fight the government on.

That serves a couple of purposes – it muddies the (political) waters ahead of the government having to make a decision on what to do with the 1,300 or so Palestinians who are in Australia with a ticking clock on their visas (the visas granted only last year). And it means the Coalition sucks up all the political oxygen.

Labor’s tactics team seem to have cottoned on to the latter part of the political strategy, with Anthony Albanese repeating the same answer, no matter the question, and then sitting down before the Coalition could drag him into a fight over what he wasn’t saying.

What is interesting to note though, is that this is only playing out in the house. There have been no questions on this issue from the Coalition in the Senate for the past two days.

Updated

Question time ends

Jim Chalmers gets a dixer just so he can say:

All we get from those opposite, Mr Speaker, is another day doubling down on divisiveness and diversion. Another day of scaremongering from the leader of the opposition, and another day of silence from the shadow treasurer on the economy.

I was thinking a moment ago when Minister Rishworth was talking about Prime Minister Morrison swearing himself in to multiple portfolios. The former government had two Treasury spokespeople. This opposition has none. Mr Speaker, it has none. So it averages out. It averages out, one each.

Mr Speaker, either side of the election, one of them is on the dog whistle, the other one is in the doghouse, Mr Speaker. And whenever he plays his little dog whistle, the shadow treasurer rolls over every time he plays his dog whistle, Mr Speaker, he sits there voiceless and clueless on the most important issue that people can face right now.

Today in question time, every single question on the Middle East. Not one single question on middle Australia. Not one question about middle Australia.

There are a bunch more points of order on imputations on members and then Peter Dutton tries to move that Chalmers no longer be heard.

The whole chamber is a big ole mess and then Anthony Albanese calls time, putting everyone out of their misery.

Updated

Anthony Albanese finishes with:

And that doesn’t stop when someone is granted a visa. Our security agencies continue to do their job. That is what they do. Now I’m not, I haven’t been speaking about other things. If I was asked about cost of living, or if I was asked about anything that they seemingly don’t care about, but all they care about is going down this negative road because we know who this bloke is. He shows us from the time he walked into this place and from the time he walked out …

Someone has another point of order, but Albanese says he has concluded his answer.

Updated

Question time erupts after Tehan repeatedly asks Albanese about Gaza visa cancellations

The whole chamber is up in arms by the time Dan Tehan tries, once again, to get an answer to this question:

My question is to the prime minister. How many of the 2,900 visas from Gaza have been cancelled?

Anthony Albanese:

I thank the member for his question. We’re being guided every step of the way by our security agencies. What our agencies do is to constantly examine issues. That doesn’t stop when someone is granted a visa.

The opposition has had enough and wants Milton Dick to rule on whether Albanese is being relevant to the question.

Everyone is interjecting and everyone has points of order and everyone is cranky. Albanese eventually returns to the dispatch box and says:

Mr Speaker, I’m speaking about the process that happens with the granting of these visas, and that is what I am asked about. And from a group of people who held press conferences and used to say they wouldn’t discuss anything at all about whether there were any visas at all, because this whole area was because of security issues like on border matters.

It is unbelievable that they expect that. They expect that.

Now when it comes to the granting of a visa, they’re granted in the same way, our security agencies are involved, the same security standards.

Dugald tells Peter Dutton to stop interjecting.

Updated

Bob Katter yells throughout that answer and Dugald tells him there are other areas where he can raise his concerns.

Amanda Rishworth, representing Don Farrell, the special minister of state, then takes a dixer: “Why is it important to have rigorous, transparent and fair election processes? And is the minister aware of any examples of groups seeking special treatment outside the rules?” This sets Rishworth up to speak about the NSW local government election nominations shambles.

Paul Fletcher is annoyed (more annoyed than usual) and thinks the question and answer are both out of order.

Dugald tells him the question is in order and if he had a problem with it, he should have raised it at the time, and not part way through Rishworth’s answer.

Updated

Jim Chalmers tries to defuse the situation with:

I thank my fellow Queenslander for the characteristically colourful question. I think that the house will forgive me for steering well clear of the pagan rituals and the tree gods, and I will spare the house, I will spare the house through a gallop of a couple of thousand years of history.

(He then goes through infrastructure spending.)

Updated

Yesterday Katter continued with:

… The six greatest scientists in human history are Pasteur, Newton, Galileo, Einstein, Faraday and Mendel, and all of them were profound Christian believers. Mendel was a monk and Faraday was a preacher of religion. They’re the six greatest scientists in human history. Who destroyed communism?

It murdered 78 million people, and who destroyed it? Gorbachev. And his first comment to the world was: “When we go down upon our knees at night we all pray to the same God.”

The world that I lived in was different than the world that I was brought up in, with the terror of the atomic bomb threatening us every day of our lives, and it was cured by that great man, Gorbachev, and the Pope of Rome and Charlie Wilson, who were all profound Christians, motivated by Christianity.

Who got rid of slavery? We Christians did. Who led the civil rights movement in the United States? We Christians did.

I now see it spat upon by this organisation and this organisation being lauded by people in this parliament.

Which is where today’s question appears to have come from.

Updated

Bob Katter asks a question of Jim Chalmers.

The chamber holds its breath, as it usually does when Katter goes to speak. They are not let down:

Doesn’t the federal government’s backing of the Brisbane Olympics confiscate $30bn off Queensland’s coal and cattle farmers, giving it to the IOC whose Paris opening ceremony was, and I quote: “A pagan ritual denigrating Christianity.” Didn’t Christians abolish slavery, create from a brutal imperium from the Dark Ages the Renaissance? Didn’t communism murder 78 million people? Didn’t Christian Gorbachev, the Pope and the Christians abolish communists? Didn’t pagan rituals sacrifice children to the tree and crocodile gods? Do such rituals still live on, Mr Treasurer?

Milton Dick is not sure that pagan rituals is within Chalmers’ portfolios.

This is not new from Katter. The Kennedy MP launched into a full-scale Katter attack against the member for Moreton, Graham Perrett, in the federation chamber yesterday, when Perrett did a “rah-rah the Queensland Olympics will be great” speech.

Elements of that included Katter yelling at Perrett:

The party that I belong to, KAP, tenaciously opposes the Olympic Games. You’ll stay there and listen! Your Olympic Games spat upon Christianity. You spat upon Christianity with the most infantile, puerile, undergraduate …

Perrett interjects and Katter responds:

Madam Speaker, is he going to shut up or will I shut him up?

Perrett tells him to “come over here and try”. Katter explodes:

There won’t be any trying. There’ll be medical research for you. Madam Speaker, is he going to shut up and allow me to speak?

Well, he’s had the floor up to date, and he doesn’t like me saying that they spat upon Christianity. My friend, you enjoy democracy because the Magna Carta was written by Archbishop Langton. That’s who wrote it. Pax Romana was brought to the world by Constantine because he became a Christian. The most brutal regime on Earth, Rome, was Christianised and civilised, and I think that’s an accurate description.

Updated

Gordon Reid (the Labor MP for Robertson) asks a dixer of Bill Shorten.

Shorten acknowledges Reid in the style of someone who really took a 1980s Toastmasters course on introductions and other forms of small talk to heart:

I’d like to thank the saxophone-playing Indonesian-speaking emergency doctor member from Wyong for his very good question. And, though it was his birthday last Friday, he understands that the NDIS is changing lives for the better.

Updated

Dan Tehan continues his one-man show “Sisyphus’s question” as he again asks Anthony Albanese:

Prime minister, how many of the 2,900 visas of people onshore from Gaza have been cancelled?

Albanese:

I thank the member for his question, but the whole premise of it is wrong. There aren’t 2,900 people onshore. And I’ve said that. If he’d followed that, he would have known, including in earlier questions today. But I am asked about visitor visas and I can tell because of the financial year issue – visitor visas for Ukrainians was 9,027 between February 24 2022 …

Tehan is back with a Dr Seuss point of order:

Of those who are here onshore, of those 2,900 – that’s what I asked. How many have had their visas cancelled. That is what I asked. How many?

