What we learned today, Wednesday 27 November
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Here are the main stories:
The Senate passed a motion suspending Lidia Thorpe from the chamber until the end of Thursday – the last scheduled parliamentary sitting day of the yea, after she appeared to throw paper at Pauline Hanson during a tense parliamentary debate earlier today.
That debate came due to Hanson’s bid for Fatima Payman to be referred for investigation, sparking an extraordinary row in the Senate this morning. Hanson’s bid failed, but not before she was accused of being racist by Payman. She objected to Payman’s comments and Payman was asked, and agreed, to withdraw the comments about alleged racism.
The social media ban for under-16s bill is still due to be debated in the Senate later this evening. The government has listed some of the previously telegraphed amendments to the bill that were needed to secure the opposition’s support.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, welcomed the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah.
The NSW police commissioner Karen Webb said the death of a 95-year-old woman after she was shot with a Taser by a police officer was a “terrible tragedy” and that Kristian White’s future as police officer was “under consideration”.
More than 20 Rising Tide protesters were arrested for blocking the roads to federal Parliament House after they took their protest from Newcastle to Canberra today.
Shortly before the vote on Labor’s Help to Buy bill took place, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, rose to speak and criticised his political opponents, namely the opposition and the Greens, for “reckless obstructionism and rank opportunism”.
The prime minister also killed off any deal with the Greens over the government’s Nature Positive legislation to establish a national environmental protection authority.
Independent Andrew Wilkie said he doesn’t think the government will address the ban on gambling ads before the next election after he backflipped on the under-16s social media ban, saying “the whole thing’s nonsense”.
The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, claimed the government it is on track to meet its legislated 43% emissions reduction target by 2030.
ABC chair Kim Williams addressed the National Press Club, where he said “dissatisfaction” with mainstream media “needs to be taken more seriously”.
A director for the Palestinian aid agency United Nations Relief and Works Agency has urged the Australian government to “punch above its weight” and lobby Israel “very, very hard” after Israel’s parliament voted to ban the aid agency and designate it a terror organisation last month.
The headline inflation rate held steady and was at its lowest in three years.
A Jetstar flight from Sydney to Phuket has had to turn around this afternoon due to a mechanical issue.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, called on residents of Sydney to reduce their power consumption amid ongoing risks of power outages due to the heatwave gripping the east coast.
Rogue taxi drivers in New South Wales who don’t use their meter, overcharge or refuse short trips will soon be banished from the industry if they’re convicted of fare misbehaviour twice.
Updated
Hanson 'pleased' with suspension after experiencing 'barbs', she says
Pauline Hanson says she’s “pleased” to see Thorpe’s suspension from the Senate after allegedly experiencing a number of “barbs” and “jabs” while sitting near her in the upper chamber.
Hanson said:
Each and every one of you know that since Senator Thorpe has been in this place, it has been the downfall of this chamber because of her aggression towards calling each and every one of us, who is white, that we are colonialists, that we have stolen the land. That’s not what this place is about, and that’s why I’m pleased to see ... something had to be done to rein it in.
The One Nation senator alleged she was told by Thorpe to “go back where you came from” and told she “had privileges”.
Hanson was earlier accused of being racist by independent senator Fatima Payman. She objected to Payman’s comments and Payman was asked, and agreed, to withdraw the comments about alleged racism.
Hanson also took aim at the Greens, who voted against the suspension but said they did not condone Thorpe’s behaviour.
I will say to the Greens, it’s one of your mates, I know. You got her elected to this place, but stick with the facts, which I always try to do in this place, and it has to be a safe workplace.
Updated
Jetstar flight to Phuket turns back to Sydney after wheel damaged during take-off
A Jetstar flight from Sydney to Phuket has had to turn around earlier this afternoon due to a mechanical issue.
The flight landed safely in Sydney just after 5pm, with the pilots requesting a priority landing after one of the plane’s 10 wheels were damaged during take off.
A spokesperson for Jetstar said their engineers were investigating the issue:
Our flight from Sydney to Phuket landed normally this afternoon after returning to Sydney due to a mechanical issue. Our pilots requested a priority landing and emergency services met the aircraft as a precaution. One of the aircraft’s 10 wheels was damaged during take-off and our engineers are investigating the cause.
A Sydney airport spokesperson said the main runway had to be closed for half an hour to allow the plane to land safely.
They said that while there weren’t any “significant” disruptions, there may be some flight delays throughout the evening:
Earlier this afternoon an aircraft requested a return to the airport shortly after departure, landing safely just before 5pm.
Our main runway was closed for approximately 30 mins to allow the aircraft to land, get towed to a gate, and for a runway inspection to take place.
Normal operations have resumed and while we do not expect any significant disruptions, there may be some delays throughout the evening.
Updated
Going back to the Senate vote on the Thorpe suspension vote, it was 46-11 in favour of ordering her out of the chamber until the end of tomorrow.
The Coalition, Labor, Ralph Babet, One Nation, Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock voted for the suspension.
Only the Greens voted no. Thorpe was not in the chamber and did not vote.
Updated
Thorpe suspension motion 'line in the sand', Birmingham says
Coalition Senate leader Simon Birmingham called the motion to suspend Lidia Thorpe a “line in the sand” moment, claiming the independent senator had “crossed a line” in her actions earlier today.
Birmingham said the Senate must have standards of behaviour, and senators must show respect to one another in exercising the privileges that federal politicians enjoy.
He accused the Greens of a “shameful double standard” in opposing the suspension motion for Thorpe, claiming the minor party members would not tolerate similar behaviour from other senators.
Greens Senate leader Larissa Waters said her party did not condone the use of physical violence, and did not support Thorpe’s actions, but said they didn’t believe suspending her for a whole day was a “proportionate and appropriate response”.
Waters noted Thorpe had a private senators’ bill on the notice paper for tomorrow, and that it would be unfair to deny her the chance to speak about that bill. She said politicians “do need to set the standard”.
Updated
Lidia Thorpe suspended from Senate until end of Thursday
The Senate has passed a motion suspending Lidia Thorpe from the chamber until the end of Thursday – the last scheduled parliamentary sitting day of the year.
A motion moved by government Senate leader Penny Wong was passed overwhelmingly, 46-11.
Thorpe will be suspended from the Senate until the end of tomorrow.
Updated
The Senate is now dividing to vote on whether Thorpe will be suspended until the end of tomorrow. The Greens appear to be opposing the government and Coalition’s motion.
Labor, the Coalition, One Nation and Ralph Babet are backing the motion – so it looks like it will pass and Thorpe will be suspended.
Updated
Lidia Thorpe is not in the Senate as her colleagues debate whether she should be suspended. Penny Wong claims Thorpe engaged in “aggression” and “hateful personal attacks”.
Wong, the government Senate leader, alleges there have been “multiple instances of Senator Thorpe making inappropriate, sometimes abusive comments towards other senators”. Wong accuses Thorpe of having “increasingly engaged in such behaviour”.
Wong says all senators should be treated with respect so that the parliament can operate in the interests of all Australians.
If Thorpe was in the Senate, she would be given the chance to speak in her defence or make an explanation. Senate president Sue Lines says Thorpe declined to be in the chamber for the vote.
Updated
Penny Wong moves for vote to suspend Lidia Thorpe from Senate
Government Senate leader Penny Wong is moving for Lidia Thorpe to be suspended from the Senate until the end of tomorrow – the last scheduled sitting day of the year.
Senate president Sue Lines said Thorpe’s behaviour earlier in the day, tearing up paper and throwing it at Pauline Hanson, was “not acceptable” and that such behaviour “will not be tolerated”.
Lines said she had informed Thorpe of the discussion to take place at 6pm, but that Thorpe had informed her she wouldn’t attend the Senate.
Updated
Labor and Coalition considering vote to suspend Lidia Thorpe from Senate
Lidia Thorpe could be suspended from the Senate under an arcane and little-used rule of the chamber, after she appeared to throw paper at Pauline Hanson during a tense parliamentary debate earlier today.
Guardian Australia understands Labor and the Coalition are considering seeking a suspension motion against Thorpe, the Green turned independent senator, after escalating interruptions in the parliament in recent weeks.
It’s understood the major parties have become increasingly irritated by Thorpe’s interjections in the Senate since she was censured last week for her comments at the reception for King Charles.
Senators have been informed to attend the chamber after 6pm where the motion is expected to be debated.
Sources said the Senate leaders of the major parties were meeting on Wednesday night to discuss the motion.
Senate president Sue Lines earlier on Wednesday said Senate standing order 203 “provides an avenue for dealing with disorderly conduct. It includes a process to enable senators to explain their conduct or apologise for it.”
That rule allows a senator to be suspended for the rest of the day, and for longer periods for subsequent interruptions.
Updated
Parliament House briefly closed to public as security heightened for Rising Tide protest
Security at Parliament House was on higher alert than usual today as hundreds gathered for the Rising Tide rally earlier.
Shortly before question time, the front entrance to Parliament House was briefly closed to the public and access was limited to the public galleries for the House of Representatives and Senate.
