What we learned today, Thursday 16 November
We’re going to close the blog now, but let’s recap the big headlines before we call it quits and pick it up tomorrow:
State premiers learned which projects would be slashed as the federal infrastructure minister, Catherine King, announced the government’s response to the independent review of the infrastructure investment program. King announced there was an estimated $33bn blowout as a result of the previous government, while the Queensland treasurer, Cameron Dick, said his state had not agreed to the cuts.
Australia was given three months to find a Commonwealth Games host city.
The government introduced legislation to reform the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) to deliver a fairer return to the country from natural resources.
A crackdown on tax adviser misconduct in the wake of the PwC scandal will be a step closer as the government brought proposed new laws to parliament.
Josh Burns said Peter Dutton should not have conflated antisemitism with immigration detention, while Tony Burke said Dutton’s “scoring points” off antisemitism was one of the “worst performances of his career”.
Labor’s Maria Vamvakinou, Fatima Payman and the Coalition MP Mark Coulton stood with the Greens and the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network to receive a petition from more than 100,000 Australians who want an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The NSW Council for Civil Liberties and Liberty Victoria also penned a joint letter to the prime minister in relation to the “unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza”.
Younger Australians are cancelling streaming services as living costs rise, according to bank spending data, leading to savings of more than $900 a year.
The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, challenged Dutton’s “consistent falsehood” that the high court decision on indefinite detention was a “choice of government”, while Sarah Hanson-Young said Labor and the Coalition’s “collusion” on the immigration bill was an “absolute disgrace”.
Anthony Albanese arrived in the US for Apec and said world leaders needed to discuss the future of Gaza and “a way forward”.
Albanese also announced after a meeting with Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, that the tech company’s generative AI in email would be trialled by the Australian government.
The Coalition, led by Peter Dutton, walked out as question time ended with Tony Burke performing his one-man monologue “not even Coalition MPs want to sit with Peter Dutton”.
The Queensland government will ban gillnet fishing in protected zones within months.
Singtel rejected claims from Optus that it caused last week’s network outage.
The Australian live news blog will be back tomorrow morning. Have a great night.
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Health organisations call for government regulations on alcohol marketing after Hard Solo decision
More than a dozen public health organisations are calling on the government to regulate alcohol marketing, after the industry-run regulator backflipped on its decision about Hard Solo.
The alcoholic drink Hard Solo will change its name to Hard Rated after Australia’s beverages advertising code regulator found the brand would have a “strong or evident appeal to minors”.
The joint letter, signed by organisations including Cancer Council Australia, the peak body for general practitioners, the Public Health Association and the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education says:
After almost four months, and following a number of community complaints and Parliamentarians calling for action, the alcohol industry’s own Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code (ABAC) Scheme has admitted that an alcoholic product based on a popular soft drink has been designed to appeal to children.
Asahi has known that there was community concern over their product, but instead of taking action, the company started rolling it out on tap in pubs, showing it has no concern about the complaints that have been raised via ABAC. Asahi also had no regard for the fact that the product is being promoted prolifically through TikTok by young Australians, who are sharing videos about how the product masks the taste of alcohol and appeals to young people.
In practice, ABAC’s acknowledgement that this alcoholic product appeals to children in its design does nothing to address the fundamental issue with how alcoholic products are marketed in Australia.
Advertising and marketing of addictive products that cause substantial harm, including the design of their packaging, should be required to follow Government-led rules that protect our children, families and broader community.
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Singtel rejects Optus claims it caused network outage
On the eve of Optus’s embattled CEO, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, appearing before a Senate inquiry on the company’s 14-hour outage last week, Optus’s parent company Singtel has moved to distance itself from responsibility for the outage.
Optus over the course of this week has said routeing information provided by the Singtel Information Exchange (STiX) after a routine software upgrade at 4am last Wednesday began the domino effect that brought down the network.
Singtel has now confirmed that Optus was informed in advance about the upgrade, and it wasn’t as a result of the upgrade:
The STiX upgrade was completed within 20 minutes, and all its customers’ routers that were connected to it, including Optus’, were up and running.
We are aware that Optus experienced a network outage after the upgrade when a significant increase in addresses being propagated through their network triggered preset failsafes.
However, the upgrade was not the root cause.
Singtel will support Optus as it learns from what has occurred and continues to improve.
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New Queensland laws would jail the most irresponsible dog owners and ban five breeds of dog
The Queensland agriculture minister has introduced legislation into state parliament that would jail the most irresponsible dog owners, develop a community education program and ban five breeds of dog.
The restricted dog breeds of Dogo Argentino, Fila Brasileiro, Japanese Tosa, American pit bull terrier or pit bull terrier, and the Perro de Presa Canario or Presa Canario would all be banned under the laws.
Mark Furner said there would be a grandfather provision for owners of existing dogs. He said:
There’ll be six month delay in terms of making sure that people will be able to declare their dog if they have one of these breeds.
I understand in the state there’s only a handful of these types of breeds, and the youngest, I understand, is about 12 years old.
The RSPCA does not support breed-specific bans, which it says is not effective in reducing dog attacks or protecting the public.
Furner said the breed ban was a main priority raised by most of the nearly 4,000 respondents to surveys distributed by the government.
The laws also drastically increase the penalty available for owners of a dangerous dog, and streamline appeals after a dangerous animal is seized.
Penalties include up to $108,000 fines or up to three years’ jail for the owner of a dog that causes the death or seriously injures a person.
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Gillnet fishing ban will help save dugong population, AMCS says
The Australian Marine Conservation Society Great Barrier Reef fisheries campaign manager, Simon Miller, said the move to ban gill fishing will help halt the decline of the population of dugongs.
The gillnet fishery has had a devastating impact on our Reef’s iconic species; the Queensland Government should be commended for this world-leading reform.
But Katter’s Australian party MPs slammed the move. KAP leader Rob Katter said:
I don’t know how you compensate for shutting towns down.
Karumba, a small remote town in the gulf, it’s going to be swallowed up in this … whether it’s half the town that’s shut down, or a quarter or a third, I don’t know how you compensate that.
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Gillnet fishing banned in Great Barrier Reef
The Queensland government will ban gillnet fishing in protected zones within months.
The agriculture minister, Mark Furner, said the state government will enact a ban in dugong protected areas, on 1 January 2024, in advance of a full ban. He said:
Let me be clear: by mid 2027, there will be no gillnet fisheries in the Great Barrier Reef in the Gulf of Carpentaria, nor the Sandy Straits Marine Park.
Gillnet fishing involves using fish-meshed nets up to a kilometre long at the mouth of a river or estuary. It’s controversial partly because protected animals like dolphins and dugongs can be unintentionally caught up in the nets.
The federal and state governments will spend $185m helping the fishing sector restructure, paying $90m in compensation to licence holders alone. There are currently about 290 licences in the state.
Future fisheries taskforce chair John Tanzer said the state will issue about 40 licences to fishers during a transition period until June 2027. The government will also implement a buyback scheme for gillnets, which will be destroyed, he said.
Four years is a long rollout period. But what’s good about this program [is] it’s been backed up with dollars for purchasing voluntary buybacks.
We support any measure that increases opportunity for recreational fishers and the tourism industry in this region. And we’re looking forward to being expanded all the way through the Gulf and creating even further opportunities. Indiscriminate nets are a death wall that target species not intended and that must end.
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Victoria fire service volunteer numbers down nearly 10,000 in past decade
Victoria’s volunteer fire service has shed almost 10,000 volunteers over the past decade as its response to structure blazes slips, AAP reports.
The 2022/23 Country Fire Authority annual report, tabled in state parliament on Thursday, shows the service has at least 6,000 fewer operational volunteers than its target.
Its operational volunteer target is set between 35,000 and 37,400 but only 28,785 were registered, complemented by an extra 23,022 non-paid support staff.
There were 299 fewer operational CFA volunteers compared to the previous year and 9314 fewer than 10 years ago.
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Unofficial drag storytime goes ahead after cancellation
LGBTQ+ protesters and allies have gathered at Shepparton library to hold a “pop up drag storytime” after the library cancelled the event because it was being targeted by far-right activists.
At least 13 LGBTQ+ events have been cancelled in the past year in Victoria.
On Facebook, community group the Rainbow Community Angels said about 100 community members with 12 families attended the event.
On FB the Rainbow Community Angels said:
The LGBTIQA+ communities and our allies around Victoria say we have had enough.
Enough of these far-right extremists and neo nazis threatening our community events. We are out and loud and visible today for those who can not be.
The trans kids unsafe at school, the rainbow families who ask for social connection, those of us who grew up too scared to be out and visible in our country town to the inner city. We stand against hate and for kindness and care for each other.
The group had staged another “pop up storytime” in Eltham in May that was counter-protested by the far right.
Shepparton councillor Sam Spinks, who attended, said it was a “joyful” event:
Thank you Rainbow Community Angels for keeping everyone safe and for creating an atmosphere of fun!
And thank you Frock Hudson for your wonderful book choices!! I think the adults needed them just as much as the kids.
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Good afternoon and a big thank you to Amy for for keeping us all up to speed this sitting week.
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I am now going to hand the blog over to Natasha May to take you through the evening. The Senate is sitting by itself tomorrow, so we will have a general news blog in place of Politics Live, but make sure you check back to see all the political updates as well as what is happening outside the nation’s parliaments.
I’ll be back within a week’s time as we inch towards the end of the parliamentary year. A very big thank you to everyone who tuned in with us, and to the team, most particularly Mike Bowers who not only is everywhere at once, he helps to keep us all sane.
And to you, our readers – it was great to see the band back together below the line – and as always, you can reach me at the various socials and emails. Until then, please – take care of you. I mean it.
A x
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Vote early to avoid queues for Mulgrave byelection, Victorian electoral commissioner urges
Low uptake of early and postal voting for the byelection in the state seat of Mulgrave has prompted the Victorian electoral commissioner, Sven Bluemmel, to issue a statement encouraging people to vote.
He said:
While one in three voters in Mulgrave district has already chosen to either vote early or apply for a postal vote, the number of early votes is below what we’d typically expect to see at this point. I would urge anyone who hasn’t already voted to consider voting early.
Bluemmel warned there could be long queues on Saturday due to the low number of early votes:
Nobody likes to wait, but we will be doing everything we can to ensure that voters can move through the queue as quickly as possible. However, with voters able to choose where and when they vote on election day, we simply cannot prevent all queues.
Byelections typically have a lower turnout. In the recent byelection in Warrandyte, about 20% of voters didn’t show up.
The seat of Mulgrave, which includes the suburb along with parts of Wheelers Hill, Springvale, Noble Park and Dandenong North, was held by former premier Daniel Andrews for decades and is now on a safe margin of 12%.
But Labor sources expect the party will suffer a swing away from it, due to Andrews’ retirement and given it’s a third-term government.
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Labor bill responding to high court ban on indefinite detention expected to pass tonight
It has been a day (week, month, century) and it is not going to get any easier in the weeks ahead, so please make sure you take care of you, and those around you, as our political leaders descend into the next subterranean level of political debate.
The Senate is expected to pass the amendments to Labor’s legislative fix to bail breaches following the high court ban on indefinite detention, which includes minimum mandatory sentences, something which goes against the Labor platform (and Labor values). Why? Because it takes away from the discretion of judges to make judgments based on the circumstances of a case.
But Labor is accepting the Coalition amendments, which include mandatory minimum sentences for breaches to ensure the Coalition’s fast-tracked support for this bill. The bill will be returned to the house with the Coalition’s amendments at around 7pm. The house will reconvene at 8.30pm to vote on the amendments and pass it.
And then it goes off for royal assent and will be law sometime tomorrow morning at the latest (this is being passed with the same speed as the needle in the strawberry legislation, so remember this whenever you hear politicians say laws can’t be changed in a day – they can, when they choose it).
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‘Not the Australia I grew up in’, says Josh Burns of growing fear among Muslim and Jewish communities
Labor MP Josh Burns is the member for Macnamara, adjacent to the Caulfield incident on the weekend which saw ugly clashes near a synagogue. He said that scene was “one of the most confronting I’ve ever seen in my community”, a place he’d lived for more than three decades. Burns, a member of the Jewish community, said it was unacceptable and dangerous – then went on to raise concerns about effects being felt by Muslim Australians:
In the Islamic community, I see my people and my friends – I want them to be able to go to the mosque and be with their family and practise their faith.