Albanese:

Less than half of the figure that he used of 2,900 – therefore, the whole premise of the question is simply wrong. Visitor visas from Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis that have also been subject to conflict and control. I mean, Afghanistan is controlled by the Taliban. Syria has been in a civil war with parts of it controlled by Isis. And, of course, Iraq as well. Those figures from the 2013-14 financial year to 2022 of visitor visas are 1,991 from Afghanistan, 4,994 people from Iraq, 1,505 from Syria. All granted visitor visas by the former government. All in circumstances where Islamic State was in control of large parts of Iraq and Syria from 2014 to 2019. Syria’s been in a civil war since 2012, and the Taliban have been in control of large parts of Afghanistan for that entire period.

Updated

The Greens MP for Ryan, Elizabeth Watson-Brown, asks Michelle Rowland:

Today on the ABC, one the pioneers of online sports betting said in relation to gambling advertisements: “If you want to protect the children, you go ahead with a total ban. If you want to protect bookmaker profits, you go ahead with a partial ban.” Minister, who do you want to protect?

That is from this ABC radio RN Breakfast interview with Stewart Kenny this morning.

Rowland:

I thank the member for her question – and the imputations in it. (There is laughter from the Labor benches at this.)

I make it very clear, Mr Speaker … That it’s taken a Labor government to not only embark on the most thorough review of an area in need, overdue need for reform, than any other government. But it is also a Labor government that is standing up to a number of very well-resourced vested interests who do not want change.

This is a government that is being consultative, evidence-based, and committed to three things.

Firstly to ensure that we break the normalisation between gambling and sport.

Secondly that we protect children.

Thirdly that we focus on the saturation of ads and the fact that they are targeted at one of the most vulnerable cohorts in Australia – namely young men aged 18 to 35.

We are doing that, Mr Speaker, in an orderly, consultative manner. We are doing this in a way that is evidence-based. And the member, I am happy to stand corrected, has never sought a briefing on this matter directly with me. But my door is always open.

Updated

Dan Tehan returns to the dispatch box with a question for the prime minister.

How many of the 2,900 visas from Gaza have been cancelled.

Anthony Albanese:

We’ve been guided every single step of the way by our security agencies. Anyone who has been given a visa has passed the same security standard. And what our agencies do and the member might know this – I suspect – is constantly examine issues. That doesn’t stop when someone is granted a visa.

Our security agencies continue to do their job. This is an ongoing process. That is what they do. Regardless of where people are coming from, and the circumstances, their priority is security.

There is an attempt at a point of order, but the prime minister has once again decided he has concluded his answer.

Updated

Andrew Hastie refers to the defence minister, Richard Marles, as “Happy Gilmore” in a point of order, which is a reference to Marles’ love of golf.

But Happy Gilmore was an anti-establishment washed-up hockey player, who won over the golfing world, beat the establishment’s Shooter McGavin, made the ball go into its home, saved his grandmother’s house and got the girl.

I beg of these people to please watch a movie before using one of the references.

Updated

Dan Tehan is back!

Prime minister, how many of the 2,900 visas from Gaza have been cancelled?

(A reminder that just under 1,300 Palestinians made it to Australia before Israel completely closed the Rafah border on the Gaza side in May.)

Anthony Albanese:

I refer him to my previous answers. We have rejected more than 7,000 visa applications. Fewer than 1,300 people are here. I remind the member that the Rafah border crossing is controlled by the Israeli and Egyptian authorities, and it closed in May. They’re not letting people out. And they could have asked a question about the cost of living, could have asked a question about the visit about … the president-elect visit …

There is a point of order on relevance (of course there is. Tveeder transcribes “guidance” as “violence”, which feels apt.)

Peter Dutton:

Mr Speaker, on relevance and following your earlier [guidance]. That is as tight as that question could possibly be. And yet the prime minister still refuses to give a straight answer.

The prime minister, though, has concluded his answer.

Updated

Tony Burke gets up to point out one of the government’s bugbears – that the opposition uses points of orders to make some sort of glib one-liner. Which Labor also used to do, but the Coalition didn’t make a thing of (or didn’t understand it was against the standing orders. Burke is across more of the practice than most, although Paul Fletcher does his best).

Dugald makes a ruling:

The way we’ll do this is when someone is on their point on either side, there’s no point getting up until this person has concluded. If you wish to further debate the point of order, that’s OK. But this collision at the dispatch box has got to stop.

He tells the opposition he can’t make the PM give a figure and that is not the point of a point of order on relevance.

Then he tells the PM to make sure he is relevant. (To the question. Existentially – that is up to the prime minister.)

Albanese:

Last Wednesday, the leader of the opposition said: “I don’t think that people should be coming in from that war zone at all. At the moment, it’s not prudent to do so and I think it puts our national security at risk.”

That’s what he said last Wednesday in welcoming Olympians home. The fact is that came three months after there was a shutting of the Rafah border crossing, which occurred in May.

Updated

The Liberal MP for O’Connor, Rick Wilson, is the next to suffer the wrath of Dugald, and is booted out under 94A for interjecting just as Dan Tehan is about to get the call. Wilson was heckling Labor, not Tehan, but he forgot the number one rule of QT interjections; choose your moment (and that moment is not when things are quiet).

Tehan:

Prime minister, of those granted a visa to come to Australia from the terrorist-controlled Gaza war zone, how many have had their visas cancelled since the horrific attack on Israel on October 7 last year?

Albanese:

The member for Wannon uses a couple of [points] in his question. One is, quite rightly, to speak about October 7. And there’s no question that certainly, anyone of any decency opposes the atrocity that Hamas committed on October 7.

But he also speaks about the terrorist-controlled Gaza Strip. And Hamas did not take control of Gaza on October 7. They took control almost two decades ago, and in that time, have refused to have any elections or any democratic process or to engage with the people of Gaza. And, of course, they certainly don’t represent either the people of the West Bank. The member knows that we take the same advice from the same security agencies.

Tehan has a point of order on relevance:

The question was very tight, very specific. It was: “How many have had their visas cancelled since the horrific attack in Israel?” So a very, very specific question, it was.

(All points of orders should be delivered in Dr Seuss format.)

Updated

Helen Haines has the first of the crossbench questions and it is to Catherine King.

Haines asks:

Round one of the Growing Regions program opened for applications in July last year. Successful projects weren’t announced until May this year. We’re now in August and successful applicants are still waiting for their funding so they can get shovels in the ground. Why are regional communities waiting this long for much-needed funding under your government?

King begins by speaking about how the pair both have a caravan as a mobile office that they use to travel their electorates with. King’s is a 1970s Franklin. She thinks Haines has a newer one than that. Everyone is very enthralled.

To the answer:

It is normal practice for the Australian government programs to require a funding agreement to be in with agreement for milestones before payments are made, as this is a financial management system and helps ensure delivery success.

For the first time, of course, all communities, whether they be in our regions or our suburbs, will have access to an open and competitive community infrastructure program.

We’ve done away with what those opposite did, having a community development grants program where no one was able to apply for funding, and the Coalition simply decided where they were going to actually deliver. Now, I don’t make any apologies for cleaning up the mess of what those opposite left.

(There is the obligatory mention of sports rorts and then the three minutes is up.)

Updated

Before we get to the next dixer (government question to government minister, often written by the government minister’s staff) Milton Dick shows he is not playing today. He is Dugald today, and Dugald is not, as the kids say, demure or mindful.

Dugald kicks out the LNP MP for Fisher, Andrew Wallace, and tells the house it is under a general warning.

Which is Dugald speak for: try me and see.

Updated

Anthony Albanese:

I note, as I did yesterday, that under the former government, of which he was a member, but not a minister, there were over 1,000 visas, tourist visas granted from the former government for people from the occupied Palestinian territories.