As we reported earlier, more than 20 Rising Tide protesters were arrested for blocking the roads to federal Parliament House after they took their protest from Newcastle to Canberra today.
Rising Tide organiser, Alexa Stuart, told my colleague, Jordan Beazley, that about 100 protesters moved to block the road while about 50 others occupied the parliament house foyer.
In a statement on the temporary closures, the presiding officers said:
These decisions were made on security advice and for the safety of all building occupants.
Even before the rally started, the public entrance was filled with parliamentary security and Australian federal police.
Security appeared to be undertaking additional bag checks as visitors and staff working in the building entered Parliament House.
Updated
Wild weather in Melbourne as NSW braces for storms
A lot of Melburnians will be checking their ceilings or windows for leaks this evening after some big storms ripped across the city on Wednesday afternoon.
The Victorian capital can expect milder weather tomorrow and Friday but Saturday will bring heavy falls, the Bureau of Meteorology forecasts. As much as 30mm may fill the rain gauges.
Meanwhile, Sydney and Canberra look likely to cop a few storms too, with the NSW State Emergency Service saying residents should expect “severe weather”.
“On Thursday widespread and potentially severe storms with heavy rain, damaging winds and large hail is possible in many parts of the state including Western NSW, Sydney, Mid North Coast, parts of the Hunter and Illawarra,” it said in statement.
“From Friday through to Sunday widespread moderate to heavy rain is expected in many areas as a rain band moves into eastern parts of the state.”
On present predictions, Sydney may collect 15mm on Thursday and 30-35mm on Friday and Saturday, the bureau said.
The SES assistant commissioner, Greg Swindells, said flash flooding and water over roads can occur very quickly and without warning.
Meanwhile on the electricity front, the Australian Energy Market Operator has confirmed that it has activated its reserve trader scheme to pay some users to power down to help the grid.
It has also confirmed a level 2 lack of reserve status for the NSW grid. It had sought 685 megawatts of spare capacity and could only muster 412MW.
White knuckles needed for a bit longer this evening.
Updated
Great Koala national park plan could cost more than $1.3bn, forestry industry says
New South Wales’ biggest environmental commitment faces a potential funding shortfall as an analysis shows protecting key koala populations could cost more than $1.3bn.
The estimates, based on advice from the under-siege forestry industry, come as the sector proposes two smaller alternatives for the planned Great Koala national park, AAP reports.
A report to be considered by state cabinet in the next fortnight lays out the cost of the baseline proposal to unite a string of national parks and state forests into a sprawling 176,000-hectare estate.
Under conservationists’ goal for a park twice the size of Canberra, establishment costs would reach an estimated $1.36bn within five years. Only $80m in state funds have been set aside.
The industry says a park one-fifth of the size could focus on areas with the highest populations of koalas and greater gliders while taking less than 10% of the north-east wood supply.
“The cost of the current assessment area comes with a jaw-dropping price tag for taxpayers,” the Australian Forest Products Association NSW chief executive, James Jooste, said. “This is an enormous cost on taxpayers, and it puts the hardwood timber industry on the chopping block.”
The industry’s preferred option comes with a 37,000-hectare footprint at an estimated establishment cost of $273m and 440 jobs. An “acceptable” 58,000 hectare option would cost about $410m and 660 jobs.
But Environmentalists have attacked the analysis as disingenuous and grossly inflated.
“There is no science and there is certainly no credible economics in the logging industry pitch,” the Greens MP Sue Higginson said.
“The real costs of the national park must be laid out including the actual losses the industry makes and the costs of the environmental harm of logging, including the carbon emissions.”
Updated
Governor officially opens Queensland’s parliament
Queensland’s 58th parliament has officially opened.
The governor, Jeannette Young, arrived at parliament this afternoon to be welcomed by a 19-gun salute fired by howitzers on the Kangaroo Point cliffs from across the Brisbane River, a military parade, guard of honour and band. Young then delivered the governor’s speech.
Delivered by the governor in the chamber of the Legislative Council, it lays out the agenda of the new premier, David Crisafulli. Because Queensland parliament only has one house, this is one of the few times all MPs sit in the upper house chamber. Members of the judiciary also attended the ceremony.
Though the governor is a non-partisan position, the speech is written in coordination with the government, by convention, and lays out its priorities. She refers to the successful party as “my government”.
The official opening is held in the upper house because, under convention dating to the English Civil War, the governor is not permitted into the House of Representatives.
Parliament technically opens at the governor’s prerogative, as the monarch’s representative in Queensland. After the official opening, MPs then sit in the lower house for an additional ceremony.
Parliament sat for the first time yesterday, to allow 24 new MPs to be sworn in after the election in October. Pat Weir was also elected speaker. They will sit for the first regular day of parliament tomorrow.
Updated
NSW sees wholesale power prices hit their maximum even as demand curbs kick in
As expected, it’s turning out to be a tight afternoon as far as power supplies go in New South Wales.
Temperatures may have peaked (at 39.9C in Penrith, western Sydney) but demand for electricity remains high as people return home, turn on the kettle and the air conditioner and start preparing for dinner.
Some big users, meanwhile, appear to be responding to the scheme set up to pay them to power down during grid stress moments. According to University of NSW’s Dylan McConnell, one smelter probably cut its electricity demand.
Even with that reduction, the Australian Energy Market Operator says there’s an actual lack of reserve (level 1) in place in NSW until 5.30pm. It had been seeking 1,370MW in reserve but only got 710MW.
The result is wholesale power prices have hit their $17,500 limit in NSW.
In other words, we’d better not have any unexpected supply issues (such as a coal plant dropping out), or some users might not get power when they flick on the switch.
Updated
Good afternoon, Mostafa Rachwani with you for the rest of the day’s news.
Many thanks for joining me on the blog today – it’s been a big one here in Canberra. Tomorrow could be even bigger, as it’s the final sitting day of the year – and maybe this electoral term.
Before we get there, though, we’ve still got the rest of this evening – Mostafa Rachwani will be here to bring you the rest of our rolling coverage. Take care.
Under-16 social media ban to be debated later today
The social media ban for under-16s bill is due to be debated in the Senate later this afternoon or this evening. The government has listed some of the previously telegraphed amendments to the bill that were needed to secure the opposition’s support.
The main point of interest is an amendment that social media providers must not collect government-issued IDs or use the government’s digital ID to assure ages, according to the proposed amendments.
It’s not clear if this is an entire ban, however, a subsection of the amendment said the ban on use of ID doesn’t apply if there are reasonable alternative means for people to assure ages. So at least on a basic reading it seems it could be one way to check ages, provided people are given an alternative that wouldn’t force them to hand over IDs.
We’ll know more once debate gets under way.
Updated
Kristian White’s future as police officer ‘under consideration’ after being found guilty of manslaughter
NSW police commissioner Karen Webb has told a press conference the death of a 95-year-old woman after she was shot with a taser gun by a police officer was a “terrible tragedy”.
Sen Const Kristian James Samuel White was found guilty by a jury today of one count of manslaughter over the death of 95-year-old Clare Nowland in May 2023.
White shot the great-grandmother with a taser gun in a Cooma nursing home because she refused to put down a sharp knife.
This afternoon, police commissioner Webb offered her sympathies to Nowland’s family, many of whom had attended White’s trial in Sydney.
I pass on my condolences to the Nowland family... this should never have happened.
Webb said she hadn’t spoken to White since the incident and that she didn’t feel it would be appropriate to contact him now.
She said she intended to speak with the Nowland family to “pass on my condolences as commissioner and as a person”.
Webb said White’s employment as a police officer was “under consideration” since the guilty verdict. Since the incident in May 2023, White has been on leave with pay from the police force.
Paterson says ‘we don’t take advice’ from Human Rights Commission on migration or national security
Taking a final question on the topic, James Paterson was asked about whether his office removed quotes from a transcript, where he was taking questions about objections from the Human Rights Commission regarding migration laws and said “we’re not going to be dictated to” by them.
Was this deliberate? He responded:
That is not a deliberate omission at all and I am happy to repeat it here now, if that was what I said, I will go back and review the transcript of my office. But I never remove anything from transcripts and as much as we are grateful for the work that Human Rights Commission does, we don’t take advice from them on migration matters or national security matters.
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Paterson: Coalition has ‘sought assurances from government’ that migration bill amendments constitutional
Q: The Greens have claimed up to 80,000 people could be impacted by this law – is that true?
Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson said he was in the position of having to explain the government’s position for them “because Tony Burke doesn’t seem to want to do any interviews or press conferences on this”. But he continued:
As I understand it, the Department of Home Affairs says this legislation does not change the category of people to which these powers apply, that those are existing arrangements and those people are captured and it is their intention to use it at the cohort of the NZYQ high court case – who are that difficult cohort who committed serious offences that can’t go back to their home countries and who so far no third country will accept.
And what has the Coalition done to satisfy itself this is constitutional? Paterson said they had “sought assurances from the government that they are confident that these amendments are constitutional”.