It’s devastating [that] our schools are fortresses, that our synagogues have walls, that people are terrified to show their identity.
That’s not the Australia I grew up in.
Burns added that some Jewish children were fearful of wearing a yarmulke in public.
Wentworth’s Allegra Spender, also representing a large Jewish community, urged public leaders “don’t divide into us and them” – saying it was “up to all of us to safeguard” social cohesion.
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MPs say politicians must promote ‘empathy and generosity’ and come together for ‘the people we represent’
There have been some really powerful contributions from MPs on the crossbench and Labor benches to this MPI on social cohesion. Anne Aly, the minister for childhood education, said it was important for politicians to “uphold the values of leadership” and called on her colleagues to “bring us together for the sake of the people we represent”.
The independent Monique Ryan said leaders needed to promote “empathy and generosity”, and accused the opposition of seeking “to foment anger when what we need is respectful, measured leadership”.
Ryan raised concerns about pouring “fuel on the fire” and “going down dark rabbit holes of fear-mongering and name-calling”.
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There have been a few choice moments in the chamber.
Here is one Mike Bowers caught a little earlier:
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Here is some of how Mike Bowers saw QT:
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Burke warns media against amplifying ‘fringe’ voices and those purporting to represent a whole community
Staying with the MPI in the house on social cohesion, Tony Burke gave a word to the media, saying reporters should be wary of highlighting “fringe” and offensive voices – noting hate speech spewed by some extreme voices.
Burke said such groups had “never had publicity like they’ve had” and that he worried about the impact that amplifying those voices would have. He went on to note that there were some groups speaking publicly which claimed to represent the Jewish community, but claimed some were not as representative as many would think – Burke noting that sometimes journalists go to where it’s quickest to get a quote.
He said he was concerned that Australia had “gone backwards in a lot of ways” in recent weeks, noting concerns about social cohesion – but speaking to those at home, Burke said:
There is a core pf people who do represent communities most affected, who hear you, who respect you, who call out the hate speech against you and dearly want you to feel as safe in Australia as we do.
Speaking next was western Sydney MP Dai Le. She spoke of her worries about the “politics of fear” being used in parliament, and of some voices inciting fear and division.
Le said it should not be considered Islamophobic to condemn the violence of Hamas, but that it should also not be considered antisemitic to talk about the effects of Israel’s operation in Gaza.
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TGA issues 45 infringement notices to Wesfarmers over advertisements of prescription medicines
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has issued 45 infringement notices totalling $742,500 to InstantScripts, owned by Wesfarmers, for the alleged unlawful advertising of prescription-only medicines.
InstantScripts allegedly advertised prescription-only medicines while providing telehealth services. The company allegedly promoted the use and supply of medications such as antibiotics, insulin, blood thinners, and blood pressure and cholesterol medications.
Advertising prescription-only medicine directly to consumers is prohibited under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989, as appropriate treatment options involving prescription medicines should be determined by a health professional in consultation with the patient.
“Advertising directly to consumers could create an inappropriate demand for these medicines by patients and lead to unnecessary or harmful prescribing,” the TGA said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Wesfarmers Health said the allegations related to matters prior to Wesfarmers Health’s acquisition of InstantScripts in July 2023.
“Wesfarmers Health identified these historic issues in its due diligence and has taken steps to address the TGA’s concerns,” she said.
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Zoe Daniel says concern for Jewish and Muslim communities ‘can’ and ‘must’ coexist
The lower house is now debating its daily matter of public importance – this one discussing social cohesion, as proposed by independent MP Zoe Daniel. Her Melbourne patch has a large Jewish population, and she begins her speech by saying antisemitism is on the rise, and that she is concerned about Jewish people being anxious at the current situation – fuelled by the conflict in Gaza.
But Daniel adds that Muslim communities are also hurting, and that discussion should include them too: “The two feelings can coexist, indeed they must.”
Every word we utter has a consequence. We cannot allow distress to turn into hate and anger in a way that divides us.
This, of course, comes after Peter Dutton’s motion in the house yesterday – over which Anthony Albanese accused him of “weaponising antisemitism” as the Coalition motion included both criticisms about anti-semitism and the high court decision on indefinite detention.
Daniel said Australia had a “limited ability” to influence events in Gaza, but that “what we have a responsibility [to] is to encourage multi-partisan calm”. She said that she, and many other MPs, had faced threats, anger and hate in recent weeks.
Daniel said she feared multiculturalism in Australia was facing its biggest test since the policy was implemented, and urged fellow MPs in parliament to help “pull back from this tipping point”.
Leader of the house, Tony Burke – who was one of first Labor voices speaking passionately about the need to support Palestinian and Muslim communities during the Gaza conflict – said parliamentarians had a responsibility to lower the temperature of debate.
He acknowledged that people were experiencing grief and trauma over the Middle East conflict. But Burke then went on to say that Australia could not allow “freedom of speech” to include “hate speech”.
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Civil liberties groups urge Albanese government to call for Gaza ceasefire
The NSW Council for Civil Liberties and Liberty Victoria have penned a joint letter to prime minister Anthony Albanese in relation to the “unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza”.
The letter urges the Australian government to call for a ceasefire, confirm it is not providing or exporting military aid that “disproportionately impacts civilian populations”, and uphold Australia’s international obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child – noting that an estimated 40% of those killed in the conflict have been children.
Signed by the groups’ presidents, Lydia Shelly and Michael Stanton, the letter argues Australia must not directly or indirectly “contribute to the risk of ethnic cleansing occurring, which has been identified as a real risk by the United Nations, the escalating death toll of civilians in Gaza or any other military operations that deepen instability in the region”.
The letter argues any “perceived failure of strong leadership” will lead to more protests, and also said calls for a mere “pause” will not suffice:
We strongly urge that you add your voice to the call for a ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of hostages and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid into Gaza. A mere ‘pause’ will not suffice. Please commit to the rehabilitation of Gaza after the military operations subside; including by providing specific funding to address the needs of children who will continue to bear the scars of their survival.”
The letter concludes with a call for Albanese to “please consider what your legacy will be to the Australian people and the international community,” urging him to “do all that you can to ensure [the] public does not lose faith in the rule of law and the institutions that exist to protect it”.
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The Senate is going to pass the legislation and amendments in response to the high court decision this afternoon. Tony Burke suggests that when the bill comes back (it has been amended in the Senate, which means the house has to approve the amendments) there are five-minute speech limits.
He then says the house should have a break, but come back at 8.30pm to pass the bill and amendments, so that the house does not have to reconvene tomorrow (the Senate is sitting tomorrow, to deal with other bills it hasn’t got to during the week).
The house agrees, and so that is what is happening.
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Coalition walks out as question time ends
The Coalition, led by Peter Dutton, are walking out as Tony Burke performs his one-man monologue “not even Coalition MPs want to sit with Peter Dutton”.
Burke:
I won’t refer to the glass jaw. But I will refer the fact that in the time that we’ve been in this house for this parliament, I’m talking about the member for Monash is no longer sitting with you. I’m talking about the fact the member for Calare is no longer sitting with you.
Burke then mentions how Dutton is leading the walkout of his own party and more along the same lines about how the coalition is losing support, and then question time officially ends.
Updated
The government wins the division.
Tony Burke gets to say his piece.
After this, the house is going to hold a matter of public importance on social cohesion.
I am not being ironic.
Hanson-Young says Labor and Coalition ‘collusion’ on immigration bill an ‘absolute disgrace’
Things got heated at the end of Senate question time when the leader of the government in the upper house, Penny Wong, provided an update on the urgent legislation responding to the high court ruling on indefinite detention.
Wong reiterated what the acting PM, Richard Marles, told the lower house: that the government and the opposition had met in relation to amendments. Wong said the government had agreed in principle with six proposed amendments and was working with the opposition to establish the precise amendments that would be put to the Senate. Wong reiterated the government’s intention for the Senate to pass the bill this afternoon.
The leader of the opposition in the Senate, Simon Birmingham, criticised the government for not showing the opposition the bill until early this morning, but added:
We will work constructively to ensure its passage, as we committed to.
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young stood up to say the negotiations between the major parties was an “absolute disgrace”. She told the Senate:
Now we see the collusion of both the Labor party and the Liberal party cuddling up to ram through bills ...
You’ve left out a big chunk of this chamber. The crossbench has not seen these amendments, the crossbench has not been briefed on them ...
This government wants to work with the opposition to ram through this bill without notice.
Wong replied that the amendments would be debated in the committee stage of the Senate process.
Hanson-Young continued in the Senate:
I know it is inconvenient to the government that there are other voices in this place, but we exist and we are part of this process. It always suits you, doesn’t it, when you get to cuddle up with the opposition ...
This is all under the whip of Peter Dutton, the leader of the nasty party.
Birmingham asked for Hanson-Young to use correct titles; Hanson-Young agreed to a request to withdraw the comment.
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While that is all going on, I assume Tony Burke wants to make the point that the Coalition has lost another MP to the crossbench, after Russell Broadbent quit the party having failed to get preselection in the seat of Monash, which he has held since 2004.
Broadbent is back in the chamber, but is sitting on the crossbench, as is Andrew Gee. Earlier in the week, Anthony Albanese yelled across the chamber at Dutton “now you’re down to 55” after Broadbent quit the party, so Labor is just making a point.
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Burke:
With respect to seating arrangements, the seating arrangements have changed and have changed significantly during this term.
Dan Tehan tries to interrupt but hasn’t been given the call and is told to sit down.
Burke starts again:
That same concept of bringing people together is something ...
Peter Dutton gets to his feet.
Burke:
On the topic of bringing people together, you stand up?
Burke is told to sit down and Dutton says:
This makes a complete mockery of the parliament when this government has a priority [to keep Australians safe] and I move the the minister be no longer heard.
There is a pointless division, because the government has the numbers in the house.
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Tony Burke is asked a dixer about the work of the chamber and the seating arrangements of the house of representatives, which is a bit of weird one, so let’s see what it is he wants to say on the hansard.
It is not an issue that I often get to discuss. On the work of the chamber, on the work of the chamber, there is the important role of the chamber in bringing people together.
There is a fundamentally important role of the chamber in bringing people together and I do want to acknowledge the conversations that have been happening, including with the crossbench, on making sure that we find opportunities within this house to be able to do the leadership role in bringing people together at a time where there is so much difficulty across the country.
And so, I want to acknowledge that with respect to the work of the chamber.
Continued in the next post
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Richard Marles answers that question from Dan Tehan:
As I said at the outset of question time today, I acknowledge and the government acknowledges the anxiety that has been felt throughout the community from the very moment that the high court made its decision.
Now, from that moment, we have been looking at every way we can in respect of ensuring that the steps that we take are legally robust. We do nothing to promote community safety by taking steps in this place which will not survive legal challenge, and that is to state the most obvious fact.
Bob Katter interjects with “is the high court running the country or you?”
Marles:
Putting those people who are in the community into the community under the strictest conditions and from there, we have taken the steps that we’ve taken today in terms of moving legislation which places further conditions in relation to those people. And we will continue to look at options, but we will do so in a way where what we pass here is legally robust and maintains the safety of the community.
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Huzzah. Dan Tehan is back because we have all been such good readers.
Tehan:
The minister for immigration said more than 340 hardened criminals are likely to be released by the government. Will be Acting Prime Minister past preventative detention legislation to stop the 340 hardened criminals from being released?
There is ZERO evidence that these people are “hardened criminals”. As Paul Karp has reported, the solicitor-general Stephen Donaghue said there are 340 people in long term detention (a year or more) whose detention might be challengeable depending on the outcome of NZYQ (the high court case).
So their detention is in doubt by the high court decision, but there is absolutely no evidence to the coalition’s claim that these people are “hardened criminals”.
The coalition is relying on Australian attitudes towards migrants and refugees (which have previously been exploited for political gain, most memorably with the Tampa and “children overboard”) and also that most people do not have an understanding of our immigration system and how someone may end up in indefinite detention in Australia. You do not have to commit a crime. You can have an unpaid fine, be charged and have those charges dropped. Be denied as a refugee, but remain unable to return to your country of origin. Have “character concerns”. Overstay your visa. All sorts of reasons that do not make you a “hardened criminal” – just someone caught up in what is a punitive immigration detention system.
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Kooyong independent Dr Monique Ryan asks Mark Dreyfus about her bill to put boundaries around lobbyists:
We have minimal insight into who walks the corridors of this place, who they are meeting with and why. Will the Albanese government support my Clean Up Politics Act and commit to finally regulating lobbying in this country?