The leader of the opposition’s response to that, of course, is that that was before October 7. But the member for Berowra knows full well that Hamas didn’t become terrorists on October 7. They have had a terrorist ideology for a long period of time. And indeed, have been in charge of Gaza since 2006 when they received less than half of the vote from the people of Gaza in that election.

And they haven’t had one since, because they are enemies, not only of the people of Israel, but also, they are enemies of the Palestinian people. Because Hamas do not respect the human rights of Palestinian people after they seized control there.

They engaged in violence against their own people in Gaza in order to secure their position. They’ve continued to do that. They’ve continued to do that.

I did see a report today from Plestia Alaqad who spoke about her personal journey, and I know that the member for Berowra does respect human rights and people, and has a record of it.

She went on to say this in her article today:

Every person who fled Gaza after October underwent rigorous checks by both the Israeli and Egyptian authorities. The idea that those who successfully passed these screenings and arrived in Australia still pose a threat is unfounded and perpetuates harmful stereotypes, alienating those who made it to safety here.

The member for Berowra knows, as do other members this chamber know, the danger in stereotyping people because of their race or their faith. People know that that is certainly not the case, and people from Gaza or the West Bank for that matter are certainly not automatically Hamas supporters and shouldn’t be seen …

(There is another attempt at a point of order, but Albanese again sits down and says he has concluded his answer.)

Updated

Opposition continues to ask questions about Gaza visas

Back in the house and Anthony Albanese takes a dixer on Australia’s relationship with Indonesia and everyone, including Peter Dutton agrees it is wonderful.

Julian Leeser then asks:

Today it was reported that before approving visas for people coming from the terrorist-controlled Gaza war zone, Canada requires applicants to submit to face-to-face interviews and biometric testing in a third country – Egypt. Why didn’t the government have a similar arrangement in place before granting more than 2,900 tourist visas?

(It was reported because the opposition provided visa numbers to The Australian newspaper, which led to the story. The last election held in Gaza was in 2006. About 44% of the then voting age population voted for Hamas, while about 41% voted for Fatah. Just under 50% of the Gazan population is under 18 and would not have voted in the 2006 election.)

Updated

Victoria’s ambulance chief resigns amid industrial dispute

Stepping outside the parliament for a moment:

The chief executive of Ambulance Victoria has resigned amid an industrial dispute.

In a statement, Ambulance Victoria said Jane Miller had decided to resign from her position to pursue a new opportunity within the Victorian health sector.

The Ambulance Victoria Board today acknowledged Ms Miller’s tireless dedication to the health of all Victorians, and the experience and leadership she has brought to the role since joining in January 2023.

Ambulance Victoria said the former emergency management commissioner, Andrew Crisp, had been appointed interim chief executive for six months during the recruitment process.

Updated

There were a bunch of interjections during that answer and it looked like there was going to be a point of order, but Anthony Albanese decides he has concluded his answer (which means no point of order).

Updated

Question time begins

It is competing with the DNC, but question time begins in the house and the Senate.

Peter Dutton opens up the house questions:

Processing a visa application while somebody is offshore in a third country like Jordan means a person can be stopped before getting to Australia.

The last government used this process when bringing those people from Syria. The prime minister says the process for granting 2,900 tourist visas to those coming from the terrorist-controlled Gaza zone follow the same process. Can the prime minister advise in which third party country these people were sent to for screening before they came to Australia?

Anthony Albanese responds:

No matter where a person comes from or what visa they hold, security agencies are involved in the process. They trust their expertise. They take the same advice from the same security agencies, even the same security personnel as the previous government. In this case, we’ve rejected more than 7,000 visa applications – fewer than 1,300 people are here.

And I remind the leader of the opposition that the Rafah border crossing is controlled by the Israeli and Egyptian authorities.

Let’s be clear about what is happening here. Israel closed the Rafah border crossing in May. They’re not letting people out. Three months later, the leader of the opposition decided to call for a ban on Gazans coming to Australia, even though no one is.

Updated

Efforts to deal with IV fluid shortage should comfort patients, AMA says

There is growing reassurance for patients that their care won’t be affected by the IV fluids shortage thanks to the recent coordination across governments, the peak body for doctors says.

On Friday the government announced it would be stepping in to coordinate the distribution of IV fluids across the country following a meeting of federal, state and territory health ministers:

The Australian Medical Association’s president, Prof Steve Robson, has made a statement today saying the coordination efforts “should be comforting for Australian patients, no matter where they live, or where they are being treated”.

The cross-jurisdictional response group established by Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler is meeting frequently to share data; co-ordinate action on IV fluid usage and supply; establish forecasts for future needs; discuss logistics and issue clinical guidance and updates to our front-line healthcare workers.

Robson said most IV fluids used in Australia are produced locally and the AMA had been advised that the local producer was continuing to operate at full capacity – working to “meet the regular demand in orders from public and private hospitals”.

Responsible and measured steps are being taken to conserve supply when necessary and we are now seeing real coordination of efforts to ensure that we not only have enough supply, but it also gets to where it is needed.

We also recognise that some practices, including general practices, might be facing short term disruptions. I want to assure those practices that governments are working to address these disruptions quickly.

The AMA will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide feedback through the cross jurisdictional working group that we are part of – ensuing that clinician feedback continues to inform decisions being taken at the highest levels.

Updated

Coalition says it’s in ‘good faith negotiations’ with Labor on aged care

The shadow aged care minister, Anne Ruston, has commented on suggestions in Labor caucus that the opposition is close to a deal on aged care reforms, after the government dropped its proposal for criminal penalties for directors for sub-standard care.

Ruston said:

We are in good faith negotiations with the government and we have fought hard against the inclusion of criminal penalties in the new Aged Care Act.

Our position on criminal penalties has always been clear. This was not a recommendation of the royal commission. It was an ill-considered and unconsulted election promise from Labor that would have dangerous consequences.

Following significant consultation with the aged care sector, it is clear to the Coalition that this measure would force the exit of highly capable staff from the sector in fear of being criminally punished at a level not seen in any other industry. In the middle of a severe workforce crisis, this is an unacceptable risk.

The threat of jail time is the last thing aged care workers and volunteers need as they work hard to care for older Australians amongst significant challenges.

Updated

There is just under 20 minutes until the next question time (aren’t we lucky) so prepare yourself.

It is most likely going to be a copy and paste of what we saw yesterday (and last week).

Grab what you need to get through it and we will see you back here at 2ish.

Independent MPs call for conscience vote on gambling ad ban

The independent MPs Andrew Wilkie and Rebekha Sharkie have released a letter to the prime minister and opposition leader in which they call for a conscience vote on gambling ads.

Sharkie told reporters in Canberra that gambling is an issue of “faith and morality” and the call for a free vote “will sit well with many Labor MPs” who face being “banished” from their party if they cross the floor.

Wilkie said that “numerous backbenchers are very uncomfortable” with the direction of government reforms to cap gambling ads at two an hour in general programming, a partial rather than total ban.

Wilkie said this would still see ads present during times that children are watching TV, accusing the government of prioritising the financial viability of media companies over the safety of children.

The government claims it wants a balanced package to avoid unintended consequences, including loss of revenue by media companies and gambling going offshore via the internet. Sharkie accused the government of echoing “talking points” from gambling companies.

Updated

Disability body calls for senators to vote against government’s NDIS changes

The First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN) has called on senators to vote against the government’s NDIS changes.

Worimi man and FPDN chief executive Damian Griffis said the FPDN is a human rights-based disability representative organisation and it had a “moral obligation to let our community know their rights are being compromised”.

The NDIS has overwhelmingly failed First Nations people, especially those in regional and remote areas. To endorse the bill in its current state is even worse than to accept the status quo, and will see to the introduction of wide sweeping, paternalistic and punitive powers that evidence and history tells us will disproportionately impact the lives of First Nations communities.

Updated

It is not politics, but people can’t seem to get enough of this story, so here is an update for you:

Robbery and serious crime squad detectives have charged a second man with allegedly stealing tens of thousands of unreleased limited edition Bluey coins from a warehouse in Sydney’s west last month.