Updated
James Paterson on migration bills: Coalition ‘trying to work constructively’
The shadow home affairs minister James Paterson has been speaking to ABC’s Afternoon Briefing about the government’s trio of migration bills.
As Paul Karp reported earlier, the Coalition has struck a deal to pass all three of the controversial bills, in return for minor safeguards on new powers to bar travellers from whole countries and tougher scrutiny of protection visa applications.
Paterson told the program the Coalition is “trying to work constructively” with the government to “clean up their mess”.
[Regarding] removing people from our country to third countries and paying them to do so, we think that is necessary power because we have a problem with people that cannot go anywhere else in the world and who we do not want to stay in Australia. The government has not been transparent either with us or the public about which countries they are negotiating with, about what the terms of the arrangement are or when they will be settled.
Is there any reason to believe Nauru and PNG are under consideration? Paterson said it was “possible” the government is in negotiations with Pacific nations:
They have been … in the past. We’ve also entered into third country resettlement options with countries like New Zealand and the United States, and we don’t know who the government is negotiating with or who they will reach agreements with.
Updated
Watch: Kim Williams on ABC funding at National Press Club
Earlier today, ABC chair Kim Williams addressed the National Press Club in Canberra. He spoke about the decline of newsrooms and funding for the national broadcaster, which we flagged here, but here are his full remarks:
Hanson fails in bid to refer Payman’s citizenship for investigation
Pauline Hanson has failed in a bid to refer Fatima Payman’s citizenship and parliamentary eligibility for investigation.
The One Nation leader’s motion in the Senate has just been resoundingly defeated, 35-3. Only Hanson, party colleague Malcolm Roberts, and UAP’s Ralph Babet voted for it.
Labor, Greens, Coalition and other crossbench members voted against it.
Hanson’s bid for Payman to be referred for investigation sparked an extraordinary row in the Senate this morning. As Sarah brought you earlier, Senate president Sue Lines said she was “incredibly disappointed” in the behaviour.
Updated
Suicide Prevention Australia criticises rushed nature of under-16 social media ban bill
Suicide Prevention Australia has released a statement after Labor’s under-16 social media ban has passed parliament, accusing the government of “running blindfolded into a brick wall by rushing this legislation”.
In the statement, executive director Christopher Stone said the legislation “bypassed the rigorous consultation and scrutiny needed for such a far-reaching decision”.
While we acknowledge the challenges associated with online platforms, this legislation fails to consider the positive aspects of social media in supporting young people’s mental health and sense of connection.
The passage of the bill was accelerated to the extent that it only sat before the House for less than a week. With 156 bills currently before parliament, none other have been designated this level of urgency including bills on housing and homelessness, gambling advertising, healthy kids advertising, and health legislation.
Stone said that the rushed process “undermines trust in the parliamentary process”, urging the government to “slow down and engage with stakeholders to ensure we get this right for young people, and for all Australians using social media.”
Social media provides vital connections for many young Australians, allowing them to access mental health resources, peer support networks, and a sense of community. Cutting off this access risks exacerbating feelings of loneliness and isolation.
Lifeline: 13 11 14
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NSW coroner to investigate increasing number of battery fires
Fires sparked by lithium-ion batteries will go under the coronial microscope, AAP reports, after a spate of serious blazes linked to e-bikes, scooters and other rechargeable devices.
The NSW state coroner has announced the investigation into the fires, which have been happening at a rate of five per week in the state. Two people died in one incident in March after a battery exploded and caused a blaze north of Sydney.
Authorities are worried Christmas gift-giving could fuel the issue further if presents containing low-quality batteries flood the market. Fire and Rescue NSW said battery fires had caused 876 evacuations state-wide in 2024 so far, and resulted in 26 injuries.
Several fatal fires were already under investigation ahead of the planned inquest, coroner Teresa O’Sullivan said.
My role as the state coroner is to investigate sudden and explained deaths, fires, and explosions, and recommend changes that could stop tragic mistakes from being repeated.
From February next year, products sold in NSW must meet internationally accepted standards and be appropriately tested and certified before they enter the market. New testing, certification and labelling requirements will also be introduced, in a staged process.
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Queensland pill testing service warns of synthetic opioid ‘1,000 times more potent than morphine’
Queensland’s pill testing service has called on the state’s new conservative government to abandon plans to end the state’s drug harm reduction policy.
In a report released today, the state’s key drug treatment organisations recommended increased investment and expanded access to pill testing services, in order to combat a new wave of synthetic opioids.
Brisbane pill testing service, CheQpoint, has issued an urgent alert after detecting a synthetic opioid, nitazene, which can be up to 1,000 times more potent than morphine. It was detected in a tablet believed to contain oxycodone, which had been bought online.
Even tiny amounts of nitazenes can cause death, due to their high potency. NSW Health issued a public drug warning in May after four people were hospitalised in Sydney with severe opioid overdose caused by the substance.
Rebecca Lang, CEO of the Queensland Network of Alcohol and other Drug Agencies, said the detection of the substance “is a timely reminder of the importance of harm reduction and community led approaches, which is why we have worked with our member organisations to develop an overdose plan for QLD”.
We call on the government to implement the plan to protect the health and wellbeing of Queenslanders.
The plan includes scaling up and expanding access to pill testing in order to monitor for the potential circulation of emerging classes of dangerous synthetic opioids in the community.
It calls for a “move towards a regulated drug market to dismantle the illicit trade and reduce synthetic opioid availability”.
The LNP repeatedly promised to eliminate the state’s drug testing services and roll back drug law reform in opposition. Health minister Tim Nicholls confirmed this week that the government would not renew the contracts of either of the state’s CheQpoints when they expire next year.
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AMA urges action on recommendations of inquest into murder of four Aboriginal women
The Australian Medical Association NT is calling for urgent action on the recommendations of the inquest into four Aboriginal women who were murdered.
On Monday, the NT coroner Elisabeth Armitage released long-awaited findings in an inquest into the violent deaths of Ngeyo Ragurrk, Kumanjayi Heywood, Kumarn Rubuntja and Miss Yunupingu, making 35 wide-ranging recommendations to prevent more deaths, calling it a “national shame”.
The recommendations included the NT government should fund a peak body to tackle family and sexual violence, a specialist family and sexual violence court, and provide more culturally appropriate frontline services aimed at preventing family and sexual violence.
AMA NT President, Dr Rob Parker, said needs-based funding rather than population-based funding was urgently needed given the level of violence facing women in the Northern Territory.
Domestic violence in the NT affects every Territorian. Adequate funding and strong policy are essential to reducing violence and saving lives.
As frontline healthcare workers in the Northern Territory, we read the stories ... whose deaths are described in the inquest and see reflected the risk faced by many of the women we care for every day.
AMA NT also said they back the coroner’s calls to reduce alcohol-related harm violence, saying they support a minimum level “floor price” on alcohol as an “evidence based approach” , something the NT government has pledged to scrap as part of its election commitment.
Updated
No Xmas interest rate cut expected but the worst of the cost-of-living crunch may be behind us
As the federal politicians go at it in question time over the October inflation numbers out earlier today, economists are seeing both the good and the bad as they sift the data.
Cherelle Murphy, EY’s chief economist, has said:
Despite some households wishing for an early Christmas gift, [an RBA] rate cut won’t be under the tree this December. Our view is that the Reserve Bank will keep rates on hold for several months yet – with the policies of the incoming US administration another potential hurdle in the fight against inflation in 2025.
The latter is a reference to the return to the White House of Donald Trump on 20 January, bringing a lot of policy whim with him.
In the meantime, there are more indicators of easing price pressures on a few fronts.
Stephen Wu, a senior CBA economist, says a closer look at the underlying inflation figure (3.5%) for October was actually a bit better than expected. As a result, the bank has trimmed its quarterly trimmed mean estimate for the current quarter to 0.6% from 0.7%.
We expect core inflation to undershoot the RBA’s forecast. Even with the revision, we still see the risks as slightly skewed to the downside.
Separately, Roy Morgan research finds that the share of mortgage holders “at risk” has eased since stage 3 tax cuts started flowing. While still a hefty 26.2% share (or 928,000), the proportion has eased by 4.1 percentage points (or 14%) since June.
That’s still high but heading in the right direction and an RBA rate cut will (eventually) help too.
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Question time finishes
In the House of Representatives, question time has just wrapped up.
Updated
Lidia Thorpe in another fiery Senate appearance
The independent senator, Lidia Thorpe, has criticised the Albanese government in another fiery Senate appearance in question time.
Thorpe asked why around 90 applicants for justice reinvestment grants were not considered, claiming the decision “reeks of disregard for those fighting to make meaningful change on the ground”.
The question was directed at Indigenous affairs minister, Malarndirri McCarthy, but workplace place relations minister, Murray Watt, has responsibility for answering.
Thorpe repeated “I just want the question answered” while Labor senators explained the redirection.
Labor senator Catryna Bilyk shouted “we’re just trying to help you” off microphone and Thorpe responded:
Shut your mouth, you.
The Senate president, Sue Lines, asked Thorpe to withdraw but the firebrand senator complained she is always the first to face reprimands while others interjecting get away with it. Before withdrawing, Thorpe said:
You don’t hear them, do you? ... Open your eyes.