As Dreyfus answers, Paul Karp who is in the chamber, hears Dutton start to make a crack about Simon Holmes à Court, convenor of Climate 200 which supported independent campaigns, including Ryans.
Is that why Simon Holmes à Court … [trails off]
Guess he thought better of it.
Dreyfus says the government is reviewing the act which regulates lobbying.
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Question time getting rowdy
This is turning into one of the more rowdy and raucous QTs I’ve seen for some time. Much of the coalition frontbench is interjecting and calling out during nearly every response from government ministers – and in the spaces in between.
With immigration minister Andrew Giles getting many questions, he’s the target of much of the side comments. Shadow minister Michael Sukkar called out to Giles just now that he (Giles) was “sitting on your hands”, telling him “do some work”.
The request from speaker Milton Dick to Sussan Ley, that she rephrase a question due to an earlier ruling about how the house should refer to the high court’s decision on indefinite detention, has led to some consternation. In the crosstalk between his official contributions to the debate, Peter Dutton calls out that the opposition “will not rephrase it”.
Dick eventually allows the question.
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“As an accountant” is a new qualifier for why you think your opinion matters above others, but for anyone online you would know “I’m an accountant” has an entirely different meaning, which perhaps Senator Rennick is unaware of, but makes it even funnier.
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Over in the Senate, Labor frontbencher Murray Watt is teeing off at the former Coalition government over its funding decisions, specifically the now-infamous use of “colour-coded spreadsheets” based on electorate information.
The LNP senator Gerard Rennick objects to this, saying he is “sick and tired of references to colour-coded spreadsheets”.
He starts to say “as an accountant” but is ordered by the Senate president, Sue Lines, to cease the interruption.
There is more back and forth over the same points.
Peter Dutton keeps referring to ‘hardened criminals’ and includes the 340 people who may be covered under the decision in his description.
It makes for some good soundbites, but it is not facts.
Milton Dick allows the question without the amendment and Andrew Giles answers:
The safety of the community has been and remains the utmost priority of this government. That was the case before the decision of the high court which was on Wednesday of last week.
And that is why today, we have introduced urgent legislation to strengthen visa restrictions, impose criminal penalties on non-citizens when necessary to keep Australians safe.
Those sitting in this place and in the other place have a decision to make later on today, whether we can work together to make communities safer or stand in the way of swift and effective action. This should not be a difficult choice.
This legislation should be above politics, as should be the response more broadly.
I want to make one additional point. Starting well before the decision was handed down, our border protection and our law enforcement agencies have been working to make sure the toughest possible conditions were in place.
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Oh wait, no. Now we get Sussan Ley. What a treat.
Ley:
Among the hardcore criminals released into the Australian community by the Albanese Labor government*, are brothers [who] have been in detention since 2014, where they have been held for fracturing a man’s skull with a baseball bat**. Their visas were cancelled by the former coalition government. The minister has had six months to respond and to draft legislation that would have prevented these individuals being released. Why did he fail to act for the safety of Australians?
*It was a high court decision which led to the release.
**The lawyer for the brothers has contacted us to say they were not charged or convicted of manslaughter.
Tony Burke asks for the question to be rephrased to include the fact that it was the high court decision.
Peter Dutton then gets up with a completely different question as a point of order.
On the point of order, just so that we are very clear here of the circumstances – the minister has a personal decision to make in relation to the individuals. In the solicitor-general’s advice to the high court in relation to this mattter, 92 cases were referred to. To put beyond doubt the minister’s responsibility here, the minister has taken a decision originally to release 82 out of the 92, he has now released to further individuals, so 84 out of the 92 has been released. The minister is exercising his discretion to retain eight in custody ... it is an important point because it goes to the very point made by the leader of the house. This is a decision that ultimately is made by the minister for immigration. And so therefore, the proposition put to you by the leader of the house is completely and utterly fallacious.
Updated
Oh great. Dan Tehan has the next question.
The government initially said that no legislation was possible following the high court decision, but days later, the government has introduced legislation without the full high court judgement having been handed down. Why is it not possible for the government to implement a preventative detention regime which have prevented these 84 hardcore criminals (they are not all criminals) being released into the community and creating a risk to the safety of Australians? (Australians who have committed crimes and served their time are also released into the community)
Andrew Giles is the target of this question and he looks a little confused at the premise of the question. Paul Karp hears Peter Dutton say “it’s Thursday, you’re in parliament, you have to answer questions”, because; grown ups.
Giles:
The premise upon which it (the question) proceeds simply isn’t true.
Updated
While all of this is going on, it might be worth revisiting some cases which came up when Peter Dutton was home affairs minister, and decisions he made then:
“You already knew we’d brought these two guys who had already confessed to the machete murder of western tourists in Rwanda…”@annabelcrabb asks @PeterDutton_MP if he can “reassure” the public about two men transferred from the US. #Insiders pic.twitter.com/1toL12Y2Fx
— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) June 15, 2019
Updated
Richard Marles then returns some political fire:
What we inherited when we came to power, in May of last year, what we inherited in May of last year was the worst circumstances in terms of our global relations that this country has ever faced.
We had a situation where there was with our largest trading partner, there was no contact whatsoever.
With the country with whom we had the greatest security anxiety, there was no formal defence dialogue in place.
Now what the government has done is we have been out there, we have been out there in a way that has made sure that our country is safer, where our national security is improved and where our trade is improved.
When the prime minister was in the United States, when the prime minister was in China, he was there representing Australian working people, creating Australian jobs by getting trade back in place and that is exactly what he is doing in San Francisco right now.
What we have from those opposite, which is to shrilly yell out whenever anyone goes overseas, which is so compatible with the fact that when they were in government, all they did was yell at the world, is completely lacking an understanding about what we need to do as a nation in terms of improving our economy and in terms of improving our national security.
That is why the prime minister is in San Francisco right now, we make no apologies for that and he is there representing Australians.
Updated
Richard Marles answers:
In response to the last part of the question, we will make our best efforts to communicate with the families of victims around not only the circumstances of the release, but the steps that the government is now taking in accordance with the legislation, as amended, that is passed this parliament.
We will do our best efforts in relation to that.
In respect of the first element of the question that the leader of the opposition asked, indeed, the prime minister is in San Francisco right now, at Apec, at a leaders meeting that has been attended by every prime minister, including the member for Cook, by all Liberal prime ministers but since the establishment of Apec, including by Labor prime ministers.
We make no apology for the fact that we are engaging with the world.
Updated
Key event
Peter Dutton then asks Richard Marles, who just praised Dutton for his cooperation in passing the legislation:
The prime minister has left the country to go to San Francisco to meet with tech sector executives at a time when community safety is at risk from 84 hardcore criminals* that have been released from detention by his government**. The prime minister was unavailable to negotiate on these matters this morning***, I want to thank the acting prime minister for his engagement. In the prime minister’s absence, can the acting prime minister give an insurance that the government will make contact with each of the victims of these 84 individuals and in the cases where the victim is deceased, the victims’ family.
*They are not all criminals.
**It was a high court decision which led to the detainees’ release, as indefinite detention has been ruled unconstitutional. Australian citizens who have committed crimes, including ‘hardcore’ crimes, are released into the community once they have served their time. There are not two different legal systems in Australian depending on where you are born. Once released from prison, refugees and migrants would be deported. The people in this cohort cannot be deported. Previously they were returned to detention, but the high court has ruled that unconstitutional because the government cannot determine custodial sentences.
***You do not need the prime minister for negotiations on legislation like this.
Updated
The opposition is also pursuing the indefinite detention issue over in Senate question time.
The Coalition senator James Paterson asked when the government first became that penalties for breaches of visas conditions wouldn’t be enforceable.
The government frontbencher Murray Watt answered a slightly different question, saying that the government first became aware of the high court ruling when it delivered its decision:
What matters here is the government is taking action to fix this problem.
Paterson, in a follow-up question, asked when the government first directed the office of parliamentary counsel to draft legislation to fix the issue.
Watt said he had personally heard both the immigration minister, Andrew Giles, and the home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, say this week that the government was considering the legal implications and making contingency plans before the high court decision was handed down.
(That is not a direct answer.)
Updated
Richard Marles then essentially says the government has agreed to this to get the coalition’s support to rush through the bill:
The basis on which we are doing this is because we are in a position where this must be resolved immediately.
And so this has been done on the basis that it passes this parliament today, passes the Senate this afternoon, and passes this house later this evening.
This has been a matter of controversy and political debate. In the public and indeed, in this chamber.
But I do want to say that despite that, what we have seen in the last few hours in the way in which we have cooperated across the aisle, demonstrates that notwithstanding differences and debate, Australia can look to their political leaders and their legislators as people who will act in their interests and work together to keep the community safe.
I believe everyone who has been elected to this parliament comes here with the sincerity of representing the national interest, and central to that is maintaining the safety of the community.
And in what we have been able to agree on today, is an embodiment on behalf of all of us.
Updated
Richard Marles, acting as the PM, goes through some amendments the government has agreed to, from the coalition:
…We have been working cooperatively with the opposition around amendments to this piece of legislation.
I want to say upfront - I commend the leader of the opposition and thank him for the spirit in which he has worked with the government in relation to amending this legislation.
I want to say that there are six amendments that the opposition has put forward, the first is in relation to making curfews and we are monitoring conditions. Mandatory and nondiscretionary.
The second is requiring visa holders not to perform work or participate in any regular organised activity that involves contact with children.
The third is requiring visa holders not to go in 150m of a school, childcare centre or daycare centre.
The fourth is ensuring that each day of a breach of these conditions be treated as a separate offence.
The fifth is that if they are as a visa holder who has been convicted of an offence involving violence or sexual assault, allowing the minister to put in place a no-contact condition in respect of that individual.
And the sixth is to establish mandatory minimum sentences in respect of those that breach this bill.
The government agrees with these amendments in principle and is working with the opposition to establish the precise amendments that will be put to these bills in the other place.
Updated
Question time begins
As expected, Peter Dutton is straight into it.
Will the acting prime minister provide an update to the house in relation to the release of 84 hardcore criminals from the department of immigration?
The people Dutton is talking about are not all ‘hardcore criminals’ – some are not criminals at all.
Updated
In case you missed it amid *everything*:
A federal Labor MP has declared that “we have to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza” as she stood with the Greens to receive petitions from more than 100,000 Australians who are demanding an end to the fighting.
Maria Vamvakinou spoke out against the “humanitarian disaster that is unfolding in Gaza” and also took aim at Israel as she said that thousands of Palestinian civilians including children were “being killed by a highly sophisticated army”.
Vamvakinou made the comments at parliament house as she stood alongside fellow Labor MP Fatima Payman, Coalition MP Mark Coulton, numerous members of the Greens as well as health workers to receive two petitions calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Updated
We are just twenty minutes or so out from question time, which, given the tone of the day (week, month, decade) is going to be rough.
Get what you need and we’ll get through it together.
Updated
Microsoft generative AI in email to get Australian government trial, PM says
The Australian government will trial Microsoft 365 Copilot, the company’s AI system integrated into email, documents and other 365 apps, from the beginning of next year, the prime minister has announced.
After meeting in the US with Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, Anthony Albanese announced that Australia will be “one of the first governments in the world” to deploy generative AI services:
The Digital Transformation Agency will be able to trial new and controlled ways to innovate and enhance productivity to deliver better government services for the Australian people. Importantly, as well, will be the training component. We need to scale up Australia’s workforce for the technologies of the future, so that we can help to create the jobs of the future. And that’s what this is about. And it is a very exciting period. We’ll run it from January through to the 30th of June next year.
It’s unclear how it will work in practice – whether sensitive government data will be fed into the large language model, given it will have access to emails and other documents, or whether it will be a controlled trial.
Albanese said he also spoke with Nadella about the $5bn investment Microsoft is making in Australia, and cooperation between Microsoft and the Australian Signals Directorate.
It comes after Microsoft took down all AI-generated polls on its news site after publishing an AI-generated poll speculating on the cause of a woman’s death next to an article by Guardian Australia.
Updated
Kerry Chant calls vaping an ‘incredible public health threat’
Murat Dizdar, the secretary of the NSW department of education, said support around vaping needed to start in even earlier years, as the vapes were being marketed “highly inappropriately and illegally [to children] as young as kindergarten [age]”.