This follows this story from earlier in the month.

Strike force detectives, with assistance from Raptor squad (who names these things) arrested a 44-year-old man earlier this morning, after further investigations.

Investigations under Strike Force Bandit continue.

(We have not confirmed whether the name of the strike force is deliberately Bluey themed.)

Updated

Pre-election enrolment ‘has never been higher’, AEC says

The Australian Electoral Commission has reported the latest electoral roll figures and it seems everyone is champing at the bit to vote, with the AEC reporting that “pre-election enrolment has never been higher”.

Some tidbits:

  • 97.9% of all eligible Australians are enrolled to vote (as at 30 June 2024).

  • This is higher than the 96.2% leading into the previous federal election in 2022 (as at 30 June 2021)

  • 96.8% was recorded at the close of rolls for the 2022 federal election (previous record high for a federal election, likely to be eclipsed in 2024/25)

  • An estimated 92.9% of Indigenous Australians are enrolled to vote (as at 30 June 2024).

  • This is significantly higher than the 79.3% leading into the 2022 federal election (as at 30 June 2021).

Updated

The RBA have released their minutes from their previous meeting:

We already know the outcome – the bank board held rates steady. But the minutes reveal they were looking at the unemployment rate and considering what would happen if it suddenly increased.

“While the evidence that this was occurring seemed limited, members were alert to the possibility that labour demand could soften, perhaps quite rapidly.”

Updated

Palestinian visas dominate Coalition party room discussions

The Coalition held its joint party room this morning and discussions focused heavily on Labor and the independents’ response to its proposed policy to pause humanitarian visas to those trying to flee Gaza.

A party spokesperson said the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, said the next federal election will be a “test of character” and that the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, had committed a “cardinal sin” for allegedly misquoting the head of Asio, Mike Burgess.

Dutton told Coalition members there was concern Labor had “subverted” the usual security checking process and made Australia more unsafe. Last week, Burgess assured Australians the proper checks were being done and that Asio was called to conduct more rigorous checks when required.

The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, praised Dutton for offering “reasonable solutions” and said the teal independents, who said the policy by Dutton and the opposition was “racist”, had acted disgracefully.

Coalition members also raised concerns that some Labor members had been “stirring up division” by criticising the opposition’s track record on multiculturalism. The MPs reiterated the Coalition should stand up for their record.

The deputy leader, Sussan Ley, reminded the party room there are Palestinians already in Australia who are deserving of “our welcome and our support” but that does not preclude criticism of the visa process.

(Ley had been a member of the Parliamentary friends of Palestine).

Updated

Greens MP says EPA decision not to tighten soil fill regulations ‘baffling’

The New South Wales Greens MP Sue Higginson says it is “baffling” that the state’s Environment Protection Authority (EPA) cancelled its plans to tighten regulations on a type of cheap, recycled landscaping product after the then Coalition government was warned about it.

After obtaining documents under freedom of information laws, Guardian Australia revealed the EPA told senior ministers Matt Kean and Mark Speakman in 2021 that the soil fill – known as recovered fines – posed “potentially unacceptable risks to the environment and the community”.

At the time the EPA was proposing to tighten regulation of the products but in May 2022 it walked away from the reforms after opposition from the waste industry.

After the publication of Guardian Australia’s story this morning, Higginson said:

Something happened between the end of 2021 and mid-2022 that allowed hazardous materials to continue to be sold and distributed by producers of recovered fines from waste.

The [EPA’s] reviews in 2013, 2019 and 2020 all proved that the product was dangerous – but no one acted to stop it. This is a toxic legacy that needs to be explained and fixed.

Three years later there is still asbestos and other contaminants being sold at garden supply stores and being spread over playgrounds.

Updated

Regis Resources share price up

Taking a look at some of the news floating around today, we decided to see how Regis Resources was faring.

Regis sent a scathing statement to the ASX following Tanya Plibersek’s decision to make a partial declaration under section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act. The declaration is designed to protect the headwaters of the Belubula River on Kings Plains, which was the proposed site of a tailings dam for the company’s McPhillamys goldmine.

Regis said the partial declaration made the project “unviable”.

We just had a look at the ASX and Regis Resources has seen it’s share price increase today – as of 12.29pm, it was up 3.41%.

Updated

After the joint statement between the leaders where no questions were allowed to be asked, the government has released joint-ministerial statement on Australia-Indonesia defence cooperation which doesn’t actually say anything about what is happening with the pact, beyond that it will be aimed at “strengthening the bilateral defence relationship across many dimensions and areas of cooperation”.

Updated

Labor considers dropping criminal penalties for directors of sub-standard aged care

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, addressed Labor caucus discussing the four focuses of the government: cost of living, Medicare, Future Made in Australia, and Australia’s place in the world.

Albanese referred to Peter Dutton’s history of finding ways to divide Australians, repeating his argument from question time on Monday that the Coalition’s recent concern about Palestinians arriving from Gaza implied that Hamas control was only a problem after the 7 October attacks. While Dutton is obsessed with appearing tough, Labor is focused on those doing it tough, he argued. Albanese noted the Coalition had not produced a single fully costed cost-of-living policy.

Albanese also referred to “constructive, detailed” negotiations with the opposition on aged care reforms. He is hopeful of an agreement with the opposition “very soon”.

Anika Wells gave details of the new support at home program, and gave the outline of negotiations on taskforce recommendations about viability and investability of residential care. Guardian Australia has confirmed Labor has offered to drop criminal penalties against aged care directors for breaches of standards; and is hoping to introduce more user-pays for wealthier consumers of residential accommodation and food.

Caucus also approved legislation:

  • Setting up the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission

  • Paying super on paid parental leave

  • Family law changes, so courts can better consider the effect of family violence

  • Bill Shorten’s amendments to NDIS legislation, reflecting negotiations with premiers on NDIS rule changes, and opposition amendments about not spending on drugs and alcohol

Updated

Indonesian president-elect says defence pact will be signed in coming days

Prabowo Subianto, who is currently the defence minister in Indonesia (as well as being president-elect), said Australia and Indonesia have also concluded negotiations on an updated defence pact, which will be signed in Indonesia in the coming days.

I look forward to hosting [Richard Marles] very soon in Indonesia signed our defence cooperation agreements. I think we had very important discussions which I think will be beneficial to both our countries in the future.

The defence minister, Richard Marles, also spoke at the joint statement and he too is very excited about the pact.

When you consider the journeys of Indonesia and Australia over the decades, it is profoundly historic that we have reached this moment where we find security in each other.

The map really determines that Australia and Indonesia is the closest of neighbours and have a shared destiny but, from this moment forth, that destiny is very much defined by deep strategic trust.

Typically, it would take the better part of a decade to negotiate an agreement of this kind that we have done it in less than two years, it speaks to the shared ambition, the shared sense of purpose between our two countries, the closeness between Australia and Indonesia under President Widodo and Prime Minister Albanese.

I have been to Indonesia in the last 18 months three times, Prabowo Subianto has been here twice, we have met each other countless times in other parts of the world. This would not have happened but [for] Prabowo Subianto’s leadership and I would like to thank him for that leadership. I would like to thank him for his partnership and indeed his friendship.

Updated

Prabowo Subianto says Indonesia would like Australian help battling ‘narcotics threat’

Prabowo Subianto said he and Anthony Albanese spoke of areas where Indonesia would like “Australian help, advice and assistance”, naming “in the field of agriculture, food security, also in the serious problem of drugs, narcotics, let us say threats that we are experiencing in Indonesia”.

I view the drugs problem and the narcotics threat to be of the highest importance in Indonesia and I really value Australian help in this.

So we look forward to a wide spectrum of future cooperation, not least in the field of sports.

I congratulate Australia for its great achievement in the last Olympics and I am also determined to better our position in the next Olympics.