Thorpe then withdrew the comment. Bilyk also stood up to withdraw. Senate question time continued.
Updated
Renewables provide more than half of NSW power as crunch period approaches
With the 3pm-8pm AEDT crunch time for the NSW grid just starting, a bit more than half of the state’s power was coming from renewable energy, according to the OpenNEM website.
We’ve noted before that quite a bit of coal-fired power generation capacity has been offline this week (about 3 gigawatts of it unplanned).
The tight energy squeeze expected for this afternoon is frustrating for many, particularly those who have long called for more investment in clean energy so we have more capacity for times like these when ageing coal power stations aren’t available.
Stephanie Bashir, chief executive of Nexa Advisory, said authorities “wouldn’t be scrabbling now if they were properly enabling consumers to manage their own demand, and unleashing development and connection of renewables, including through orderly closure of coal plants”.
The Minns government is yet to publish its energy plan for NSW. Projects already in the pipeline are clogged inside it.
The pipeline of proposed wind, solar and battery projects might be huge ... would that we had a few more available today.
Penrith, meanwhile, in Sydney’s outer west, has recently touched 39.9C, the hottest site in Australia, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
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Rising Tide arrests come as City of Sydney donates $22k to organisation
Circling back to news just a moment ago that more than 20 Rising Tide protesters were arrested outside parliament: this comes after the City of Sydney passed a motion on Monday which included a $22,000 donation to the climate organisation.
The motion called on the NSW government to repeal the anti-protest laws after 138 Rising Tide protesters were on Sunday charged under the laws for disrupting the Port of Newcastle.
The laws carry a maximum two years in prison for blockading ports, railways, and roads or a maximum $22,000 fine – the same amount that the council donated to Rising Tide.
The council’s motion also condemned “harsh police practices with respect to protesters” and called “on the NSW police to cease pre-emptive and heavy-handed policing of protests”.
The motion, which was introduced by Greens councillor Sylvie Ellsmore, passed with the support of two Labor councillors and was voted against by one Liberal councillor. Councillor Jess Miller amended the motion to include the $22,000 donation.
City of Sydney lord mayor, Clover Moore, said “climate change is an existential threat, and the criminalisation of those who protest is shameful.” Moore added:
In a democracy all people should have the right to protest without being arrested. We must phase out fossil fuels faster, fairly and forever. We need to act with the urgency that this moment demands. If not, people will continue to advocate through peaceful protest and nonviolent civil disobedience. Disruptions can be inconvenient and costly. But let’s put this in context: the continued destruction of the planet is worse.
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PM says opposition ‘never so unhappy as when things heading in good direction for Australia’
Back at question time, the shadow treasurer Angus Taylor has got on his feet for a third time to ask about inflation.
The prime minister shot back that “core inflation has come down since we were elected.”
Today, one of the things that strikes me, Mr Speaker, is that [the opposition] are never so unhappy and angry as when things are heading in a good direction for Australia. Their whole position, their whole position is a-wishing and a-hoping for the very worst for Australia. No hope, just nope to everything that comes before this parliament.
Peter Dutton rose on a point of order, saying the PM needs to answer whether core inflation went up today. He responded that monthly inflation “is around one-third of what we inherited at the election and around one-quarter of its peak”.
Sussan Ley also rose on a point of order, saying Jim Chalmers had been interjecting but not sent out. The Speaker, Milton Dick, said he would take it onboard and “it is difficult to maintain order in the house when there is continual interjections”.
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More than 20 Rising Tide protesters arrested for blocking roads to federal parliament
More than 20 Rising Tide protesters have been arrested for blocking the roads to federal Parliament House after they took their protest from Newcastle to Canberra today.
It comes after NSW police arrested 173 Rising Tide protesters on the water in Newcastle on Sunday after they paddled aboard kayaks and rafts to disrupt the Port of Newcastle. Organisers say it was Australia’s largest climate civil disobedience action.
Today, hundreds of people joined a rally organised by Rising Tide on the lawns of parliament.
Rising Tide organiser, Alexa Stuart, who is in Canberra at the protest, said around hundred protesters moved to block the road while about 50 others occupied the parliament house foyer.
Stuart said that more than 20 people were arrested for blocking the road after police had issued move on orders. The ACT police have been contacted for comment.
The protesters are calling on the Albanese government to immediately cancel all new fossil fuel projects and end all coal exports from Newcastle by 2030. It is also calling on the government to introduce a 78% tax on coal export profits to fund the transition and support fossil fuel workers.
A 13-year-old was at the protest outside parliament on Wednesday. The 13-year-old was not arrested, but was among the 173 people that were arrested on Sunday for disrupting the Port of Newcastle:
I was one of 31,000 people who lost their homes in the 2022 Northern Rivers flooding. I’m here today because I’m really really angry that our government is sitting in their air-conditioned board rooms watching our future burn and doing nothing about it.
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Transport minister on Greens proposal for curfew at Brisbane airport: they’re ‘dreaming’
Greens MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown has asked a question on the impact of aircraft noise – specifically, why does Sydney have a curfew but residents in Brisbane don’t?
The transport minister Catherine King said she can “understand that community concern” – putting blame on the former Coalition government.
The new runway at Brisbane airport opened in 2020, following approval by the former Coalition government – who did not undertake, frankly, sufficient community consultation in the process, particularly in relation to aircraft noise.
She said Labor committed to establish a community advisory board to hear from locals, and “I’ve made very clear my expectations to air services that measures be implemented to mitigate aircraft noise at Brisbane airport.”
In terms of the Greens’ call for a curfew at Brisbane airport, she said they were “dreaming”.
Let’s compare what happens at Sydney airport, where movements are capped at 80 movements per hour. It is the busiest airport in the country. What the Greens want is a cap at 46 movements per hour. In Sydney, what that has meant – the 80 movements per hour – we are now building a second airport, because that airport is at capacity. If you are saying that Brisbane airport is at capacity at 40, you are dreaming.
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Chris Bowen wants televised debate with Ted O’Brien on energy
Liberal MP Colin Boyce got up to ask a question, criticising the government’s so-called “renewables-only approach”.
The energy minister Chris Bowen, in response, has been criticising nuclear energy – pointing to overseas research showing increasing energy prices.
Professor Bill Grace from the University of Western Australia … has pointed out that the only way to make nuclear power work in Australia is to switch off cheap renewable energy, to stop exporting electricity from your rooftop solar system. Forget feed-in tariffs. The system has to call on baseload nuclear power first or the system makes no sense.
Bowen claimed that the shadow energy minister Ted O’Brien said no to a debate on Q&A – but he would be up for it.
The 7.30 report has suggested a debate. I said yes. I await the answer of the member for Fairfax.
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Albanese says Coalition has only two settings: ‘no and no way’
Liberal MP Melissa Price has got up to ask a question on the economy – specifically successive rate rises, “with no relief in sight”.
The prime minister Anthony Albanese said the “fact is that the member for Durack was part of – sometimes as a minister – spending nine years in government creating the problems, but they’ve spent every day in opposition stopping the solutions”.
They only have two settings, Mr Speaker, no and no way. That is the only settings that they have.
The PM took aim at the Coalition for opposing their housing legislation and said – maybe harking back to Bob Katter’s earlier question – that they were “blocking the Australian dream”.
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Chalmers takes aim at ‘pre-cooked points of order’ from opposition
The shadow treasurer Angus Taylor is back up to ask another question on the economy, again ending with the well-repeated catchphrase the opposition has adopted this week – how can Australians afford another three years of Labor?
Jim Chalmers says he has “a lot of nerve asking about incomes and living standards and inflation after the mess that they left us to clean up.” The treasurer continues:
And Mr Speaker, if you look right across the board, inflation was higher and rising on their watch. Living standards were falling substantially already when we came to office … So how dare they come in here, Mr Speaker, and talk about living standards and wages and inflation when inflation was three times higher on their watch …
Taylor rose on a point of order, and a Labor MP was sent out for interjecting. Chalmers resumed speaking:
No amount of pre-cooked points of order that somebody has typed out for him in order to make him look spontaneous is going to make up for the fact that living standards were falling when we came to office, real wages were falling when we came to office and inflation was three times higher under them than under us.
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Bob Katter asks Chalmers about the Australian housing dream
Bob Katter has got up to ask a question on the Australian dream – does it still exist, or “does the reality of crippling debt traumatise young couples”? He continued:
Treasurer, why don’t you become a federal government, cut the Gordian knot and wreak destruction upon power-drunk state and local government regulators?
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, began responding with this:
Now, when it comes to young people and the beautifully nostalgic Queensland childhood that the member for Kennedy describes in his question, which is a little bit familiar to me from a couple of generations later …
After a bit of laughter across the chamber, Chalmers went on to acknowledge that “in our economy, too often, younger people and younger families get the rough end of the pineapple when it comes to the way that some of our policies are set up”.
The treasurer said he agrees more can always be done to help young people, with housing being a part of that. He said he would convene the state treasurers here in Canberra on Friday to address some of the issues he has raised.