“I look forward to partnering with Dr Kerry Chant and her team to make sure we can build our support even stronger inside the school gates,” Dizdar said.
The NSW chief health officer, Kerry Chant, said the roundtable “has really galvanised us and reignited the urgency [with] which we need to tackle this incredible public health threat”.
Chant said as vaping reforms were introduced next year, there also needed to be “tailored pathways” to support young people currently vaping:
We need to work with our schools, with young people through our service system to provide pathways for care. Some people will need a light touch – they are not going to be addicted. Other people will need more comprehensive care. We need to make sure those tailored pathways are there to support people.
Updated
NSW roundtable on vaping proposes quitting guide and online support platform for school-age children
The NSW government has this morning held a roundtable with school leaders and health experts to discuss the growing issue of vaping in the state’s schools.
A number of actions were proposed to help tackle the health issue among school-age children (the latest data shows one-third of 14 to 17-year-olds have vaped or used an e-cigarette), including:
Creating a vaping guide to assist teachers and help students trying to quit.
Creating an online support platform for students.
Building better referral pathways between schools and community services.
Updating the curriculum so it better addresses the dangers of vaping.
The roundtable was an election commitment by the Minns government. The NSW education minister, Prue Car, described it as a “sobering morning learning a lot about what is happening with young people being targeted to become addicted to vapes”.
Car said “vape detectors aren’t going to be the single answer” – rather, the solution needs to involve more peer to peer engagement as well as involving parents.
The NSW health minister, Ryan Park, said: “As a parent of a 13-year-old this is front and centre. I’ve got a vested interest in this; it’s certainly a big issue for me.”
Updated
NSW government ‘disappointed’ in federal infrastructure cuts
The New South Wales government has expressed “disappointment” after the federal government cut funding to a number of major projects as part of its infrastructure review.
The roads minister, John Graham, said:
NSW is disappointed the Commonwealth intends to withdraw funding for a project in delivery that services Western Sydney Airport and will be pursuing maintenance of this funding in discussions over the coming days.
He said the government would keep talking with Canberra about the decision to get “the best deal we can for NSW”.
Updated
Dutton argues PM should be at home negotiating legislation instead of at Apec
One of the arguments Peter Dutton has made is that Anthony Albanese has not been performing his duty as prime minister, because he has been overseas performing his duties as prime minister.
Dutton:
I would have been happy to sit down with the prime minister at any time during the course of this week, overnight, this morning … Was he at the briefing? No, because he’s on [a] plane to another overseas destination.
I would have been happy to sit down with them and negotiate a regime that we could pass by legislation that would see these people come back into detention to see this threat that is imminent, to see the threat that is real to women and children in our country, dealt with and dispensed today, but the prime minister has taken a deliberate decision to abandon the Australian people when they most need him.
Dutton’s argument seems to be that the prime minister should be leading the negotiations on legislation. Which is the job of ministers (unless you are Scott Morrison, in which case you were both).
Australian governments operate with a cabinet of ministers who lead legislation negotiations in their portfolio. Peter Dutton knows this, as he was a cabinet minister for a very long period of time. Usually, prime ministers step in when there are negotiation issues – and that’s when you get the leader-to-leader discussions.
So Peter Dutton is either saying that he will only sit down with the prime minister to discuss legislation he has demanded should be the number one priority of the government, or that prime ministers in general should be in charge of legislation, from drafting it, to introducing it, to negotiating its passage through the parliament.
Last parliament sitting, which was only a couple of weeks ago, Dutton was arguing that Albanese should visit Israel on his way back from the US, because of how important what was happening in the Middle East was. Which will be one of the discussions at Apec. Along with Aukus. Along with trade and relationships, including security agreements. All of which Dutton says should be priorities.
And you know what the counterfactual would be if Albanese didn’t go to Apec.
Updated
Again, context is everything.
Pauline Hanson complains she got the visa bill "five minutes before I walked into this chamber".
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) November 16, 2023
The bill has been public since 9:17am. Staffing fail?
Updated
The Australian government has not called for a ceasefire.
Penny Wong has released a statement in response to a UN resolution passed overnight:
Australia welcomes the United Nations Security Council resolution overnight. pic.twitter.com/X5PxMmlnct
— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) November 16, 2023
(Continued from previous post)
Dan Tehan:
What I would say to the minister is say to your department that you want that outcome. Don’t sit there and listen to all the reasons why it might be difficult or there might be trouble in doing it. Learn to be a minister, actually direct your department to get you the outcome that the Australian people want. And it’s very clear what that outcome is … They want these people redetained. We need a new regime in place to do it.
There are some really unsavoury people in the group that the high court has determined cannot be detained indefinitely. Many are criminals who have served prison sentences. Nobody is arguing the toss about that. But “who cares about the niceties, lock them up again” is an extraordinary thing for a mainstream politician to say.
Let’s be clear about what Tehan is advocating. He’s saying never mind the high court, never mind pesky bureaucrats. Never mind the law, never mind framing your policy explicitly with legalities in mind. Just do what you want. Explains robodebt, doesn’t it? It explains why sports grants were rolled out in marginal seats in a program no one was sure was actually lawful. If this is how you approach the task as a parliamentarian and a legislator, where are the boundaries, the guardrails? Where is the bottom?
Dutton has been thundering this week about the most important duty of government being to keep people safe. He seems to have forgotten that the rule of law, and politicians prepared to respect it, is one of the foundation stones of community safety.
We can have mob rule and the vibe, or we can respect the institutions that safeguard customs and norms in a democracy. I know which I prefer.
Don’t let this stuff wash over you.
Listen. Don’t lose the meaning in the noise.
Updated
Some thoughts on dark days
Good afternoon everyone. I’ve got a bout of Covid so I’m listening to this morning’s migration debate out in the ether. I want us to pause together to mark the moment when a conga line of party-of-government frontbenchers (in this case, Liberals) took themselves into the House of Representatives to argue that the law doesn’t matter if you feel like doing something else.
This is what happened this morning. Peter Dutton opened the batting by observing that it was a very dark day – a day where the prime minister had abandoned his people, flitting off to some international summit or other while murderers and rapists were being released into the community.
I don’t know about you, but a dark day for me isn’t a prime minister going to an Apec summit. A dark day is when the alternative government of Australia adopts a formal position of “high court, high schmourt”.
The Liberal frontbencher Dan Tehan used his contribution this morning to berate the government for not conjuring up a new system of indefinite immigration detention immediately after the high court determined that indefinite immigration detention was unlawful.
It’s worth sharing this passage in its entirety, because the mindset is telling.
Updated
Greens senator says Dutton has ‘confected an emergency’ over release of people in indefinite detention
The Greens senator Nick McKim said the visa conditions bill applies to “innocent people” including “migrants, asylum seekers and refugees” who have already been detained for “many years”, in a manner the high court has found is unlawful.
McKim said Peter Dutton had “confected an emergency … cheerleaded on by the Murdoch media” and Labor has rolled over, “just as occurred when the MV Tampa [came] over the horizon 20 years ago”.
He said:
There is a bipartisan lockstep of cruelty to refugees that has run through this country for too long and it needs to end.
McKim said the conditions are “detention by another name” because curfews are “effectively house arrest” and electronic surveillance amounts to “electronic detention”.
He said:
They are going to set people up to fail, by putting in place punitive almost impossible conditions … when people inevitably fail … they will be charged and potentially imprisoned.
Updated
The Labor leader in the Senate, Penny Wong, has revealed that the Coalition is yet to show the government its proposed amendments to the visa conditions bill. The acting prime minister, Richard Marles, has written to Peter Dutton about the bill, she said.
Wong urged the opposition “instead of playing politics in an attempt to pretend they are the only party that cares about national security, which is not true” to work with the government.
Wong reiterated that the government argued against the decision the high court arrived at, which overturned a 20 year old precedent to come to the conclusion that indefinite immigration detention is not lawful.
She said:
This is a bill that makes Australians safer ... Work with us to get this bill through as soon as is practicable. Don’t delay it ... Don’t play politics, give us the amendments, let’s get through this as quickly as possible.”
Predicting RBA rate decision given jobs data will be a tough call: economist
The Reserve Bank won’t have a lot of fresh data tea leaves to read before the board next meets on 5 December, so today’s jobs numbers will be examined especially closely. (Retail trade and lending numbers are of interest, but not quite as weighty.)
The markets haven’t shifted their view yet about the odds of another RBA rate rise but economists such as Judo Bank’s Warren Hogan reckon the central bank won’t be overly happy about the strength of the labour market.
Hogan describes today’s jobs figures as “amazing” and evidence of an economy “operating beyond its capacity”. Researchers, in fact, will be studying “an economic experiment for years to come” as Australia continues to absorb a surge in job seekers as the population swells, he says.
Hogan still rates the chance of a December rate rise as less than 50% but he notes the board won’t meet again for two months because of the January break. And even then, it won’t hold monthly gatherings but switch to six-weekly ones in the wake of the RBA review.
The issue will be weighing up whether the 13 rate rises so far are enough or whether there’s still a bit too much momentum in the economy that might require higher rates later on. A tough call at this point, he says.
Updated
Labor bill on people released from indefinite detention contains ‘nothing’ to protect community: shadow home affairs minister
The shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, is speaking on the government’s visa conditions bill in the Senate.
Paterson argued that there is “nothing really” in the bill to protect the Australian community against those released as a result of the high court decision.
That is because during daylight hours, “these people have completely unrestricted movement in the community. There is nothing to stop them going to schools, going to shopping centres, to stop them working, to stop them from reoffending, including against those victims who they originally trespassed against*,” he said.
The bill contains restrictions on movement, compulsory notification of associations, and criminal penalties for breach of visa conditions. So there is a deterrent there.
Paterson then referred to Guardian Australia’s interview with a victim of rape who was concerned that she had been told her rapist would never be set free, and about the trauma of learning he had been released as a result of the high court decision.
He said:
She said it seems like the government has no plan, and she was right. The government had no plan and still has no plan to meaningfully protect her from her rapist, who is now free to move about the community and put her safety at risk.
*Do we have to say it again?
Updated
That doorstop interview with James Paterson continued:
Q: What makes you think those things wouldn’t just fly in the face of what the high court ruled and be ruled invalid as well?
Paterson:
There is always constitutional risk with legislation. If you are scared by constitutional risk, then you shouldn’t be a legislator*.
And even if the high court subsequently ruled out of order a preventative detention regime that was introduced by the parliament, well, at least the community would have been protected until then**. That would be many months before a case got back to the high court and that would have offered the community some protection in the meantime.
As it is, for the better part of most of summer at least, these people are going to be out in the community and posing a risk to the community***.
*Unless it is the voice, apparently, which the Coalition campaigned against because of what it said was constitutional risk.
**Australian citizens who have completed their sentences, who have been paroled, who have had charges dropped, who have not had charges laid etc, are released into the community once they have served their time, been paroled or authorities no longer have any legal right to hold them.
***Again, Australian citizens are released into the community once they have served their sentence, etc. What the Coalition is suggesting is that there should be a different standard, enabling indefinite detention, for migrants and refugees, no matter if you have served your sentence, had your charges dropped, been paroled, found not-guilty or held without charge. It is advocating for a change in the separation of powers.
Updated
Ankle bracelets and curfews not enough for people released from indefinite detention: shadow home affairs minister
Here was the shadow home affairs minister, Liberal senator James Paterson, this morning on Labor’s legislation which will mean any detainee who breaches their bail conditions could be sent to jail (previously they were sent back into detention, which the high court has said they can no longer do, given the indefinite nature of it)
Q: Do ankle bracelets and curfews go far enough?
Paterson:
No, they don’t. Ankle bracelets and curfews mean that during the day these people will be out in the community*. They can go to work, they can go to school, they can go to shopping centres, they can go to sporting centres. They can go out in the community**.
And some of them, frankly, should not be there, they pose to high a risk to the community***. And the government doesn’t seem willing to test the proposition that, for example, a high-risk terrorist offender regime could be applied to some of this cohort. That a preventative detention order could be applied or a control order could be applied or continuing detention order could be applied****.
* Which is the same as Australian citizens who have completed their sentences or been paroled.
**Which is the same as Australian citizens who have completed their sentences or been paroled.
***That is – under our constitution, our democracy and the legal foundations of our country – for the courts to decide.
****Because you cannot just deem someone a high-risk terrorist offender without evidence. It cannot be used to keep people in detention for ever.