Updated

President-elect Prabowo Subianto, who will be inaugurated as president in October, said Anthony Albanese was the first foreign leader to call and congratulate him on his win in February.

He too has re-affirmed the relationship between the two countries and will “continue the general policies” of his predecessor.

In most fields, especially in the field of economics, we have had good cooperation. We would like to see more Australian participation in our economy. We would also like to see closer collaboration and consultation on various fields that we can achieve outcomes that respect both our economic interests, both our national interests.

Albanese says there is ‘no more important relationship’ for Australia than its friendship with Indonesia

Anthony Albanese is speaking at the joint press statement he and the Indonesian president-elect Prabowo Subianto are holding. There will be no questions, so it is literally a statement.

Albanese:

There is no more important relationship than the one between our two great nations. The strides that President Widodo and I have made together toward a deeper economic relationship will be the foundation of the work that I know will continue under your administration and that’s been confirmed by the one-on-one leaders’ meeting that we had today, but also the discussions that we had with senior members of my cabinet and your delegation. Our countries will continue to strengthen our ties as economic partners, security partners and partners that stand ready to benefit from the global transition to net zero.

Updated

Paul Karp is at the Labor caucus briefing (each party holds a background briefing following its meetings) and says the caucus heard from Anthony Albanese and Anika Wells on the aged care reforms.

The prime minister said he was hopeful of an agreement with the opposition “very soon”.

Wells gave details of the new support at home program, and gave an outline of negotiations on taskforce recommendations about the financial viability of residential care.

One of those things may be making people who have more money pay more for aged care. More to come.

Updated

Tammy Tyrrell to vote against government’s NDIS bill

Independent Tasmanian senator Tammy Tyrrell has announced she won’t be supporting the government’s NDIS bill when it pops up in the Senate:

I’m voting against the government’s NDIS bill. There are so many unknowns in this bill. It’s like a book with chapter headings and then no writing. The Senate shouldn’t pass bills that the government couldn’t be bothered to do their homework on.

I never wanted to be a politician but, as an accidental one, my goal is to try and make things better for people where I can. Hundreds of Tasmanians on the NDIS are telling me this bill will actually make things worse for them. That’s why I can’t support it.

Updated

Study shows 24% of Australian children live in ‘childcare desert’

Victoria University has released data showing 700,000 Australians live in areas which make accessing childcare almost impossible.

It won’t come as a surprise to anyone living outside of inner city areas, but the research found that roughly 24% of Australian children live in what the researchers termed the “childcare desert”.

The Parenthood’s Georgie Dent, who has been pushing for changes to access and the end to the activity test (which bases how much subsidy a parent or care giver can receive based on their “activity” such as work or volunteering), said the government also needed to look at availability of childcare in its quest to expand access.

Maddy Butler, the lead campaigner for the Parenthood’s “access for every child” rural coalition said:


We know that there is a direct link between access to early childhood education and care and parents’ workforce participation and, in the regions, entire workforces and communities are suffering because of this.

This report is yet more proof that as long as providers make the decisions about where to open centres, services will continue to congregate in wealthier, more advantaged and metropolitan areas.

Updated

Greens’ party room meets

The Greens’ party room has met, mainly discussing the lack of progress on a lot of government legislation. The minor party thinks that the NDIS bill may pass on Thursday with opposition support, but otherwise bills are backing up for the September session.

A regional broadcasting bill which the Greens planned to amend to push for a total gambling ad ban has been pushed down the list.

The Greens are upset about Peter Dutton’s comments on Palestinian visas and are worried Labor will be spooked out of offering a special humanitarian visa to help people fleeing the Gaza war zone.

The Greens rejected claims about construction union donations, noting that they hadn’t taken a cent from them in over a decade.

Updated

Penny Wong due to meet with Qatar PM

The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, is due to meet later today with the visiting prime minister of Qatar, a country that has been playing a key role in attempting to broker a Gaza ceasefire agreement.

The meeting in Canberra is scheduled to occur this afternoon. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, who holds the dual roles of prime minister and foreign affairs minister of Qatar, is visiting Australia and New Zealand.

The latest round of Gaza ceasefire talks were held in Doha, Qatar, last week but ended without a breakthrough. Further negotiations are expected to be held in Cairo, Egypt.

During a visit to Israel yesterday, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said that this week was “probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security”.

The Australian government has strongly backed the ceasefire proposal that the US president, Joe Biden, has been pushing for the past three months. Wong has called for “all parties” - meaning Hamas and Israel - to agree to the terms. Wong said in June:

The human suffering in Gaza is unacceptable. This war must end

Updated

James Paterson then asked: But how could you possibly do all the necessary security and other checks in just an hour for an applicant? That’s lightning-speed approval.

Michael Willard replied:

When we apply that vast range of information to consideration of visitor visas, if you look globally, a very large number of our visitor visas would be done inside an hour.

The assessment is essentially looking at all the information we hold and applying it in a number of ways to the application in front of us.

You can find that transcript, here

Have visas actually been approved in one hour?

We have looked for the source of the reports of visas being approved “in some cases as fast as one hour” and one of the official first mentions we can find of it was during a February Senate estimates hearing.

During the legal and constitutional affairs estimates hearing, the Liberal senator James Paterson asked a deputy director with the immigration department, Michael Willard, about some reports he had heard.

Paterson:

There’s been some controversy about this in the media, and the minister for foreign affairs, among others, has reassured the public that no processes were expedited, no corners were cut—all the usual processes were followed. But there was also a media report by the ABC on 9 December, entitled ‘Australians turn to WhatsApp group for help to get family members out of Gaza’, in which some individuals claimed their visitor visas for relatives were approved within one hour. Does that sound right to you? Is it possible that a visitor visa was approved in a single hour?

Willard answered:

It is possible. I’d make this point in terms of the way we assess a visitor visa: we draw on a vast range of information that we hold, and we apply that information to the circumstances presented in a visitor visa application. There could be circumstances where someone, for example, has a strong travel record, is well known to us and has a routine that we’re familiar with, where the visitor visa could be granted in that time frame.

Updated

Birmingham says Albanese government handling visas with ‘confusion and chaos’

That led to this question in the same interview:

Q: Independent senator David Pocock says Gazans already in Australia should be placed on humanitarian visas. Do you support that call?

Simon Birmingham:

Well, I’m concerned because we’ve seen yet more of the typical chaos and dysfunction in the Albanese government with the reports that some of those who were processed for visitor visas and processed in some cases as fast as one hour, have arrived in Australia, and then there has been an on again, off again situation with those visas, with cancellations that have occurred, some subsequently reinstated.

There is a lot of confusion and chaos underpinning the way in which the Albanese government has handled this now. No doubt there may be some individuals, ultimately who do resettle permanently in Australia, and I trust that all appropriate steps would be taken with them as with anybody in similar circumstances.

(The answer went on to reiterate the points about “chaos and confusion”)

Updated

Birmingham repeats ‘security threat’ line on visas and refugees

Simon Birmingham was one of the Liberals who went out this morning to talk about the figures the opposition provided for that story in The Australian.

He spoke to Sky News to reiterate the point, but he also danced around a couple of issues he was directly asked about.

Q: You spoke of the suffering and the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Australia is a compassionate country. Figures show we are accepting more Palestinian refugees than other countries. Considering the dire situation you’ve been talking about, many would see that as a good thing?

Birmingham:

Well, Australia is a generous country, and we are historically one of the most generous countries in the world, accepting more refugees for permanent resettlement on a per capita basis than almost any other country in the world. And that is something we should have a proud record of.

Of course, it’s also a terrible fact that across the world there are many, many more refugees than can ever be resettled. And we face crises in our own region in Myanmar at present, of course, multiple crises in Africa, the continued war in Ukraine. There are sadly no shortage of refugees who would love the opportunity to come to Australia.

That’s why we need to make sure for our own social cohesion, wellbeing and security, that every possible security check is applied so that we have confidence that those who come to Australia are not only the most needy, but also the people who will contribute to our country and pose no security threat or risk to the social cohesion of our nation.