If his question is, is there a role for the commonwealth? Yes. We embrace that enthusiastically. If his question is is there a role for states and state regulators, of course there is, and if we’re to build the homes we need to deliver a sense of intergenerational justice he’s talking about, we’re doing our bit and the states need to do their bit as well.
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Senate president has advised parliament’s workplace support service of incident between Hanson and Thorpe
The Senate president, Sue Lines, says she’s advised the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service of the incident between Pauline Hanson and Lidia Thorpe this morning.
Lines read out a joint statement with the deputy president before Senate question time commenced, saying she was “incredibly disappointed” in the behaviour.
Earlier this morning, Hanson attempted to have independent senator Fatima Payman investigated for an alleged section 44 citizenship issue, before Thorpe threw papers at the One Nation leader and flipped her middle finger as she stormed out of the chamber. Lines said:
It is incredibly disappointing that three years into the implementation of the recommendations of the Jenkins review, senators appear all too ready to descend into disorder rather than seeking to conduct themselves in a safe and respectful manner. We must do better ...
Debate, of course, in this place is often lively, but senators must conduct themselves in an orderly fashion. Physically threatening behaviour will not be tolerated. It is up to each and every senator in this place to find ways to take the heat out of the chamber.
The president said it was a matter for the Senate to deal with it but she had advised the PWSS anyway.
Lines said the Senate could consider a process forcing senators to explain their conduct or apologise for it. She added senators could also be suspended.
Lines said she would consider “next steps” after meeting with party leaders and the deputy president.
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Back-and-forth over cost of living
The shadow treasurer Angus Taylor has got up to ask about the rising cost of living, finishing with the catchphrase from yesterday’s question time – how can Australians afford another three year’s of Labor?
The prime minister began listing measures the government has taken on addressing inflation, but his response was drowned out by shouts from the opposition.
Michael Sukkar stood up on a point of order – but the Speaker deemed it was simply a comment, and he was asked to leave. The Speaker, Milton Dick, said:
You’re entitled to take a point of order and I gave you that courtesy. But you didn’t show the same respect to the chamber, by simply getting up and saying you didn’t like how the prime minister was answering the question or whatever he was doing.
After he left, the PM was back on his feet criticising the opposition’s financial track record – while most of them were not listening, occupied instead by the paperwork on their desks.
Albanese concluded that the difference between the government and opposition was “that we’ve taken measures to assist people, [while] those opposite have just said no, no, no to everything”.
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Question time begins
The shadow climate change minister Ted O’Brien has opened question time, with a question about blackouts – referencing the NSW premier’s direction for residents to reduce power consumption this afternoon.
The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, said the extensive heatwave across the state is increasing demand, and there are “five units of coal and gas production that are not operating.”
Two of them were unexpected breakdowns in coal-fired power, Mr Speaker, so of course that has added to pressures in New South Wales.
There is so much back-and-forth from each side, it’s almost hard to hear what the minister is saying. But Bowen went on to say the NSW government was “taking necessary precautions in case there is another unexpected outage of a coal-fire unit, which is always a risk.”
It would be disingenuous and dishonest to blame renewables when you have five units out, four of them coal, two of them breakdowns, when you consider we have not had a day in the last 18 months where there hasn’t been a breakdown in a coal-fired power unit across the national energy market.
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Question time about to begin
Question time is about to begin in the House of Representatives – for the second-last time this year. Grab a coffee, and get ready. We’ll bring you all the key moments here on the blog.
Queensland electrical union head vows walk-off if union officials barred from worksites
Queensland’s Electrical Trade Union state secretary Peter Ong has called on members to walk off the job if the state government denies officials the right of entry to worksites:
My suggestion would be this, if your officials are not allowed on the job because they’ve had their 117 safety right of entry removed, that to me would deem your job to be an imminent risk to your health. Under the Act, if you have an imminent risk to your health and safety, you must remove yourself from that imminent risk.
Jenny Newport, whose son Glen died of heat stroke on the job in 2013, also spoke at the rally outside parliament – which we flagged earlier in the blog. She said:
I’m calling for both sides of government to follow the coroner’s recommendations brought down nearly 10 years ago, which haven’t been implemented.
Minister Jarrod Bleijie said he will suspend both the right of access and the former government’s best practice industry conditions, which include restrictions on working in very hot conditions. Bleijie said the rules reduced site productivity.
Former minister Mick de Brenni – who developed the regulations while in government – got a shoutout after he briefly showed his face from a parliamentary balcony overlooking the protest. No Labor MPs were seen attending the rally.
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ABC chair questioned on Antoinette Lattouf at National Press Club
Circling back to the National Press Club just earlier, where a reporter asked about Antoinette Lattouf – how does her sacking affect the ABC’s capacity to hold up its statutory obligations?
In June the Fair Work Commission found Lattouf was sacked from a casual presenting role on ABC local radio, paving the way for the journalist to pursue an unlawful termination case.
ABC chair Kim Williams said the ABC has remained “impeccably silent” about the ongoing legal matter, “unlike Ms Latouff and her representatives”.
We will continue to persist in aiming for [a] respectful, constructive resolution between the ABC and Ms Latouff.
But Williams maintained she was not sacked, saying she was on a five-day contract and “under that contract, the contract was brought to a close at the end of the third day – so it affected the final two days of that contract which, of course, were paid.”
Responding to the point about the ABC’s statutory obligations, Williams said the ABC had “a long history of being compliant with its statutory obligations”.
It is an organisation which has an impeccable record in audit over the course of the last few years - at least all of the years with which I am familiar. And it will continue to be an appropriate, ethical respondent to all of those implications. The ABC aims at all times to behave in a way which is consistent with good ethical practice.
PM criticises ‘reckless obstructionism and rank opportunism’ as Help to Buy passes parliament
As we have just mentioned, Labor’s Help to Buy bill has finally passed parliament after a vote in the lower house.
Shortly before the vote took place Anthony Albanese rose to speak and criticised his political opponents, namely the opposition and the Greens, for “reckless obstructionism and rank opportunism”.
We’ve persevered even when we were told there was no chance to get through this parliament. We’ve stood our ground because we care about helping more Australians know the security of a roof over their head, because our Labor government supports the aspiration of home ownership, and we want to bring that dream in reach of more Australians, and that’s what this bill is about, a circuit breaker for Australians who’ve done all the right things …
Our Help to Buy plan will put in 30% of the purchase price of an existing home and 40% of the purchase price of a new home. That cuts your deposit to as little as 2%; that means you pay less upfront, you have a smaller mortgage, and your monthly repayments are smaller too. We are doing this because we know that a home of your own is more than a place to live. It’s about security and opportunity, stability and a sense of connection to your local community, it’s a foundation on which you can build a good life for yourself and your family.
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Housing minister welcomes passage of Help to Buy bill in parliament
The housing minister, Clare O’Neil, has just issued a statement, after the Help to Buy legislation passed the parliament.
The legislation will support 40,000 eligible homebuyers with an equity contribution of up to 40% for new homes and 30% for existing homes. A minimum 2% deposit will be needed to be eligible, and people will have lower ongoing repayments while they participate in the scheme.
O’Neil said it was “disappointing that Peter Dutton tried to block this scheme, particularly when their colleagues in the Queensland Liberal National party recently committed to creating their own shared equity program”.
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Labor’s Help to Buy legislation passes parliament
Labor’s Help to Buy legislation has just passed the House of Representatives within the last 10 minutes. We’ll bring you more details on this in a moment.
Earlier in the week, the Greens said it would help the Albanese government pass the bill, despite failing to win any concessions from Labor in return for its support.
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Is the ABC trying to lift ratings with changes over past two months?
On the changes to ABC Radio and RN over the last two months – is the ABC’s primary concern to lift ratings?
Kim Williams said the ABC “is not in a simple numbers game”, and said:
The ABC should always be attentive to understanding its audiences and having appropriate measures of connection with those audiences. But the ABC is not in a simple numbers game as if it was a commercial provider of material to audiences and was being measured in the same way as commercial audiences.
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Williams on calls for Coalition to sell ABC radio and close ABC TV
Kim Williams was asked if he views Gina Rineheart as a threat to public broadcasting, after she used a speech to urge the Coalition to sell ABC Radio and close ABC TV.
Williams said she was an Australian citizen who has offered “a personal view”.
I don’t believe that either side of Australian politics in the mainstream would ever consider an action of that type seriously.
Because, as I said before, the ABC is trusted as the most reliable source of news and information by 81% of Australians. I mean, there is deep community affection in Australia for the ABC, and there is deep reliance on the ABC across-the-board in the Australian community. The ABC touches the vast majority of Australians on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly basis.
So I do not treat that particular policy objective with any particular personal seriousness.
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Williams condemns ‘Joe Rogan effect’
Kim Williams has also been asked about the “Joe Rogan effect” – who has captured a huge audience of listeners through his podcast. In Australia, how could the ABC go about capturing a similar audience?