Updated
World leaders need to discuss future of Gaza and ‘a way forward’, Albanese says in US
On what his message to world leaders will be about Gaza and the Middle East, Anthony Albanese says:
That will be a topic of discussion. It is a topic of discussion with everyone I have spoken to in recent times, and the fact that you have some of the world’s leading economies here with various nation leaders, including the United States, which plays a pivotal role in the Middle East …
I will be having discussions with our friends in the United States as I did in Washington DC about a way forward.
We have said very clearly that Israel has a right to defend itself and that how it defends itself matters as well, and we need to, I think, begin to have discussions about what happens in the future in that region in Gaza.
We know that Hamas is not a potential partner for peace because of their own position, but we need to have those discussions and clearly the international community will have a role to play.
Updated
Albanese says Biden-Xi meeting a ‘very important step forward’
Anthony Albanese was asked about the sidelines meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping and says:
I welcome the meeting. I welcome finding out the details of what has occurred in those meetings but in itself, it is a very important step forward.
Biden and Xi have not spoken since the whole ‘spy balloon’ thing that happened a little while ago.
Updated
PM flags ‘important agreement’ on clean energy with governor of California
Anthony Albanese said he’ll also be meeting with the governor of California over an energy agreement:
The governor and I were due to meet at the San Diego meeting earlier this year.
He unfortunately contracted Covid and wasn’t able to be present. But we have an important agreement between Australia and California. A very large economy in its own right, about clean energy technology as well.
This will be a very busy period on the ground over the next, not quite two days.
But I really look forward to forging new relationships in Australia’s national interest, but also renewing relationships and cementing them as well, with the eye always on Australia’s national interest and Australia’s economic interest – which is what these forums are about, and which is why Jim Chalmers was here earlier this week.
Updated
Albanese to meet business leaders on the side of Apec summit
As Ray Hadley narrated, Anthony Albanese has arrived in the US, and after committing the Hadley-crime of hugging Kevin Rudd, is now addressing media:
He says he looks forward to catching up with Apec leaders and then mentions:
Tomorrow I’ll be catching up with Larry Fink from BlackRock, a major [investor] in Australia – a major source of job creation in Australia through those investments, and catching up with other business leaders. After this, in the next little while, I’ll be catching up with the Australian business representatives here as well.
Updated
Liberals will support bill putting strict conditions on people released from indefinite detention, Birmingham says
The Liberal leader in the Senate, Simon Birmingham, has confirmed that the Coalition will help Labor pass its bill responding to the high court on indefinite detention today.
The bill adds strict conditions on bridging visas for the people released including electronic monitoring and curfews, and adds criminal penalties for breaching conditions.
Birmingham said the Coalition will “scrunitise it and reserve the right to propose amendments” – but it’s now clear it will pass today.
The Greens senator, Nick McKim, said the issue was a “confected emergency”, in which the threat of those released “has been blown out of all proportion”.
McKim accused the government of collapsing in a heap by folding to Coalition demands for emergency legislation, warning that this is Anthony Albanese’s “Tampa moment”.
Unfortunately, demonising refugees during the original Tampa moment worked pretty well for John Howard.
Updated
‘We do not agree with this plan’, says Palaszczuk of Catherine King’s infrastructure cuts
Catherine King this morning said the federal government’s long-awaited infrastructure roadmap was developed “with the cooperation of the states and territories”.
Annastacia Palaszczuk made it very clear in parliament this morning that King doesn’t have her signoff:
I want to make it very clear, again, to minister King that this infrastructure review does not have our cooperation. We do not agree with this plan.
To say otherwise is dishonest.
Among other things, it ends the federal government practice of paying 80% of the bill for regional roads.
The state Labor government is particularly worked up about its implications for future work on the Bruce Highway.
The state treasurer, Cameron Dick – brother of the federal Labor speaker, Milton Dick – said the “cuts” will mean “Queenslanders will be forced to wait longer in traffic, drive on more dangerous roads and suffer from a higher cost of living”.
Queensland is also losing funding for a roundabout in Kenmore, supporting infrastructure for Stanthorpe’s Emu Swamp Dam, and the Mooloolah River interchange at Mooloolaba, among others. The much-criticised commuter car parks program has also been cut, ending a project at Beenleigh.
The deputy premier, Steven Miles, will lead a delegation of mayors, road and farmers groups and others to complain about infrastructure cuts which the government has dubbed “team Queensland”.
Updated
Unemployment rate ticked up in October due to higher participation rate
The economy added 54,900 more jobs in October, or more than double the 24,000 expected by economists.
While all but 17,000 of the jobs were part-time, the increase was impressive. The jump in the participation rate back to the record 67% is the only reason the unemployment rate ticked up from 3.6% in September to 3.7% last month.
Australia's jobless rate in October was 3.7% but a whopping 54,900 jobs added. pic.twitter.com/9CA08evPkL
— @phannam@mastodon.green (@p_hannam) November 16, 2023
So far, though, markets are barely moved for either the dollar or stocks. So investors on first blush don’t expect the jobs strength to boost the chances of another RBA interest rate rise.
Updated
Ray Hadley and Peter Dutton’s bizarre exchange about a ‘half man hug’
Over on Sydney radio 2GB, Ray Hadley and Peter Dutton have had a very strange conversation which ends with Hadley saying he would like to “convict” Anthony Albanese for holding on “too long” in a hug with Kevin Rudd.
Kevin Rudd is Australia’s ambassador to the United States and was there to greet Albanese as he arrived for Apec.
This is how Hadley and Dutton described it:
Hadley:
Look, I’ve just got to divert you away from something I’ve just looked up at Sky News. And the prime minister has landed in the United States of America. You wouldn’t believe who was at the bottom of the bridge to greet him. K-Rudd.
Dutton:
K-Rudd. All the cameras are there. K-Rudd is there.
Hadley:
A little bit of a hug. One of those half man hugs, you know, when you shake hands with a bloke and give a little touch on the shoulder.
Dutton:
And hold on for a little bit too long.
Hadley:
Well, I can’t convict him of that. I’d like to.
Updated
Greens push to stop trans rights bill going to committee under privilege
Greens push to stop trans rights bill going to committee
Over in the Senate, there has been a lengthy debate on trans rights in response to a private member’s bill from conservatives (Alex Antic etc) attempting to stop gender affirming treatment for minors.
The Greens are pushing to stop the bill from going to a Senate committee. That’s because bills which are sent to committees mean people can give submissions and evidence and it is all covered by parliamentary privilege. Which means people could say whatever they liked about trans people and trans kids, without fear of defamation or consequence.
The “debate” is occurring, not just in front of the nation, but in front of senators who have trans members in their family.
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Unemployment has risen from 3.6% to 3.7%.
Peter Hannam will have more for you soon.
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ABS’s labour market numbers for October incoming, markets anticipate uptick in unemployment rate
We’ll shortly get the ABS’s October labour market numbers, with markets expecting an uptick in the unemployment rate to 3.7% (from September’s 3.6%) even as employers added 24,000 jobs.
As always, though, there are a few variables. If the participation rate were to bounce back towards record levels (it fell 0.2 percentage points in September to 66.7%), for instance, we could see the jobless rate jump a bit higher (say, to 3.8%).
And we probably want to see how the full-time jobs (35 hours or more) went. In September, the economy cut almost 40,000 of them but added more than 46,000 part-time positions (between 1-35 hours a week).
There’s also a bit of a paradox. A surprisingly strong jobs result will nudge higher the odds that the Reserve Bank will hike its interest rate again - which will eventually dent demand for labour.
On the other hand, a weak outcome will mean the RBA is more likely to have peaked (in this cycle, anyway). Sounds like a happy outcome - unless you’re relying on those extra hours or a second (or third) job to meet the higher interest bills already locked in.
Anyway, stay tuned for the 11.30am aedt details right here.
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Projects sharing ‘national freight routes’ to be grouped together, King explains
That sound you hear is the states and territories getting ready for political battle over the federal government infrastructure funding decisions.
That includes whether national road funding is 50-50 or 80-20.
Catherine King:
Many projects located along strategic national freight routes are now grouped into corridors. This approach will allow state and territories to more flexibly manage project delivery schedules according to their priorities.
The Albanese government has guaranteed $27bn for a range of strategic freight and road safety corridor upgrades in regional Australia, including the Newell, Princes and Bruce Highways. We will work in partnership with states and territories to deliver these corridors in a way that maximises the benefit of our shared investment.
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Government to discontinue funding to projects ‘that do not align with priorities’, King says
And yes – same amount of funding, less projects.
That’s the takeaway.
Catherine King:
As part of responding to the findings of the review, the government has made necessary decisions to no longer provide funding at this time to some projects.
This includes projects that were not realistically going to be delivered with the funding available, have made little to no progress over a significant amount of time, and projects that do not align with commonwealth or state and territory priorities.
We also know that there continue to be significant cost pressures in the system and we will work collaboratively and proactively with the states and territories to manage these.
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More than 400 projects to be completed in next 10 years, infrastructure minister’s office says
These are the among the infrastructure projects which will continue over the next 10 years, according to Catherine King’s office:
Over the next ten years more than 400 individual ongoing projects are expected be completed or substantially developed, including:
North South Corridor - Torrens to Darlington
Logan-Gold Coast Faster Rail
M1 Pacific Motorway extension to Raymond Terrace
METRONET
Tanami Road in Central Australia
New Bridgewater Bridge
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The Labor MP for Wills, Peter Khalil, has released a statement on social media about protests at his office:
— Peter Khalil MP (@PeterKhalilMP) November 15, 2023
Queensland treasurer 'will not cooperate' on infrastructure cuts
Queensland treasurer Cameron Dick came out this morning and said Queensland had not agreed to the funding cuts.
This is not true. Our government has not and will not cooperate to support Catherine King’s cuts. The Minister should retract this statement and retract these cuts.
This is not true. Our government has not and will not cooperate to support Catherine King’s cuts. The Minister should retract this statement and retract these cuts. #auspol #qldpol https://t.co/XvHSs87g2r pic.twitter.com/TJtyxAcXeZ
— Cameron Dick (@camerondickqld) November 15, 2023
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Infrastructure review an ‘opportunity for states’ to be ‘co-investors’, King says
Catherine King went through some more projects (we will have a seperate story soon) and ends with:
All states and territories have maintained their funding.
Not a single dollar less over the next 10 years.
I’m releasing the independent review of the national partnership on land transport projects. Like the infrastructure investment program review, [it] recommends a more equal partnership.
Our preference to create more even partnerships by default funding on all future projects, those that are not currently in the pipeline, new project going forward to 50-50. It is an opportunity for the states to join us in investing more in the regions and being co-investors, not lesser investors.
The government is committed to delivering infrastructure that builds Australia and builds lives. The review of the infrastructure investment program and the government’s response allows us to get on with the job of delivering infrastructure that creates jobs, helps wages to grow and makes our communities better to live in and more connected for all of us.
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Funding remains for Hobart and Sunshine Coast projects listed in budget, King says
Catherine King:
Over the next 10 years, more than 400 nation building projects are expected to be completed or substantially developed.
… Other projects are undergoing a proper planning process that was not previously carried out. We are keeping money for the construction of those projects that is in the budget currently but will need to plan these projects properly.
They include the Hobart northern suburbs transit corridor, which is part of the broader development and redevelopment of Hobart. The inland freight route to Charters Towers, the direct Sunshine Coast rail, which we know will be an important piece of infrastructure going forward for south -east Queensland but also for the Olympics.
But that which there has not been confidence or assurance in the costs of this project. The Muswellbrook by-pass, a very important project in the Hunter Valley that will need to be sequenced against the Singleton by-pass which is commencing shortly.
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Estimated $33bn blowout to infrastructure as a result of former government, King announces
Catherine King has formally announced the government’s response to the infrastructure review, and no, the states will not be happy.
King:
The review has found an estimated $33 billion in known cost pressures across all projects in the program with a high risk that figure would increase and for those not currently under construction that figure, the report says, is around around $14.2bn
Worse, it is clear that the previous government deliberately set about announcing projects that did not have enough funding and they knew could not be delivered. It can only be described as economic vandalism.
The review has made 15 recommendations, all of which the government has agreed to or agreed in principle to.
Three of the recommendations relate to local government sub programs and I will be providing more detail about the government’s response on those sub programs shortly but not today.
After considered consultation with the states and territories, not always [in] agreement, but considered consultation, we now have a forward plan of projects that the commonwealth wishes to partner with the states to deliver.