Updated

Opposition provides visa figures from around the world for story in The Australian – but are they complete?

The opposition provided figures to The Australian newspaper on the number of visas “likeminded” countries have provided to Palestinians since 7 October, for a story criticising Australia for issuing more.

Australia has issued 2,900 visas, but only about 1,300 people arrived in Australia before Israel seized the Rafah border closing and completely closed it.

The opposition figures from The Australian include:

“The UK has issued 168 protection visas to Palestinians since October 7 but it’s unclear how many have entered the country on other visa classes since October last year. New Zealand has accepted 153 Palestinians for temporary and residence visas and is prioritising applications for those with family in New Zealand.

“Canada’s Immigration Minister Marc Miller said in June that just 254 Palestinians had received temporary visas and 41 had received family program visas, while almost 3000 applications were still being processed. While Canada has expanded its cap on extended family visas for Palestinians from 1000 to 5000, it requires applicants to submit to face-to-face interviews and biometric testing in Cairo.”

But behind the scenes, the government is pointing to the gaps in the figures – that it is “unclear” how many people came into countries on different visa streams.

Updated

Jason Clare says growth of international education has put reputation ‘under pressure’

The education minister, Jason Clare, has spoken at the AFR education summit (the Fin hosts a number of summits across a range of sectors) and confirmed universities will learn the government’s plan on capping international student numbers “in the coming week”.

You have heard me speak, I am sure, a lot over the years, about the importance of international education.

Not just to our universities, but to our country. How it is the biggest export we don’t dig out of the ground. How it makes us money, and it makes us friends. That hasn’t changed.

But a lot has changed over the last two years. Two years ago there were 521,831 international student enrolments in Australia.

Today there are 810,960.

Clare said that there were about 10% more international students in Australian universities than before the pandemic shut downs and 50% more in vocational education and training courses.

That growth has also brought back the shonks looking to make a quick buck. It has lured people who really are here to work, not study.

And it’s put the reputation of this industry under pressure. That’s a fact. It has also resulted in Ministerial Direction 107. If you work in international education you will know the impact that has had.

Some universities have benefited from it. But some have been hit hard.

It’s why a lot of universities have asked me to act to put more sustainable arrangements in place. I know universities and other international education providers are craving detail.

That detail will be provided to universities in the coming week.

Updated

Albanese meets with Indonesian president-elect

The meeting between Indonesian president-elect Prabowo Subianto and Anthony Albanese is about to happen. Prabowo will be greeted in the prime minister’s courtyard and sign the visitor’s book.

The meeting will be held after that and then there will be a joint press statement – which is a joint non-press conference (there are no questions).

There will be a Royal Australian Air Force F-35A conducting a flypast (at about 10.45am), so if you are in Canberra and seeing low flying planes, that is why.

Updated

Watt outlines minister’s role in CFMEU administration legislation

Just before heading into caucus, Murray Watt held a doorstop on the CFMEU administration legislation. The workplace relations minister outlined his role moving forward:

The way the legislation is drafted is that it allows me, as the minister, to determine whether it’s in the public interest to put the union’s construction division into administration. And then it’s actually the Fair Work Commission general manager who would appoint the administrator under the legislation.

Putting that all together, I’d certainly be hopeful that we can have this process under way by the end of the month. We’ve moved quickly to get this legislation passed and we want to keep moving quickly to get this administration process under way.

Updated

Environment groups band together to express concern over oil and gas clean up

Six environment NGOs have come together to release a “statement of concern” over the lack of regulation for offshore gas and oil companies, particularly when it comes to cleaning up the mess from the projects.

The Maritime Union joined the Wilderness Society, the Australian Marine Conservation Society, Greenpeace Australia Pacific, Friends of the Earth Melbourne, the Environment Centre Northern Territory and the Conservation Council Western Australia in launching the statement, titled “The failing regulation of the offshore oil and gas industry clean up in Australia”.

The groups say the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (Nopsema) is not doing enough to manage the industry clean up.

Fern Cadman from the Wilderness Society said regulation failures to ensure offshore oil and gas companies cleaned up their disused and decaying structures was threatening the marine environment.

Rusty and decaying wells, pipelines and platforms can rupture, leak and decay, causing chemicals including oil, gas condensate, heavy metals and radioactive material to spread into the ocean. The longer the clean up is delayed, the worse the risks will become.

Updated

Financial industry criticises plan to tax unrealised superannuation gains

A coalition of financial industry bodies and associations have come together to push against the planned tax changes on unrealised superannuation gains.

Last week it was most of the crossbench coming together to announce amendments. This week, it is 11 industry and professional bodies “representing accountants, superannuation trustees, financial advisers and other groups”.

Unrealised gains are when an asset increases in value, but the capital remains “unrealised” – because you haven’t sold it.

Critics of the plan to tax it say it will impact rural, regional and farming businesses, as well as small businesses, who don’t have the cashflow to address the changes.

The group have put out a statement saying:

Unrealised capital gains in the calculation of earnings is likely to cause liquidity stress for many individuals and business entities impacted by this tax. The University of Adelaide estimates that had this tax been introduced in the 2021 and 2022 financial years, over 13 per cent of impacted members would have experienced liquidity stress in meeting the new tax obligations.

Some small business owners will be forced to sell their business premises to save their business. Selling such assets is typically associated with substantial transaction costs and market timing considerations that are likely to further exacerbate potential losses and introduce other investment risks.

Updated

It’s party room meeting day so the morning will probably get a little calmer. Grab your fifth coffee. Touch some grass. Consider how demure you are. (Yes, it is possible I am too online.)

We’ll bring you the updates as soon as the meetings break.

Updated

Master Builders chief: ‘The ABCC was good, but it didn’t go far enough’

The CEO of Master Builders Australia, Denita Wawn, has been doing a lot of media since the deal between the government and the Coalition on the CFMEU administration legislation was announced.

Wawn told Canberra radio 2CC earlier this morning talking about the need for a stronger industry watchdog:

The ABCC was good, but it didn’t go far enough. The ABCC only looked after industrial relations laws, and we’ve seen from all the media reports in the last month or two, this is more than that. This is about criminal behaviour. This is about anti-competitive behaviour. This is about governance issues of our sector, and as such we have consistently called for a regulator that covers all of the issues. The nature of the industry, with its contracting and tight deadlines, means that it’s ripe for problems.

Four royal commissions have said you need a special regulator with more teeth, so bizarrely enough, the government and the Coalition are both right. We need to combine their thinking and make sure that we do get the special regulator that we really deserve.

Peter Dutton has already introduced legislation to reinstate the ABCC, which the government does not support.

Updated

Privacy reforms may not protect workers from medical tests, thinktank says

Proposed privacy law reforms may not go far enough in protecting workers from invasive medical tests, a new study has found.

The Australia Institute study, released on Tuesday, investigated the experiences of workers from the mining sector who were forced to undergo blood tests during the recruitment process with little explanation.

The report’s author found proposed privacy law reforms, including a “fair and reasonable test”, would not be strict enough to curtail the practice.

The findings come in the same month changes to the Privacy Act are expected to be tabled in parliament, as promised by attorney general Mark Dreyfus.

– via AAP

Updated

Does the pen licence still have a place in modern schooling?

Slightly outside politics, but something that should unite us all – Caitlin Cassidy has looked at the pen licence, and its place in modern education.

Fun fact: I didn’t get my pen licence until I was in Year 7. At the time it was called ‘regrettable and consistent messy writing’ but now they call it ‘ADHD’.

Updated

Russian dissident Masha Gessen granted last-minute visa

The Russian dissident and author Masha Gessen has been issued their visa this morning.

Gessen was on RN Breakfast this morning and confirmed that they had received their visa.

They had said yesterday their visa had initially been “functionally declined” after the Department of Home Affairs demanded documents that were “not possible” to source.