Williams lashed the podcast as preying on people’s vulnerabilities:
They prey on fear. They prey on anxiety … I’m also absolutely in dismay that this can be a source of public entertainment, when it’s really treating the public as plunder for entrepreneurs that are really quite malevolent.
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Kim Williams weighs in on decision not to renew Sarah Macdonald’s Sydney radio contract
At the National Press Club, Kim Williams is taking questions from reporters. He was asked about news that presenter Sarah Macdonald won’t have her contract renewed – was he aware of this, and was it the right call?
The ABC chair responded that this was an “interesting question from a media enterprise, given that changes in media are part of life.”
It’s inaccurate to say that Sarah Macdonald has been sacked. Her role has not been renewed. They are different conceptually.
In a similar way, management has determined that it wishes to take that service in a different direction. That decision is a management decision, and I fully support our management in making relevant decisions as to the direction and content of the services that the ABC provides. So, yes, I do support that decision. I do support the notion of refreshment in the various services that the ABC offers.
[Much] of the public reaction would actually say that you can never change anything, ever, unless the person impacted by the change is entirely in agreement with that change. And I think that, in a media working environment, that’s a very impractical view of the world.
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SA premier responds to reports his government pulled job listing with pay up to $430k
The South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, has spoken about reports his government pulled a job listing for an advertising position paying up to $430,000.
Speaking to ABC radio, he said:
The first I learned of this person being paid over $400,000 or the potential of them getting paid over $400,000 was in question time [on Tuesday].
Malinauskas said he sought more detail and was advised there was “no prospect of this person getting paid over $400,000”.
I’ve been advised they’ll be getting paid less than $300,000 a year.
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Williams says hiring new generation of young reporters might help attract young readers
Kim Williams has also been speaking about the need to engage younger audiences in the news – suggesting that hiring young reporters may play a role in this.
I’d personally like to see the ABC attract and train a new generation of young journalists who understand intuitively how their contemporaries consume and think about the media, and know best how to reach them with appropriate expression and perspective on their favoured and rapidly changing platforms.
The long-term survival of the idea of the objective truth, which George Orwell once, maybe prophetically, told us is in danger of fading out of the world, rests in the hands of the young. We can do a great deal with our schools to make this happen.
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Williams says ‘dissatisfaction’ with mainstream media ‘needs to be taken more seriously’
Back at the National Press Club, ABC chair Kim Williams said that people’s dissatisfaction with mainstream media “needs to be taken more seriously”.
Anger can’t be allowed to build up until it explodes. We need to go where these citizens are.
He said it is important to ensure “those who live on the urban fringe can have their perspectives reflected in the news and in our public debates”.
With the right investment, we could establish new newsrooms in selected suburban and peri-urban population locations. New home bases from which our journalists can gather news and better reflect the views of these sometimes neglected elements of Australian community. It’s an idea worth pursuing and delivering.
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Unrwa director urges Albanese government lobby Israel against banning Gaza aid agency
A director for Palestinian aid agency, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), has urged the Australian government to “punch above its weight” and lobby Israel “very, very hard” after Israel’s parliament voted to ban the aid agency and designate it a terror organisation last month.
In Parliament House just earlier, Roger Hearn, Unrwa’s director of relief and social services, spoke of the “emergency” humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and warned of an impending famine.
Hearn said Unrwa’s operations are “crippled” and that aid stored in Israeli ports awaiting clearances could “feed the entire Gaza strip for seven months” but was not getting to Palestinians because of “petty administrative reasons” by Israel.
The UN humanitarian assistance body has operated since 1948 and has been providing food, water and medicine for the more than 1.9m displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the recent conflict began in October last year.
Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, voted to ban the agency and declared it a terror group in October after earlier claims that some Unrwa staff in Gaza were involved in the 7 October Hamas attacks that led to the deaths of more than 1,200 Israelis and the kidnapping of hundreds more.
Hearn said Australia played an important role in Unrwa’s future in the crisis:
[Australia has] a strong voice in terms of its relationship with Israel. We would like to see [Australia] lobby for Israel to rescind this ... really egregious act ... Australia needs to provide funding for Unrwa to avert an even worse humanitarian crisis, and it needs to lobby very, very hard for Israel to lift this legislation.
The opposition has called for the Albanese government to divert the millions of dollars in funding to Unrwa to other more “trusted” humanitarian organisations. The shadow foreign affairs minister, Simon Birmingham, said last month the Coalition did not support Australian taxpayer dollars “falling into terrorist hands”.
Hearn dismissed the suggestion as “impossible”:
I’d like to know who the other agency is ... there’s simply no other agency with the footprint or capacity of Unrwa, so it’s impossible ... It’s not like you could just create an agency overnight to fill that void. So in our view, it’s completely incomprehensible that you would actually look at closing out an agency in the midst of one of the gravest humanitarian crises we face at the current time.
Williams says ABC budget allocation has not kept up with rising costs
Continuing his speech, Kim Williams said the ABC remains formidable, but “frankly, the forces against us are considerable and they are often overwhelming”. He said investment in the ABC is falling:
In the last decade alone, our operating revenue from government has fallen by 13.7% in real terms, or to put that in a simple number - an annual reduction of $150m.
When public investment in the ABC is discussed, it is often observed that its annual budget is over $1bn. This is true, and the board takes the responsibility of investing this money wisely, very seriously.
The fact remains, however, that the budget allocation has not kept pace with rising costs. Funding the ABC represents a tiny proportion of the budget, and it has been getting smaller.
In just this century, we have declined from an overall share of Commonwealth outlays of 0.31% in 2000-2001, to 0.13% in today’s outlays – a dramatic decline by any measure.
ABC chair addresses National Press Club about threat of mis- and disinformation
Back in Canberra, the chair of the ABC, Kim Williams, has just begun addressing the National Press Club.
He has been speaking about the growing rate of mis- and disinformation, saying that “where once we couldn’t get enough information, and where once that information was mostly factual and reliable, we are being flooded with content – some of it dubious, some of it downright lies”.
That trickle of information we once rushed out to bring ashore has become a tsunami – breaking through our feeble levies, washing over us, surging through the streets to potentially reshape our mental landscape, especially in the minds of our young.
Like all tsunamis, it drags ashore sharp, dangerous objects. Misinformation, false information spread due to ignorance, error or mistake, sometimes without intention to deceive, and disinformation – the deliberate spreading of false information and narratives to achieve malicious intend.
He said Australia’s own story is “disappearing under the waves”, which is “damaging our social cohesion, weakening the links between our regions and cities, generating unnecessary cultural conflict and weakening us”.
We must counter it.
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Sharpe outlines action being taken to free up power supply this afternoon
Penny Sharpe also released a statement on the energy situation in NSW, and said:
Aemo forecasts there could be insufficient generation available to meet the demand in NSW … Aemo has arranged a panel of large businesses to voluntarily reduce demand.
The state government had also activated two protocols to reduce demand, she said.
NSW government agencies, local councils, commonwealth and ACT government agencies [will] voluntarily reduce electricity use between 3pm and 8pm.
Agencies will do this by increasing the set point of air conditioning where safe and feasible, closing blinds, turning off non-essential lighting and turning off equipment when not in use.
[We will also ask] four water utilities [Water NSW, Sydney Water, Hunter Water and Central Coast council] and the City of Sydney to shift electricity usage to outside peak demand periods.
These actions will free up power supply when pressure on the network is greatest.
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Peak energy period 3pm to 8pm in NSW today
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said the state government had “well-honed procedures in place for scenarios like this”. The state energy minister, Penny Sharpe, also spoke at the press conference and said the peak demand period was 3-8pm today.
It’s forecast that there may not be enough supply to be able to provide that to all users. What happens in that case is that there are decisions made to have outages, sometimes known as load sheddings.
They’re usually small, and they’re concentrated in different areas, if they have to happen, and they happen very quickly. That’s why we’re trying to say to people now – a little bit that you do now actually reduces the chances of this happening to everyone.
When, if it does happen, it’s likely to be for a short period of time, between one and two hours … This is why we’re here to be very upfront with people, is if everyone does a little bit, the chances of this happening are actually very low.
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NSW premier calls on Sydney residents to reduce power consumptions this afternoon
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, has called on residents of Sydney to reduce their power consumption this afternoon, amid ongoing risks of power outages due to the heatwave gripping the east coast.
At a press conference, Minns said residents should avoid using larger appliances, in the hopes of reducing the risk of blackouts:
We are asking you not run your dishwasher, not to run your washing machine this afternoon, between three and eight, and you’ll be helping the grid.
We’re hoping that these measures reduce the amount of demand on the energy system over that crucial 3pm to 8pm period, and as a result, won’t lead to load shedding or blackouts.
But we’re monitoring the situation very closely and we’ll, of course, communicate with the public as soon as information is brought to hand.
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Footage from the senate earlier today
And you can now watch the fiery exchange in the Senate from earlier today:
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Coalition strikes deal to pass all three of government’s controversial migration bills
The Coalition has struck a deal to pass all three of the Albanese government’s controversial migration bills, in return for minor safeguards on new powers to ban travellers from whole countries and tougher scrutiny of protection visa applications.