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O’Neil challenges Dutton’s ‘consistent falsehood’ that high court decision was ‘choice of government’
The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, has said that Peter Dutton’s speech contains statements “he knows to be untrue” - specifically, the claim that the government could legislate to re-detain the people freed by the high court. This was a “consistent falsehood ... that this was a choice of the government”.
She said:
If I had any legal power to keep these people, I would, I would do it now. We do not have that, that is what the high court has told us.
O’Neil said the government had gone “as far as we can in order to manage the issues that are before us”.
O’Neil said the opposition has a “real choice”. Despite demanding legislation, the Coalition are yet to confirm they will vote for it, she said.
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Young Australians cancel streaming services to save during cost-of-living crisis
Younger Australians are cancelling streaming services as living costs rise, according to bank spending data, leading to savings of more than $900 a year.
National Australia Bank spending data shows that more than 40% of those aged under 30 had cut back on streaming services since mid-year.
The young adult cohort, known as Gen Z, were more likely to cancel a streaming service than subscriptions to newspapers, news sites, magazines, audio books and apps, including paid dating apps, the bank said.
NAB personal banking executive Kylie Young said:
With so many streaming platforms and so much content split across different services, Australians are prioritising what they want to watch and how much they want to save.
Analysis has shown that younger Australians are feeling the weight of rising living costs, prompting many to cut expenditure on non-essential items, at the same time as older cohorts keep spending.
Gen Z, and parts of the older millennials cohort, have faced the brunt of a steep increase in a lack of affordable housing in Australia, with many locked out of mortgages and paying onerous rent.
They are preceded by Gen X – who may have squeezed into a mortgage before financial stress intensified – and post second world war-born baby boomers who tended to benefit from cheaper education and property prices.
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Queensland Labor is absolutely in an election year.
The treasurer, Cameron Dick has tweeted this in response to the infrastructure review response:
Our message to Catherine King: Treat Queensland more like Qantas and less like Qatar.
Our message to Catherine King: Treat Queensland more like Qantas and less like Qatar. #auspol #qldpol
— Cameron Dick (@camerondickqld) November 15, 2023
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Interesting that Peter Dutton used the term “dark day” given that just hours ago, this is what Tony Burke had to say about Dutton’s motion yesterday which combined antisemitism with the release of detainees under the high court decision.
Burke said:
Yesterday was one of the darkest moments I’ve seen in the house in my nearly 20 years here.
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Visa conditions bill ‘inadequate’, Albanese’s presence needed to guide response, Dutton says
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, is speaking on the bridging visa conditions bill.
Dutton said it is a “dark day” and Anthony Albanese should be here to guide the government’s response to the high court decision.
Dutton said the bill is “inadequate in its current form” and the Coalition wants to move amendments but now can’t because of an urgency motion passed by the lower house. He labelled this “almost unprecedented”.
“The prime minister has taken a decision not to re-detain these serious criminals,” he said, advocating a course of action that is almost certainly unlawful, because the high court has ruled that indefinite detention by the executive of those who can’t be deported is unlawful.
Dutton said the government should have known in June this year (when the case got its first hearing before justice Jacqueline Gleeson) that the government was “on shaky ground”, but legislation has only been drafted in November.
He said:
We’re not even talking about Australians here ... These are people who do not deserve to live in our country. If they had committed these crimes in their country of origin, they would not have been granted visas in the first place.
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Just on that, Nick Miller, who for unclear reasons knows these things (I assume he never sleeps) just informed me that because the moon’s orbit is elliptical, by 30 November it will no longer be true that Anthony Albanese has flown further as prime minister than the distance from the earth to the moon.
Guess that just means Sussan Ley’s team get to re-use a cringe meme.
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‘Out of touch’ and ‘distracted’: Coalition takes jabs at Albanese’s official travels
The Coalition, which says it remains in lockstep with the government when it comes to foreign policy objectives, is increasingly using Anthony Albanese’s travel to summits and official visits as a political attack.
This is the standard the deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley has been setting (that would be the same Sussan Ley who resigned as health minister in Malcolm Turnbull’s government amid an investigation she used tax-payer funded travel to finalise the purchase of a Gold Coast investment property, leading to the independent parliamentary expense authority being set up).
Anthony Albanese isn’t just out of touch, he is out of orbit.
— Sussan Ley (@sussanley) November 14, 2023
When he jets off yet again, his travel will hit 385,586km – further than the distance between Earth and the Moon.
While Anthony Albanese has been distracted, he has failed the Australian people on cost-of-living. pic.twitter.com/3ibOoTFJEe
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Allan welcomes federal government’s commitment to Melbourne airport rail after ‘frustrating three years’ of negotiations
Victorian premier Jacinta Allan has also welcomed the federal government’s commitment to Melbourne airport rail but said more work has to be done to ensure the project goes ahead:
We’ve said all along this is an important project for Victoria. We’ve been progressing the planning and the work on this project for some time now and we welcome the federal government’s commitment to continue this project and to provide the certainty for that project because Victorians also see this as a very important project.
But I will also say and repeat comments I made earlier this year that in order to deliver this project, there are three parties to this project, state government, the federal government and the airport, and the negotiations in terms of delivering the rail line and the station on airport land leased by the commonwealth government, those negotiations have been frustrating for three years.
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The parliament sitting has begun and the house proceedings have opened with Andrew Giles introducing the legislation to criminalise bail breaches for the detainees who were released from indefinite detention, following a high court ruling.
Previously, the punishment was visa cancellation and a return to detention. That is no longer constitutional.
Victoria premier launches recruitment drive for Metro Tunnel following infrastructure review
Victoria’s premier, Jacinta Allan, is holding a press conference at the site of Anzac Station to launch a recruitment drive for the Metro Tunnel.
Applications will open next week for 100 jobs at the five new stations that make up the new underground train loop.
She says it’s the biggest recruitment drive since the City Loop opened back in 1985.
We’re expecting most questions, however, to be about another project - the Melbourne Airport rail – which the federal government has confirmed it will fund following its infrastructure review.
Before she threw to questions, Allan has made some comments on the infrastructure review.
She says she expects the funds from any cancelled projects to remain in the state:
Any project that does not proceed here in Victoria, it is our expectation that all the funding allocated to those projects remains here in Victoria. We have a big infrastructure pipeline here in Victoria and for too long, we’ve had to go it alone. The Metro Tunnel is an excellent example of that and it is our expectation that not only do we want to get our fair share of infrastructure funding, [but] for every dollar from those projects remains here in Victoria.
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‘Thousands more are going to die’: Adam Bandt urges government to call for ceasefire
Greens leader, Adam Bandt, said:
People in Australia want peace in Gaza, and that starts with a ceasefire now. Otherwise 1,000s more civilians and children will die. They’ve lost count of the number of civilians and children who have been killed in the invasion of Gaza.
But it is over 11,000 and the 2 million people who live in Gaza have had food, water and fuel cut off. This is is a humanitarian catastrophe.
And there has to be a ceasefire. Now. Most of the countries around the war the world have called for a ceasefire. ... the Australian government needs to add its voice to the growing calls around the world.
And right here at home for a ceasefire now ... It will get worse. This petition, I will seek to bring the voices of 100,000 people who are calling for a ceasefire representing many many more right across this country to Parliament.
And I hope our prime minister and government listens and joins the calls for an immediate ceasefire. What Australia says matters. Australia needs to join the growing calls around the world for a ceasefire now otherwise thousands more are going to die.
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‘We call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza’: Labor MPs stand with Greens
Labor’s Maria Vamvakinou, Fatima Payman and the Coalition MP Mark Coulton stood with the Greens and the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network to receive a petition from more than 100,000 Australians who want an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Vamvakinou said:
I want you all to imagine a family with children that is trapped in rubble. Their 10-year-old child is dead. And the rest of the family members have to remain in that house because there’s no possibility of evacuation. And there’s no one to come and remove the child’s body. So you have a family with children and one of the children [is] dead. This is Gaza today.
So I welcome the opportunity to receive this petition. Because this petition gives Australians an opportunity to tell this parliament that they feel strongly for the humanitarian disaster that is unfolding in Gaza ... We have to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. It is not only the family that I spoke to you about that is suffering. It is now in excess of 12 [to] 13,000 innocent civilians who have been killed and who will continue to be killed and they are being killed by a highly sophisticated army. This is a situation of an army killing civilians and killing children, 1,000s of children. So I’m, myself, and as a member of the parliamentary friendship group for Palestinians, but also other colleagues: we rely on the Australian people to march on behalf of the people of Gaza ... To call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
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Labor’s Gaza response ‘not only unacceptable – it’s dangerous’, UN special rapporteur says
UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese has spoken to Daniel Hurst about her meeting with Labor assistant minister Tim Watts where she again raised Australia’s responsibilities:
A United Nations expert has met with a senior member of the Australian government and urged it to stop giving ‘leeway’ to Israel, arguing Australia has a responsibility to “prevent atrocity crimes” including genocide.
Francesca Albanese held talks with the assistant minister for foreign affairs, Tim Watts, on Wednesday and expressed her concern ‘as strongly as she could’ about what she saw as Australia’s inadequate response to the escalating bloodshed in Gaza.
In an interview with Guardian Australia after the meeting, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories said the government’s reluctance to openly criticise Israel was ‘not only unacceptable – it’s dangerous’.
Updated
Here is Maria Vamvakinou, Fatima Payman and Mark Coulton at the Greens press conference with Apan and health workers, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Labor's Maria Vamvakinou and Fatima Payman are standing with Greens, APAN and Coalition's Mark Coulton calling for immediate ceasefire in Gaza. #auspol pic.twitter.com/SJW6ryp5R8
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) November 15, 2023
Liberal senator says Labor’s bill on bail breaches does ‘bare minimum’
Liberal senator James Paterson has had a few things to say about Labor’s bill on criminalising bail breaches for people who had previously been in indefinite detention:
It is the absolute bare minimum required to deal with this problem. It is only 18 pages long. It’s frankly pretty thin. And if this is all the government was going to do, it should have been ready on Thursday last week when the Senate was sitting, and it should have already passed the House of Representatives on Monday and provided at least a minor level of protection for the community in the meantime.
But what it doesn’t do is ensure that any of these high-risk offenders who are out there in the community are re-detained, none of them will go back into custody as a result of this bill passing.
All it does really is enforce the conditions of visas, which the government already said were being enforced.
The government said the visa conditions were mandatory but we learnt yesterday when the government finally admitted the fact, they weren’t mandatory at all, that was unenforceable and had offered no protection to the community at all.
A reminder that when people are released from the Australian criminal system, they can only be re-detained if they breach their bail conditions. We do not have indefinite detention as part of the Australian criminal justice system and the high court has now said it is unconstitutional in the detention system as well.
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Greens press conference: health workers’ petition calling for ceasefire is accepted
The Greens are holding their press conference accepting the petition from health workers calling on the government to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
And it looks like Labor MPs Maria Vamvakinou and Fatima Payman are both there. Payman was one of the first Labor MPs to speak up about what was happening in Gaza, while Vamvakinou is a convenor of the parliamentary friends of Palestine group. Co-convenor, Nationals MP Mark Coulton is also standing with the group, which includes members of the Australian Palestine Advocacy Network (Apan).
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Marles to attend Indonesian Asean defence ministers meeting
Deputy prime minister Richard Marles is off to Indonesia – he’ll be meeting with Indonesian defence minister Prabowo Subianto and other defence ministers who will be in Jakarta for the Asean defence ministers meeting (it’s was a defence minister’s meeting ‘plus’ – Pat Conroy represented Australia).
Marles will be discussing “further practical cooperation in the Australia-Indonesia defence partnership”.
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Would be ‘height of hypocrisy’ if opposition delay new visa condition bill, Burke says
Does Tony Burke expect support from the opposition on this bill?
Burke:
It would be the height of hypocrisy for the opposition to do anything at all to delay this. We’re not seeking to have this delayed. We will be putting it to the house. We want it to go through the house quickly. It’ll then go to the Senate.
It would be extraordinary and beyond belief, I have to say, for the opposition to do anything that in any way would effectively block this legislation.
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Will there be further legislation than the bill being introduced today?
Tony Burke:
We don’t rule that out at all. But the thing with today’s legislation is without the decision, we’re going to the limits of making sure we do everything we can to deliver on public safety. For that reason, we’re wanting to see that legislation go quickly through both houses today.