Those demands initially included police checks from Russia, and then police and FBI checks from the United States, where Gessen has never been charged or convicted of anything.

Gessen, an outspoken critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin, is based in the US and was due to arrive in Australia last weekend to speak at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas this coming weekend.

Gessen was charged in Russia on charges of spreading false information about the military and was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison in July.

Updated

Bandt says CFMEU legislation is ‘threat to the rule of law’

Adam Bandt also had some comments about the CFMEU administration legislation deal between the government and the coalition:

On CFMEU, Bandt said:

Labor has chosen to work with the anti-union, anti-worker Liberals to rush through legislation that civil liberties groups are saying is a serious threat to the rule of law.

Under this legislation, if there’s a change of government, Michaelia Cash could sack the administrator and appoint Tony Abbott to run one of the country’s biggest unions.

People will find themselves facing lifetime bans from working in the industry, but there’s no process that is required to go through beforehand to prove any allegations against them, and as a result, there could be a number of people who’ve done absolutely nothing wrong who find themselves with a black mark against their name and unable to get their way back into their job.

This is what happens when you rush serious legislation like this.

Bandt also rebuffed suggestions the Greens had not been critical of the allegations against some branches of the CFMEU:

There should be no tolerance for sexism, for violence, or for corruption. All of those things have no place in any workplace or in any organisation, whether it’s a corporation or a union or a government.

But what Labor and the anti-worker Liberals have done is rushed through legislation that is an unprecedented attack on the rule of law.

Updated

Bandt says Dutton has ‘made a career out of punching down’

The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, held a quick doorstop this morning (unscheduled press conference, traditionally held as someone is entering or exiting a door) where he was asked about the Coalition’s latest attack lines on Palestinian visas.

Bandt said:

What is clear is Peter Dutton has made a career of punching down. [He] has made a career out of punching down and attacking vulnerable people who are doing nothing more than seeking safety.

But Labor bears some responsibility here as well. Labor has from day one backed the invasion of Gaza.

And still, even as we hear horrific news that polio is now breaking out in Gaza, that there is a human-engineered famine, that people can’t get enough to drink … Labor refuses to put any pressure on the extremist Netanyahu government to stop the invasion.

We’re calling on the government not just to allow our people to come here to seek safety, but also to put pressure on the extremist Netanyahu government to stop the bombing and the invasion which is forcing people to flee in the first place.

Updated

Community legal centres call for funding to address ‘workforce crisis’

Community legal centres are launching a national campaign this week at Parliament House, calling on the Labor government to properly fund their services.

Community legal services support about 180,000 people a year, often at the worst time of their lives, but say they are turning away twice as many people as they can help.

It is not a new problem – community legal services have been very vocal about the funding cliff they face. Here is an article from March:

The Save Community Legal Centres Campaign has three demands:

  1. Immediate funding injection of $35 million to address the workforce crisis, as recommended by the Independent Review of the National Legal Assistance Partnership

  2. Additional $135 million each year to sustainably address overall community demand

  3. Additional $95 million each year to fully meet domestic and family violence demand

Updated

Australian Conservation Foundation drops legal challenge to Scarborough gas project

An environment group has dropped a long-running legal case against Woodside Energy’s proposed Scarborough gas development off Western Australia’s north-west coast.

The Australian Conservation Foundation said it had decided not to proceed with the two-year-old case in the federal court after “it became apparent that the case was unlikely to succeed”.

ACF had challenged the federal government’s approval of the $16.5bn project, and argued there should have been an assessment of the impact the development’s emissions would have on the Great Barrier Reef.

In a statement, ACF said “the reality is that Australia’s laws work in favour of fossil fuel interests”.

There is still no explicit requirement for climate damage to be considered under our key national nature law, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. This means that, even today, major fossil fuel projects are being approved that will lock in huge volumes of carbon pollution well beyond 2050.

Woodside welcomed ACF’s decision. It intends to sell most of the gas from Scarborough to north Asian countries, including Japan.

Campaigners have estimated the project could lead to about 1.6bn tonnes of CO2 being released into the atmosphere over its 30-year lifespan.

Updated

A sales assistant can ‘never’ save for a home deposit, Greens say

The Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather is keeping the pressure on the government over housing policy, releasing a new analysis of ATO, RBA lending and CoreLogic house price data showing just how unaffordable house ownership has become.

Sarah Basford Canales has covered the analysis, here:

Chandler-Mather said the Parliamentary Library analysis shows no one earning the average wage of the top 10 most common professions in Australia could afford to buy a house.

A full time child care worker starting to save for a house deposit now, wouldn’t reach their goal until 2055. Meeting their mortgage repayments (on an average loan) would take 92% of their wage.

Housing stress is considered anything taking up over 30% of your earnings.

A sales assistant would “never” be able to save for a home deposit, Chandler-Mather said.

Millions of renters have been caught in a cruel trap, stuck paying massive rents, at best decades away from saving for a home, where even if they can get a mortgage the repayments are completely unaffordable,” the Griffith MP said.

How long do the millions getting screwed by Australia’s broken housing system have to wait for this painfully unambitious government to grow a spine and start taking real action on the housing crisis?

Updated

Murray Watt on visas: ‘We are using exactly the same processes as were used by the Coalition’

The opposition has continued its political attacks against visas being given to Palestinians from Gaza (before Israel seized and completely closed the Rafah border in May).

The Australian newspaper has reported: “International data compiled by the opposition indicates Australia’s nearly 3000 approved visas for Gazans since Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack on Israel far exceed the numbers accepted by the nation’s Five Eyes allies and like-minded countries such as France.”

Of the 2,900 visas which were approved, only 1,300 or so Palestinians made it to Australia before the border closure. Another 7,000 visas were rejected, the government has said.

Murray Watt is asked about the story and says:

We are using exactly the same processes as were used by the Coalition when they were in power and when Peter Dutton was the minister. Mike Burgess, the director general of Asio, has confirmed that himself.

Peter Dutton was quite prepared to use certain processes when he was the minister. Now we’re in power, he wants to criticise that. He wants to find division, to find reasons for criticism and be negative of the government.

Updated

The Greens have also criticised the legislation as giving too much power over unions to the government.

Murray Watt rejects that too:

I think this is just a ridiculous example he’s [Adam Bandt] giving, to disguise the fact yesterday the Greens were the only party in the parliament who decided to side with John Setka … rather than taking the side of the Australian people.

We had a vote in the Parliament yesterday, in the Senate, that called on the Greens to say they wouldn’t take political donations from the CFMEU construction division, they refused to vote for that. So I think it’s pretty clear what the motivation here is in voting against this legislation.

Yesterday, the Greens senator David Shoebridge said the Greens had not received a donation from the CFMEU in 10 years:

We haven’t received a dollar from the CFMEU for a decade, the Coalition received $175,000 in the last two years, Labor has received millions of dollars and what we say is we have not received the money, it is not why we are engaged in the debate.

Updated

Watt rejects claims that CFMEU deal is an attack on construction workers

The workplace relations minister, Murray Watt, has rejected claims from some within the CFMEU that the deal the government has struck with the Coalition over legislation to place the construction arm of the union into administration is “an attack on construction workers”.

Watt told ABC News Breakfast:

I would completely disagree this is an attack on construction workers. Quite the opposite. Construction workers and members of the CFMEU construction division have been let down by the leaders, where we’ve seen organised crime and bikies infiltrate the union at the expense of the members.

It’s about rebuilding the union, get back its focus on representing the interests of its members.

Updated

(continued from previous post)

Estimates suggest that Australians lost approximately $25bn on legal forms of gambling in 2018–19, representing the largest per capita losses in the world.

RACP president Dr Jennifer Martin said the government must treat gambling as a health issue. She said:

There needs to be appropriate investment in wrap-around services for people who are impacted, ensuring access to treatment and support to everyone who needs them. Ultimately, without a ban on all forms of gambling advertising the health of Australians is put at serious risk.