The shadow home affairs and immigration ministers, James Paterson and Dan Tehan, have announced the deal with Tehan boasting that the Coalition are now “basically running the immigration system for the government because they have failed … to do it themselves”.
The trio of bills, expected to pass as early as this evening, create powers for the Australian government to pay third countries to receive non-citizens, criminal penalties for non-citizens who refuse to cooperate with their own deportation, and new powers to search for drugs and confiscate phones in detention.
You can read the full story on this below:
Energy market operator’s power warning
The Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) is asking companies to reduce their demand for energy today, amid fears a heatwave over New South Wales could cause blackouts.
This morning, Aemo released a statement saying it was “working with industry to manage electricity reliability during high-demand, heatwave conditions”.
Authorities are cautious of an anticipated spike in demand for energy today including from air conditioning use, coupled with a reduced supply from coal-fired power stations currently offline, could lead to unplanned energy outages.
Aemo said a so-called level 3 lack of reserve (LOR3) condition was possible later in the day as solar output decreased towards sunset. By 4.30pm AEDT the market was likely to require 84 megawatts of additional supply to avoid interrupted load – or blackouts. Aemo said:
We have flagged this risk to industry through market notices (lack of reserve) urging all available generation to return to service and restore all available powerlines across the grid to meet consumers’ electricity needs.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, and his energy minister, Penny Sharpe, are expected to address concerns for the energy system in around 10 minutes. You can read more about the heatwave and energy implications here:
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Coalition, Greens and others ‘can back Nature Positive bills at any time’: Plibersek
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has not yet commented directly on the prime minister’s intervention to end negotiations with the Greens on her Nature Positive legislation.
A spokesperson for Plibersek has declined to comment on Anthony Albanese’s role and pointed to the fact that the legislation remained on the parliamentary notice paper and are not being withdrawn.
The bills are listed in the Senate. The Coalition, the Greens and other senators can support them at any time.
The three Nature Positive bills would create an environmental protection authority and a data-gathering body, and increase penalties and enforcement powers under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
In return for agreeing to pass the bills, the Greens had initially demanded that climate impact be listed among the considerations that would trigger compulsory assessments before development projects could be approved, along with a government commitment to end native-forest logging.
After the government refused to negotiate on those terms, the Greens abandoned the climate-trigger demand and only sought the logging commitment.
But Albanese intervened to end negotiations, killing any prospect of the bill passing before parliament rises and possibly before the next election, due by May next year.
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Electricity prices down 35.6% from October last year: ABS
Continuing from our last post, food and non-alcoholic beverages were 3.3% higher in October than a year earlier and rents creeped up to 6.7% from a year ago (versus 6.6% year on year for September.
Big movers, though, included electricity prices, which were down 35.6% from October last year, thanks to big government rebates. Automotive fuel was also down 11.5% from a year earlier, as tensions in the Middle East eased and China cut back on its oil demand.
Markets were little moved – so far – on the news. The dollar was hovering at about US64.7c and stocks were holding on to their gains of about 0.5% for the day.
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Headline inflation rate holds steady at lowest in three years
Australia’s headline consumer price index rose to 2.1% last month, the ABS has just reported. Economists had tipped the pace would increase to 2.3% from September’s 2.1% annual rate.
The underlying inflation rate, or trimmed mean, was 3.5%. In September, the rate – closely watched by the Reserve Bank – was 3.2%.
The headline inflation rate remains at its lowest since July 2021. More to come on this shortly.
More details on legislation to wipe about $3bn from student debt
As we mentioned in the blog earlier, legislation to wipe around $3bn from student debt was passed overnight, to change the way indexation on loans is calculated backdated to June last year.
The bill caps the indexation rate of Help loans to whatever is lower out of the consumer price index (CPI) or the wage price index (WPI) after a punishing hike in indexation last year of 7.1%.
The education minister, Jason Clare, confirmed the ATO would automatically apply changes to 2023 and 2024 debts for everyone with a student loan “as soon as possible”. If someone has completely repaid their debt after the indexation hike were applied, the credit will be refunded to their bank account.
The Universities Australia chief executive, Luke Sheehy, said the passage of legislation was a “big win” for university students and graduates.
It recognises the importance of university graduates to Australia’s future and will make a positive difference at a time when many Australians are struggling with the high cost of living.
The federal government’s further announcement on student debt, to cut all loans by 20%, will only go ahead if Labor wins the election next year. No changes have been announced to reform the payment of degrees.
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Giant rally by CFMEU and ETU to march on Queensland parliament
Thousands of CFMEU and Electrical Trades Union members are preparing to march on Queensland parliament, rallying against a decision by the Liberal National party government’s decision to cancel union safety rules.
It’s the second straight day of protest – and just the second sitting day in office for the new LNP government.
It comes after the deputy premier, Jarrod Bleijie, canned Queensland’s best practice industry conditions regulations earlier this month.
They only apply to government jobs worth over $100m, and guarantee workers the right to down tools if air temperature reaches 35C, and double time for work in the rain, among other requirements. The government also required union officials to give 24 hours’ notice before accessing a job site.
The ETU state secretary, Peter Ong, said the government had “attacked construction workers who are building this state, using the mantra of ‘productivity’.”
The LNP’s war on workers has resumed. First it was BPICs, now it’s health and safety … what’s next?
Sacked former CFMEU national president and Queensland assistant secretary Jade Ingham spoke at the rally, vowing to continue his battle with the union’s administration.
Parliament sits this afternoon in a ceremonial hearing at the legislative council.
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PM rules no deal on Nature Positive legislation
The prime minister has killed off any deal with the Greens over the government’s Nature Positive legislation to establish a national environmental protection authority, meaning the bill will not pass before parliament rises at the end of the week.
Guardian Australia has confirmed that negotiations on the bill collapsed after Anthony Albanese intervened to rule there should be no acceptance of the Greens conditions.
The Greens’ environment spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, criticised the move after protracted negotiations with the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, citing the influence of the mining industry – particularly in Western Australia.
The Greens put a deal on the table and the government has walked away. The prime minister has been bullied by the mining and logging lobby again … The Greens want to get laws that would actually provide some protection for nature but Labor couldn’t even entertain protecting forests and critical habitat in an extinction crisis.
A spokesperson for the prime minister declined to comment.
Guardian Australia understands the legislation will remain on the parliamentary notice paper and negotiations could recommence next year when – and if – parliament resumes before the next election.
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Hanson issues statement after attempting to refer Payman for section 44 investigation
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has also issued a statement, after attempting to refer Fatima Payman for an investigation over an alleged section 44 citizenship issue in the senate today.
Hanson claimed the tough standards applied to elected representatives during the 2017 eligibility crisis had not been applied to Payman, and said:
If she’d been elected in 2016 instead of 2022, she would have been referred to the High Court like all the others. If she’d been elected as a conservative in 2022, I suspect she’d be referred right away.
Hanson said she had been able to table documents today, despite opposition from Payman, the Greens and crossbench senators Lidia Thorpe and Tammy Tyrrell.
Try as they might, however, they can’t wish this matter away.
October CPI probably showed a pick-up in inflation
We’ll shortly get October inflation figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, so here’s what’s expected.
The headline consumer price index is tipped by economists to have risen last month to 2.3% in October from a year earlier. It was 2.1% in September, and had been on the retreat for five months.
The underlying inflation rate, dubbed the trimmed mean, was 3.2% in September, and that may have picked up too.
The monthly numbers aren’t as complete as the quarterly ones but they do offer some indication of price pressures in the economy. (The Reserve Bank is also keener on the underlying numbers than the headline ones given the role of rebates in artificially constraining prices.)
A weekly survey by ANZ and Roy Morgan noted inflation expectations ticked up lately by 0.3 percentage points to 5% (and the rolling four-week moving average rose 0.1ppt to 4.8%), a reminder that the public isn’t convinced inflation is definitely on the skids.
Anyway, there should be some interesting updates on price trends for rents, fuel and electricity. Stay tuned for the 11.30am AEDT release.
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Thorpe reiterates call for stronger standards around racism in parliament
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has put out a statement after the fiery exchange in the senate this morning, as we’ve covered throughout the blog.
She has reiterated her call for stronger standards around racism in parliament. Yesterday, she and Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi raised concerns about “white privilege” and how women of colour are treated in politics.
In her statement, Thorpe said Hanson’s decision to raise the alleged section 44 issue against Fatima Payman was “violent and disgusting.”
Thorpe said she was “left shaking and feeling sick afterwards, and so were other Senators of colour.”
It’s a clear example of why we need much better standards around racism in parliament, which can be such a violent, racist place.
We wouldn’t accept racism like this in any other workplace, and we shouldn’t accept it in parliament. We need to set a much better example and standard for the rest of the country.
For young people of colour wanting to move into politics, the level of racism we see in parliament is a major barrier and turn off. We must improve standards.
Hanson has been contacted for a response.