New visa conditions allow for ‘tougher restrictions’ on the 84 people released, Burke says
Asked about the legislation which will be introduced by the government today in response to the high court decision, Tony Burke says:
The legislation today will allow new visa conditions for what’s now 84 people, none of whom we wanted to release. But where the high court decision has ordered that to take place, the new visa conditions will allow for things that up until now we’re not allowed to do.
It’ll be things like electronic monitoring, ankle bracelets, to impose a curfew, to be able to have control over where these individuals live, where they work, who they associate with.
And importantly, if any of those visa conditions are breached instead of what law would currently say, which is the penalty, is the cancellation of the visa, it would carry criminal penalties for those conditions to be breached.
That will allow us to put much tougher restrictions on these individuals than the laws that we inherited allowed, and the situation when the high court decision came down.
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‘Antisemitism should never be weaponised,’ Burke says
Tony Burke finishes with:
I’m leader of the house, I’ll often be critical of Peter Dutton – people get that. What happened yesterday was of a different order. Antisemitism should never be weaponised in that way. Absolutely should never be weaponised. It should simply be called out and opposed, and every member of parliament should have the courage and just the decency. It doesn’t really take much courage to call out every form of bigotry.
At the moment, both antisemitism and Islamophobia are on the rise in Australia, and we need – as leaders – to be bringing people together and opposing all forms of bigotry.
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Does Tony Burke feel like his government is doing enough to address and combat the abuse?
Burke:
In the resolution that was carried by the parliament, in the speech by the prime minister yesterday, in speeches by members of parliament, whether they have a large Jewish community, whether they have a large Islamic or Palestinian community, across the board have been calling out both.
This is something very specific about the approach of Peter Dutton yesterday, where he’s wanting to be selective in who is a victim and who is not. The multicultural nature of Australia is better than that, and as a country, we should be better than that.
Yesterday we had a resolution in the parliament that was cheap, that was offensive, and that played to the worst instincts at a time when leadership should be rising above that.
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Political leaders should follow Muslim and Jewish communities calling out ‘both forms of bigotry’: Burke
Tony Burke represents one of the largest Muslim communities in Australia. He is asked about what Jewish and Muslim communities are experiencing and says:
You need to call out fearlessly all forms of bigotry. This is not a case of competition between communities. If you listen to what’s being said at synagogues, you’ve got rabbis calling out the need to fight against antisemitism and to fight against Islamophobia.
Since October 7, prayer rooms and mosques around Australia – in their sermons called khutbahs – they have been urging everybody against Islamophobia and against antisemitism.
The communities both most affected are calling out both forms of bigotry. Political leaders should be able to do the same.
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Dutton 'scoring points' off antisemitism was ‘worst performances of his career’, Burke says
Tony Burke continued:
What Peter Dutton did yesterday was try to score points off the back of antisemitism, link it to a high court decision and then go to whether or not Australia should be represented at the leaders’ summit at Apec, which every prime minister has attended – with the exception of when Julia Gillard’s father died – in the history of the leaders’ summits.
It was the most low-rent attempt to score points off the back of horrific antisemitism that people are experiencing. I thought what we saw from the leader of the opposition, in Peter Dutton, yesterday was one of the worst performances of his career.
And I thought what we saw from the prime minister yesterday was just straight-out integrity, bringing the community together and things that needed to be said in response.
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Dutton using antisemitism as ‘political opportunity’ one of ‘darkest moments’ in parliament, Burke says
Tony Burke also did an interview with ABC radio a little earlier this morning and he did not hold back in his criticism of Peter Dutton in combining antisemitism with the release of detainees under the high court decision, in a political attack against the government.
Yesterday was one of the darkest moments I’ve seen in the house in my nearly 20 years here. The way to respond to a high court decision is what the government’s doing today. That’s how you respond to a high court decision. The way you respond to division in the Australian community is by seeking to unite the community.
What we saw yesterday was the leader of the opposition, Peter Dutton, seeing antisemitism, witnessing antisemitism and viewing it as a political opportunity to score points.
I found that breathtaking in the level of offence that that caused. He said nothing of Islamophobia. We have all forms of bigotry in Australia at the moment where people, with both antisemitism and Islamophobia, are experiencing levels of bigotry beyond anything that has been seen prior to October of this year. It is something where the role of leaders is to bring people together and to call out all forms of bigotry.
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Albanese and Dutton need to ‘collectively’ stand against antisemitism and Islamophobia: Spender
Allegra Spender goes on:
I think that the opposition politicised antisemitism by conflating it with other issues.
The point is that I think Peter Dutton is very committed to fight antisemitism, I think they both are, with Anthony Albanese – and this is a bit in the Canberra bubble.
That’s the problem.
It’s not what motion was this or that, they see the theatrics that go on. Collectively we need to lower the temperature and just say, we collectively are really concerned about antisemitism, Islamophobia in what is a difficult time overseas that is affecting so many people in Australia.
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Parliament shouting matches not helping antisemitism, Spender says
Wentworth MP Allegra Spender is speaking to ABC News Breakfast about what happened in parliament yesterday and says:
I have the biggest Jewish community in the country in my electorate. They are scared right now. This is a really hard time for us as a country to stay together.
Yesterday we ended up in quite an ugly debate with around antisemitism, but also around the issues in relation to the high court.
The point I want to make is that the parliament and the community is really concerned about antisemitism. But it doesn’t do any good to have a shouting match in Parliament, about conflating a bunch of different issues.
For us right now as a country we need to have our Parliamentarians come and showing that we need to lead from the front and we need to lead from a point of view of saying, ‘let’s work together’ because we have real concerns about antisemitism and concerns actually about Islamophobia.
So, as the head of [the country], it’s time for politicians to lead calmly and to lower tensions rather than raise tensions. I don’t think we did that yesterday.
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Labor’s new visa controls to include curfews and jail terms for breaking conditions, Clare O’Neil confirms
The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, has done a brief doorstop confirming our report that Labor will introduce criminal penalties for breach of visa conditions by those released from detention as a result of the NZYQ decision.
O’Neil said:
Today our government will introduce tough new laws into our parliament that will give the commonwealth power to put in place very strict visa conditions, new visa conditions, to ensure the community is kept safe. These include ability for the commonwealth to impose ankle monitoring bracelets on people who have been released from detention. They include power for the commonwealth to impose very strict curfews. ..For the first time there are criminal sanctions imposed for the breaking of visa conditions and there are jail terms attached to these.
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The interview between the pair, ends.
Josh Burns adds:
I think what’s happening with al-Shifa is still unfolding.
So let’s (PK: “It’s a hospital”)
I’m aware. And let’s make sure that we deal in facts. And the picture there is still unfolding.
And I think that a more comprehensive and a more factual conversation can be had.
Israel clearly claims and we know that Hamas uses civilian infrastructure, but obviously we want civilian lives to be protected.
Obviously, we do not want to see innocent people lose their life.
And I would make this point, Patricia, that this conflict is just devastating. This is not the first time that Hamas and Israel have been at war. And I do not want to see another round in six months time of us having the same conversation. The people of Gaza, cannot afford that and the people of Israel cannot afford that. And Australia must do what we can to ensure that this is the last time that this conflict happens.
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Palestinian deaths a result of ‘Hamas’ choices’, Leeser says
Patricia Karvelas: Is there no threshold issue of how many children die?
Julian Leeser:
The Israeli Defence Force is abiding as far as I can see, by international law in everything that they have done so far.
PK: Even when it comes to hospitals?
Leeser:
What do you do Patricia? If this was Australia, and there was a country that was a terror organisation that was using hospitals in another area to hide its munitions, to hide its people, to hide its infrastructure? What would you expect the Australian government to do?
PK: I think there would be a dilemma about the death of children, still …
Leeser:
Of course there’s a dilemma around the death of children. But the point here is that this is a terrorist organisation who is terrorising its own people, the deaths that are occurring there as a result of the Hamas’ choices and its actions, in hiding its infrastructure under hospitals.
(Israel has claimed Hamas is hiding in hospitals but it has not been independently verified).
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‘Hamas needs to be stopped’, Leeser urges
Julian Leeser is asked about what is happening in Gaza, particularly with the Israeli military operation inside al-Shifa hospital which is underway right now, as well as the number of civilians who have been killed in Israeli airstrikes, including women and children.
He says:
I don’t like to see women, children, people die at any point. No one wants to see that at all. The tragedy of what has happened in Gaza is that Hamas, which we listed as a terrorist organisation in this country, has been the government of Gaza since 2006, and they use people as human shields to cover up their activities.
Hamas terrorists went into Israel and killed 1200 people and have captured hundreds of people – we don’t know there whereabouts. They use hospitals, they use schools, they use communal infrastructure …
Patricia Karvelas:
Even if we accept that they might, these are innocent children. And there are so many at some point, don’t you need to say this is too much?
Leeser:
Hamas needs to be stopped in what they are doing. The terror-tunnels need to be taken out. The infrastructure needs to be taken out.
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Antisemitism ‘worst in my lifetime’, Burns says
Josh Burns says that antisemitism is “absolutely” through the roof at the moment.
The incidence of antisemitism is something that the Jewish community leadership document, when you compare them to previous years, they are up by something like 1,000%.
Q: Is the worst it’s ever been in Australian history?
Burns:
Certainly the worst in my lifetime. And the incidents that are of most significant concern … [are] twofold, one on the far-right, of people, you know, and I personally have experienced the dangers of the far-right.
But then the other form that is also growing is people coming into the heart of Jewish community and I’m not just talking about the big public protests that we’ve seen. We’re talking about smaller groups of people who clearly feel quite aggrieved by what’s going on in the world and are visiting the Jewish community and have had very thorough concerning incidents of which some are with various police agencies at the moment.
Those sorts of incidents frankly, are the most concerning and I do not want to see any escalation of violence in Australia and we need to ensure that people are safe but also that I would really urge people to not seek to inflame it because we will get into a place where it will become even worse than it is right now.
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Parliament has responsibility to stop misinformation and inflammatory remarks, Burns says
So shouldn’t politicians try and lower the temperature then, rather than inflame it?
Josh Burns:
Our primary responsibility, Patricia, is to ensure that the Australian people have safety and to help facilitate as much social cohesion as possible.
What does that mean? It means that our primary responsibility in all of this, as much as people might believe that we have the power to snap our fingers and the war will end tomorrow, Australia does not have that power.
What we have as members of the Australian parliament, as members of the Australian community is to ensure that we are not spreading misinformation, not making inflammatory remarks, not putting kerosene on already hot flames.
Our job, as you say is to bring the temperature down to foster respect and understanding to have civilised conversations and to try and ensure that the Australian people have a representation that’s in their interest.
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How Jewish community is feelings right now is ‘unprecedented in my life’, Leeser says
Patricia Karvelas makes the point that the Islamic community says it is also feeling the pressure.
Julian Leeser says:
I am getting representations very strongly, obviously from the Jewish community.
I haven’t had those representations as much from the Muslim community on this issue.
But I do think, you know, we shouldn’t try to downplay the way in which the Jewish community is feeling at this time. And this is just unprecedented in my life.
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Julian Leeser adds:
I think the particularity of this event is really important. And I think the particular position of the Jewish community at the moment is very significant.
After the Christchurch attacks, I went to the mosque in my electorate the very day after because I knew Muslims in that community would have been feeling unsafe and would have been worried about a copycat attack in Australia and I said to them, ‘what happens to you happens to me and I’m here this morning as a Jewish Australian as your member of parliament, to say that’s not on in this country’.
And I think that’s what we need to do as parliamentarians, regardless of people’s fates were when a particular community is under attack.
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Islamophobia should not be conflated with antisemitism, Burns says
Josh Burns is asked about Labor raising Islamophobia when people are talking about antisemitism and says:
I think it’s absolutely right to want to demonstrate to the Australian community that doesn’t matter whether you’re a Jewish person or Islamic person, you should feel safe in Australia.
I think that is a really important message to be sending to communities because I want Islamic Australians to feel safe.
I want them to feel like they are proud Australians and that they can go to the mosque and be a part of their community and practice their faith and be with their family and live peaceful lives in this country.
I want that for any Australian regardless of their religion or background.
And I do think that it’s okay to separate them if talking about specific incidents. And I do think it’s important to talk about the specific incidents that have happened to each individual community.
Both can be true Patricia and I think that for what happened in my community on Friday night, they are feeling a unique sense of anxiety right now.