Updated

Psychiatrists and physicians call for ban on gambling ads

Two peak medical bodies have called on the government to implement an outright ban on gambling advertising, saying they are seeing an increasing number of patients being harmed by it.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) and the
Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) released a joint statement on Tuesday on the prevention and treatment of gambling-related harm. The statement highlights an urgent need for legislative action to address gambling harm.

The statement also calls on the federal, state and territory governments to remove barriers preventing people from seeking treatment for addiction.

Dr Elizabeth Moore, the RANZCP president, said “increasing rates of gambling-related harm among Australians is a significant concern for psychiatrists, given its strong correlation with comorbid mental health disorders”.

It can tear apart families, fueling financial troubles, economic abuse, and intimate partner violence, with gambling proven to intensify the factors that drive violence against women and their economic abuse.

Banning all forms of gambling advertising through legislation is critical to address their pervasive effect on people’s mental health and wellbeing.

Updated

Plibersek on sacred site protection at goldmine project: ‘Occasionally decisions like this need to be taken’

The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has spoken to ABC radio AM early this morning, defending her decision to place an Indigenous protection order over a goldmine in western NSW. The mine’s owner took to the ASX with a statement to say the order made the McPhillamys Gold project unviable.

The decision has kicked off a firestorm of warnings from the mining industry and its advocates that it sets a precedent that could ‘threaten’ all mining projects.

Plibersek says protecting cultural heritage should be paramount.

The truth is, we are living in a country where we’ve got thousands of years of continuous culture and heritage.

We’ve done a pretty bad job of protecting it in the past, the Juukan Gorge tragedy was an extreme example of that.

Liberal, Labor, the Nationals – everyone in the parliament said, ‘we can’t allow things like this to happen again. It was terrible for our reputation as a nation internationally’.

If that is the case, if we sincerely believe that we can’t allow the destruction of cultural heritage in that way, then occasionally decisions like this have to be taken.

Updated

Fatima Payman says she has 'no plans' to form new party

The former Labor senator Fatima Payman has reiterated that she does not have “any plans” to form a new political party, but her new chief of staff says it is “a discussion we need to have”.

The ABC’s Australian Story program last night profiled the independent senator, who quit the Labor party to sit on the crossbench in protest at what she saw as its inadequate stance against the Israeli assault on Gaza.

In an interview with the program, Payman’s chief of staff, Glenn Druery, was asked whether there were plans to form a new party and he replied:

It’s certainly a discussion we need to have. Yes, it’s a discussion we must have.

Payman told the same program:

I do not have any plans on forming a party, but I will not be joining the Greens and nor will I be forming a Muslim-only party.

Something I’ve learned about politics is you never commit definitively to anything, because it will come around and bite you in the backside.

Druery, the political strategist and so-called “preference whisperer”, told Guardian Australia on 9 August that “if, in the future, the senator does decide she wants to get involved in a political party, my advice would be to stay away from any party with a religious base” because “in electoral terms that will just not work”.

Updated

Wong reflects on political career as she announces plans to deepen connections with Indo-Pacific

(Continued from last post)

Penny Wong also used the speech to announce plans to help Australians build deeper connections with the Indo-Pacific region. This will include a doubling of long-term scholarships available under the New Colombo Plan, from 150 to 300.

Wong, who was born in Malaysia, told the ANU’s Centre for Asian-Australian Leadership:

It would have been unimaginable to me, when I first came to this country, that I would one day be Australia’s foreign minister or government leader in the Senate. Such an idea would have been as fantastic as fiction.

Nothing in those early years as an Asian kid in Adelaide – whose parents were married while the White Australia Policy was still in place … Nothing in those early years suggested this was a possibility.

The experiences of prejudice and racism that will be too familiar to many of you.

Wong said that early in her political career “it felt daunting, to so often be the first”. She said her first few years in the Senate were shared with the Chinese-Australian politician Tsebin Tchen “until the Liberal party didn’t preselect him for a second term”. She added:

There were times when it felt like the only other Asian faces I would see in Parliament House were the cleaners and a woman who worked in the library.

Wong said she felt pressure “not to stuff it up”, and that was why she tried hard to avoid make mistakes, which led people to criticise her “as robotic, wooden, cold”.

But she expressed hope “that in the not too distant future, we will see more Asian-Australians become cabinet ministers and leaders and it will be entirely unremarkable”.

Updated

Wong accuses Dutton of reviving Howard-era rhetoric about immigrants

The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has hit out at narratives of immigrants being a “burden” or “peril” as she accused the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, of reviving “divisive” rhetoric about Palestinian refugees.

Offering some personal reflections in a speech to the Australian National University’s Centre for Asian-Australian Leadership last night, Wong said:

Asian-Australians – particularly of my generation – will be all too familiar with the narrative of immigrant as burden, as peril, a drain on resources, a threat to cohesion.

We saw it from Mr Howard in the 1980s, when he called for a reduction in Asian immigration. I will never forget the toll that took on my family.

We see again it from Mr Dutton today. We know where these words land. We know what communities hear when the opposition deliberately revives this divisive rhetoric.

Dutton last week called for a temporary blanket ban on Australia granting visas to Palestinians escaping the deadly conflict in Gaza, prompting the government to accuse him of politicising national security for domestic political gain.

Wong said last night that politicians had “a responsibility to take care with their words” and “to not just seize a political opportunity but consider the implications of their words and actions”. She added:

This fearmongering is damaging in our community and it is a lost opportunity for Australia – to be more unified, to avoid reproducing other conflicts here.

Updated

Good morning

Happy Tuesday blog watchers and thank you for choosing to spend part of your day with us.

It’s a fairly big day in the parliament with lots of moving parts and we will do our best to keep you across all of them.

Anthony Albanese and Richard Marles will meet with Indonesia’s president-elect Prabowo Subianto a little later today. The Indonesian presidential elections were held in February, but Prabowo only secured a parliamentary majority recently. His trip to Australia will be based on the “shared economic, security and net zero transition priorities” and comes ahead of his inauguration in October.

Australia and Indonesia have had bilateral relations for 75 years this year. While defence, economics, trade and climate will be on the agenda, Human Rights Watch hopes meeting human rights commitments will also be raised.

Daniela Gavshon, the Australian director at Human Rights Watch said previous Indonesian administrations had made commitments, but failed to meet them,

“These include some difficult issues such as the mandatory hijab rules, the crackdown on LGBT people, and the government’s unwillingness to allow foreign journalists and United Nations officials to visit West Papua.”

On the domestic agenda, Labor will get its CFMEU administration legislation through the parliament after folding on some of the Coalition’s demands, including that the administration be for a minimum of three years, not the maximum Labor had originally pledged, that there be regular reporting from the administrator to the parliament, and that the CFMEU not give any political donations while under administration.

Some unionists are outraged over the deal, given the government could have negotiated with the Greens and crossbench for the numbers needed in the senate, but Labor was keen to avoid a drawn out fight on unions this close to the next election.

Meanwhile, the former Labor senator Fatima Payman has *kinda* ruled out starting her own party – at least for now – in an ABC Australian Story feature. Payman told the program:

Something I’ve learned about politics is you never commit definitively to anything, because it will come around and bite you in the backside.

And Penny Wong has delivered a rather reflective speech at the Australian National University’s Centre for Asian-Australian Leadership overnight. Daniel Hurst will have more for you, but the foreign minister spoke about her start in politics and the pressure she felt “not to stuff it up”.

The Future Made in Australia legislation continues its way through the parliament, and the party room meetings will be held in the shadow of Peter Dutton and the Coalition’s ongoing war against Palestinian visas and security checks.

If you missed this yesterday, we recommend it to start your day given what is no doubt ahead.

Karen Middleton, Paul Karp, Sarah Basford Canales and Daniel Hurst are all preparing to keep you updated as the day rolls on in Canberra. You have Amy Remeikis (and so far 2.5 coffees) on the blog.

Ready? Let’s get into it.

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