And they are feeling unsafe in their own community.
And that’s something that we need to address.
And I don’t want to conflate that with the Islamic community either.
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Australians should be able to express faith ‘unheeded and in safety’, Leeser says
Has Julian Leeser experienced that?
Yes, online. Absolutely.
… My staff actually have taken some of my online social media things away from me, because they know it triggers me …
I am a member of Parliament, I am a big boy, I should be able to put up with this but Australians going about their business shouldn’t have to put up with this, people should be able to express their faith – whatever their faith may be – unheeded and in safety in this country.
That’s the Australia Josh and I believe in.
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‘Antisemitism is off the charts in this country’, Leeser says
Asked about criticism about Labor raising Islamophobia being on the rise as well when antisemitism is raised, Julian Leeser says:
The level of antisemitism in our country is always an issue. And you know this because when you go to synagogues, when you go to Jewish community institutions, when you go to schools, those institutions have to have adjusted normal times additional security.
But as a result of the terror attacks in Israel, a terror attack that saw the loss of more Jewish people in one day than any time since the Holocaust attacks; that were satanic and sadistic in their violence against women and children and old people; the kidnappings that have gone on …
… And then we’ve seen these protests where people have said, gas the Jews; where people have put Stars of David in rubbish bins; where we’ve seen people, school children [who] are afraid to wear their uniforms … the level of antisemitism is off the charts in this country.
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Dutton linking immigration detention to Jewish community ‘had to do with security’, Leeser says
Julian Leeser on Allegra Spender’s statement:
Well, she’s using the term conflating – I wouldn’t use that term. Both these issues had to do with security.
On the high court decision, this was a four-three decision, you know, 20 or 30 years ago, it has been a decision that has been roundly criticised since that time.
I think every immigration minister since that time has been aware that there could be a change in the composition of the high court with the right set of circumstances, that … decision being undone.
You know, the fact that we’re now the first day of a preceding week and dealing with legislation at this point, I think Peter [Dutton] wanted to make the point about security of the community being absolutely paramount, whether it’s the Jewish community or whether as a result of the high court case, it’s the general community.
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Dutton should not have conflated antisemitism with immigration detention, Burns says
The two MPs are having a very respectful conversation. Asked about Allegra Spender’s statement Josh Burns says:
Dealing with antisemitism is absolutely the responsibility of all members of parliament and something that I will continue to work with Julian on absolutely.
It is a completely separate issue to the decision of the high court. And I do not believe the two should have been conflated. It was a decision by the leader of the opposition to do so and people can make their own judgments on on whether or not that was appropriate. But I do not believe the two should have been conflated.
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Antisemitism and immigration detention ‘different issues’ within ‘different parts of the community’, Leeser says
Asked whether or not it was weaponising anti-semitism, Julian Leeser says he doesn’t think it is.
I think he made the point about the high court decision which we’re dealing with in the parliament today. Because again, it is another matter where the security of the country more broadly is threatened by having people that have different issues.
… They both relate to the security of the country and that’s why he was making those points, but they are different issues dealing with different parts of the community.
Obviously, the issues in relation to anti semitism particularly are a threat to the Jewish community, a threat that this is a community that’s been in Australia since the First Fleet and has made an extraordinary contribution.
And Australia has been one of the few nations on earth that has never had any formal discrimination against the Jewish people. It’s wonderful that we have in the parliament people like Josh and myself and Mark Dreyfus and Mike Freelander. We had in the last Parliament I think seven Jewish MPs was a record number that says something about the freedoms that this country has offered the Jewish people.
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Labor MPs furious over ‘one political party’ pitting Jewish community against another
Labor MPs are still furious over the motion Peter Dutton moved in question time on Wednesday, where he linked anti-semitism with the release of detainees, including some criminals, after the high court decision which deemed indefinite detention to be unconstitutional.
Anthony Albanese accused Dutton of “weaponising antisemitism” for political reasons by linking the two, sparking a furious response from the prime minister.
Labor MP Josh Burns and Liberal MP Julian Leeser, who are both Jewish, are speaking to ABC radio RN Breakfast about what happened.
Burns:
As a leader of the Jewish community and someone who represents a large Jewish community, I’ve always thought it was extremely important to act in the interests of the community.
And that means working across the political aisle. It means working with people like Allegra Spender, who represents the largest Jewish community in Australia, and of course with my friend Julian Leeser, who I will always stand with members regardless of what political persuasion they have, in order to act in the interests of the Jewish community.
And I do not believe that it’s in the Jewish community’s interest to have one political party trying to pit the community against another because long after my career is done, I want the Jewish community to have stability and certainty on all sides of politics. Just as I would want any community in Australia to have stability and certainty from all sides of politics. We need to ensure that Australian communities feel safe and supported and not to be used as political footballs.
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Adam Bandt to accept petition urging government to back ceasefire in Gaza
Greens leader Adam Bandt will meet with health workers this morning and accept a petition calling for the government to back a ceasefire in Gaza.
More than 116,000 health workers have signed the petition.
It comes as more Jewish Australians support the Jewish Australians for a Ceasefire group in also pushing for the government to do more to use its influence for a ceasefire.
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Clare O’Neil holds early morning press conference on response to high court decision
Home affairs minister Clare O’Neil has held a press conference at 7.05am on the changes the government is introducing in response to the high court decision banning indefinite detention.
You can read more about the changes here:
But I am not sure how many journalists made it, given there was only a couple of minutes notice given ahead of the press conference occurring.
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Good morning
Thank you to Martin for laying out the news so far – you have Amy Remeikis with you for most of the day as we navigate the Thursday sitting day.
Ready? Let’s get into it
Legal crackdown on tax advisers after PwC scandal
A crackdown on tax advisor misconduct in the wake of the PwC scandal will be a step closer when the government brings proposed new laws to parliament today, Australian Associated Press reports.
Bigger fines for tax avoidance, allowing more time for legal action, modernising secrecy laws and whistleblower protections are among a suite of changes set to be introduced in the lower house today.
PwC came under fire earlier this year after shocking revelations some staff leaked confidential information they’d got from Treasury to drum up new business.
The proposed changes would increase the maximum penalty for advisors and firms running tax avoidance schemes from $7.8 million to $780 million, with surrounding laws expanded so the fines are easier to apply.
Regulators such as the Australian Taxation Office and the Tax Practitioners Board would also have more power, with the latter to have more time to complete complex investigations and to refer misconduct by advisors to professional associations.
Assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, said it was the “biggest government crackdown on tax advisor misconduct in Australian history”.
In a statement, Jones said:
The PwC scandal exposed severe shortcomings in Australia’s regulatory frameworks undermining community confidence in our tax systems.
(The) bill reflects the government’s decisive next step in better regulating tax practitioners, and strengthening accountability within the tax system.
Australia nuclear power safety regulator legislation to be introduced to parliament
Richard Marles will today introduce legislation into parliament to establish the Australian naval nuclear power safety regulator – a new, independent regulatory agency, with strong compliance and enforcement powers to ensure nuclear safety across the nuclear-powered submarine enterprise. This was first announced in May this year.
The legislation is another step by the Albanese government towards delivering Australia’s conventionally-armed, nuclear‑powered submarine capability.
Drawing on the experience of the US and the UK, Australia’s regulatory framework and new regulator will ensure international best practice in nuclear safety and be consistent with our long-standing non-proliferation obligations and commitments
The government said this “robust and comprehensive approach to regulating Australia’s conventionally-armed, nuclear‑powered submarine program recognises the Albanese Government’s commitment to nuclear stewardship and upholding the highest standards for nuclear safety and security”.
It will consist of two bills. First the Australian naval nuclear power safety bill will set up the new fit-for-purpose regulatory framework, including the independent naval nuclear power safety regulator. Second, the Australian naval nuclear power safety (transitional provisions) bill will enable the transition of any licences issued by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) where they relate to regulated activities.
Richard Marles said:
This robust and comprehensive approach to regulating Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine program recognises the Albanese government’s commitment to nuclear stewardship and upholding the highest standards for nuclear safety and security.
The new regulator will have access to relevant expertise and experience, allowing it to cooperate effectively with other Australian regulators and those of our international partners.
Today is another important step towards ensuring we employ the highest standards of nuclear safety and protection across the lifecycle of this historic capability.
Australia given three months to find Commonwealth Games host city
Australia has three months to find a 2026 Commonwealth Games host city as three other candidates emerge for the event, Australian Associated Press reports.
Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) hierarchy said last night that finding an Australian host for the 2026 edition remains the priority after the Victorian government, citing cost blowouts, pulled out in July.
Gold Coast mayor, Tom Tate, has offered to step in for an estimated A$700m cost but Queensland’s government has ruled out support.
CGF chief executive, Katie Sadleir, says three other unnamed regions have emerged as potential candidates to host a Games in 2026 or 2027.
Sadleir told reporters:
Our aim is to be in a situation early in the new year to make a call on where a Games might go in 2026, 2027 or whether or not we might do something a bit different.
We have started looking at alternative models and we’ll be continuing on with that work as well as we seek a host for ‘26.
Sadleir said a decision was likely in February.
Government to announce PRRT reform to boost tax take
The government will today introduce legislation to reform the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) to deliver a fairer return to the country from natural resources.
The bill limits the proportion of PRRT assessable income that can be offset by deductions to 90% from 1 July 2023.
This measure was announced in the 2023-24 Budget and needs to be passed by the end of the financial year (30 June 2024).
The PRRT reforms are expected to increase tax receipts by $2.4bn over the forward estimates. Consultation on the remaining elements of the reforms will begin later this year and early next year.
The government will also introduce reforms tomorrow to strengthen the tax system and give greater powers to regulators in response to the PwC scandal.
Minister to announce fate of biggest infrastructure projects
State premiers will today learn which projects will be slashed after a $33bn budget blowout on federal spending as minister Catherine King announces the government’s response to the independent review of the infrastructure investment program.
The Melbourne Airport Rail Link, the Milton Ulladulla Bypass and a Tasman Bridge upgrade are among those that won’t be scrapped, with no overall cut to the $120bn infrastructure pipeline.
The government is tipping in additional funding to 11 projects, including South Australia’s North-South Corridor ($2.7bn), Queensland’s Logan-Gold Coast Faster Rail ($1.75bn) and Western Australia’s Metronet ($1bn).
Some nearby projects will be grouped in “corridors” while others will have a business case developed while remaining cash is saved for future construction.
King said the new program was fit for purpose, fiscally responsible and deliverable:
The independent review found the Infrastructure Investment Program we inherited could not be delivered. With the co-operation of the states and territories we now have a forward plan of projects that are properly planned and targeted to unlock significant economic, social and environmental objectives.
Under the previous government, the number of infrastructure projects ballooned from 150 to 800.
In a major funding overhaul earlier this week, the commonwealth said it would contribute 50% of major project funding going forward.
It previously fully funded projects or at an 80-20 split with the states.
Premiers, including Queensland’s Annastacia Palaszczuk and Chris Minns in NSW are not happy with the new arrangement and are unlikely to be impressed if their major projects are scrapped.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to the rolling news blog. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ll be bringing you the main overnight news stories and breaking stories before my colleague Amy Remeikis takes the reins.
Today is the day we discover the result of a major review of Australia’s infrastructure plans – the government says the plans it inherited were unaffordable, partly due to cost blowouts. There’s going to be a list of what has survived and what will lose funding but we know a few things on the list already. More on that soon.
The fallout from the Israel-Hamas war will continue to reverberate through Australian politics today after a senior United Nations official urged the government to stop giving “leeway” to Israel. Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on Palestine, has told assistant foreign minister Tim Watt that Australia’s response to the Israeli assault on Gaza has been inadequate and that the government has a responsibility to use its influence to prevent what she called “atrocity crimes”. It will intensify the spotlight already trained brightly on the Albanese government by the opposition leader Peter Dutton amid heated scenes in parliament yesterday. Plus, it was the talk of the Aria music awards as artists spoke out about the violence.
Anthony Albanese also faced some heat yesterday about the government’s response to last week’s court ruling resulting in the release of 83 people from indefinite detention. Today it will introduce emergency legislation that is expected to criminalise the breaching of visa conditions.
Australia has three months to find a 2026 Commonwealth Games host city as three other candidates emerge for the event. The Commonwealth Games Federation, meeting in Singapore last night, said that finding an Australian host for the 2026 edition remains the priority but it appealed for government support. Read more here.