Parliamentary inquiry report highlights delays with national redress scheme
Late last night, a parliamentary inquiry released a report damning of the delays with the national redress scheme, which was set up to offer compensation and apologies to survivors of institutional child abuse in the wake of the royal commission.
The report warned that the delays are now so significant that survivors may be blocked from accessing justice. It has called for the federal, state and territory governments to extend the life of the scheme beyond its current 2018 cessation date.
The average processing time for a claim is now 14.9 months, the slowest on record, and the scheme has been inundated by new applications for redress in its last year of operation. The inquiry warned:
Unless changes are made, some survivors could miss out on redress.
Full list of exams impacted by Victorian ‘cheat sheet’ bungle
Victoria’s education minister, Ben Carroll, has just released a list of the 56 exams impacted by the “inadvertent publication of examination material on exam cover sheets”.
Education minister, Ben Carroll, has just released a list of the 56 exams impacted by the “inadvertent publication of examination material on exam cover sheets”: pic.twitter.com/yoTjfUkSoR
— Benita Kolovos (@benitakolovos) November 26, 2024
English and English as an additional language – which are mandatory for VCE students – are on the list.
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority interim chief executive, Marcia Devlin, said the material contained in the cover sheets would not have affected the student’s responses:
The material that was published early for the English exam was either already in the public domain through advice on how the English exam structure this year, so general as to be of no assistance to the student.
So I can assure all 46,000 students who sat the English exam this year, that the marking of the exam will continue as usual and that the normal quality assurance process is used every year by the visit as well.
Greens say Labor’s public school funding ‘a reheated Coalition-era model’
Continuing from our last post, the Greens have vowed to campaign on public school funding at next year’s election, questioning why Labor have kept the legislated commonwealth share of public school funding at 20% as a floor under the bill instead of increasing it to 25% as teachers’ unions have called for.
The Greens’ spokesperson on primary and secondary education, Senator Penny Allman-Payne, called the bill “weak-kneed incrementalism”.
Before the election Labor promised to deliver full funding to public schools. Instead they’ve served up a reheated Coalition-era model that keeps the legislated share of commonwealth funding at 20% … meanwhile, the Labor federal government pours $51m a day into private schools, most of which are overfunded.
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Government legislation passed allowing it to increase public school funding beyond 20%
The federal government has passed legislation allowing it to increase funding for public schools beyond 20%, in a critical step for Labor to deliver on its promises reached with four states and territories.
The legislation, passed overnight, also ensures public schools which remain largely under-resourced according to the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) will not have their funding go backwards.
Under the former model, enforced by the Coalition, the commonwealth provides 80% of SRS funding for non-government schools, with the states providing the other 20%. The reverse is in place for public schools, with the commonwealth providing 20% and the states providing 75% – leaving a 5% gap.
The education minister, Jason Clare, said the Liberal party “ripped the guts out of public school funding”.
This legislation will stop that from ever happening again.
The legislation will allow Labor to make good on its offer to increase its funding share to 22.5% from next year – reached with the ACT, Northern Territory, Western Australia and Tasmania. Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales are holding out – demanding it front a full 5% increase.
If they don’t sign on, current funding arrangements will continue for another 12 months.
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New laws to ban dodgy taxi drivers from industry
Rogue taxi drivers in New South Wales who don’t use their meter, overcharge or refuse short trips will soon be banished from the industry if they’re convicted of fare misbehaviour twice.
The NSW government has announced its latest crackdown on taxi drivers found to repeatedly rip off customers, a phenomenon which the NSW Taxi Council says has grown in recent years after deregulation that made it difficult to weed dodgy drivers out of the sector.
Over the past two years, the Point to Point Transport Commission has fined 900 rogue drivers caught in the act by covert officers, while a complaint hotline for customers who have been overcharged has led to 2500 refunds.
The fine for overcharging was increased to $1,000 this year but some drivers continued to reoffend. More than 220 drivers ignored initial fines and reoffended within a year, data obtained by the Guardian under freedom of information laws revealed.
Under the new “two strikes and you’re out” laws, which come into effect on 6 December, any driver guilty of overcharging or refusing a fare two times will be banned from the industry, which will extend to rideshare apps such as Uber and Didi.
However, the new laws require a taxi driver to be found guilty on two separate occasions, which requires a court conviction, raising questions about whether the two strikes policy will weed out many repeat offenders.
At a press conference today, Point to Point Transport commissioner Anthony Wing was unable to say how many of the 900 drivers fined so far had ever been convicted in court, but said his commission would begin investigating and taking to court the most egregious of fines and complaints, as opposed to those found to be overcharging just a couple of dollars.
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More from the Senate this morning
Sticking with Pauline Hanson’s move in the Senate, seeking to refer Fatima Payman for an investigation over an alleged section 44 citizenship issue.
As Josh Butler reported earlier, there was a procedural vote in the Senate over whether Hanson should be allowed to table papers related to her attempt to make the referral, with the government and Coalition voting yes.
Addressing the Senate, Hanson accused the Greens of creating a “protection racket” around Payman and said, “Why is someone being treated totally different than every other senator in this place?”
Payman addressed the Senate shortly afterwards and said Hanson was “vindictive, mean, nasty” and brings “disgrace to the human race”.
She criticised Hanson for bringing section 44 up while there is a full agenda to work through in the final two sitting days for the year, saying:
Senator Hanson has worn the burqa in this place. Maybe it’s time that she pack her burqa and go to Afghanistan and talk to the Taliban about this.
I kept on giving you the benefit of the doubt, Senator Hanson, despite your repetitive attempts to be racist to anyone who does not look like you.
Hanson then asked for the comments about racism withdrawn. At this point, Lidia Thorpe began interjecting. Payman withdrew, and continued:
How do you live with yourself, Senator Hanson, with so much bile and hatred?
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Fiery Senate exchange – in pictures
Mike Bowers was in the Senate chamber and captured some photos when an exchange over an alleged section 44 citizenship issue led to flying papers and yelling (see earlier post).
And Mike Tsikas from AAP captured the moment Thorpe gave the middle finger as she exited the chamber:
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More from independent review into University of Sydney’s policies and processes
In a string of 15 recommendations, the University of Sydney review went further than a “draconian” policy announcement in July, which demanded three days’ notice for demonstrations and approval for use of megaphones or putting up posters.
It suggested the university prohibit any student from addressing those present in a lecture, seminar or tutorial prior to its commencement “on any subject matter”.
A breach of the prohibition may be considered misconduct.
It also recommended the university approach both the NSW and federal police “with a view to entering into with them formal protocols which set out how they can assist the university if the need arises”.
Independent review into University of Sydney’s politics recommends ‘civility rule’ for speakers
An independent review into the University of Sydney’s policies and processes has recommended it enforce a new “civility rule” requiring speakers to “make the meaning of contested words and phrases clear to the audience” and to maintain its strict ban of protests in buildings.
The review was commissioned to be led by leading barrister Bruce Hodgkinson AM SC after the conclusion of the university’s pro-Palestine encampment in July.
It found new work health and safety laws required “changes to longstanding traditions of political activism on campus”, recommending protests should be prohibited in buildings and camping should be an “unacceptable activity”.
The chancellor of the University of Sydney, David Thodey, wrote to staff today confirming the Senate met yesterday evening and agreed to the recommendations of the Hodgkinson external review in principle.
Thodey said the university was “not immune” to the challenges of rising levels of racism, intolerance, and polarisation facing broader society.
As vice-chancellor Prof Mark Scott has said, this makes it more important than ever that we foster a safe environment where diverse views can be explored through civil debate.
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Fiery exchange in the senate over alleged section 44 citizenship issue
More drama in the Senate just now, with flying papers and yelling after Pauline Hanson sought to refer Fatima Payman for an investigation over an alleged section 44 citizenship issue.
Payman, the former Labor senator turned independent, was born in Afghanistan – the One Nation politician claimed in parliament that Payman hadn’t provided enough documents to prove she had revoked that citizenship.
There was a procedural vote in the Senate over whether Hanson should be allowed to table papers related to her attempt to make the referral, with the government and Coalition voting yes. Katy Gallagher and Anne Ruston explained they would support the motion because it was a procedural issue which could be dealt with quickly, not necessarily because they backed Hanson’s motion in itself.
The Greens and Lidia Thorpe voted no.
Thorpe could be heard making remarks as the tellers counted the vote. Afterwards, she threw papers at Hanson, and walked out holding up her middle finger as someone in the chamber could be heard yelling “you’re disgusting” towards Thorpe.
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Allan explains decision not to run candidate in upcoming byelection
At her earlier press conference, the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, was asked if it was her call not to run a Labor candidate in the byelection in the inner-Melbourne of Prahran. She said:
That was a decision taken by the administrative wing of the Labor party as is appropriate. What I am focused on is not a byelection that is essentially a Liberal-Green contest created in a set of circumstances by the previous Green member.
Here’s what I wrote about the contest earlier:
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Western Sydney the hottest point in Australia as grid strains remain
As of just after 9am, Camden in Sydney’s south-west is Australia’s hottest point, with a 32.4C reading, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
It is probable that some inland regions will overtake Camden but it’s a fair bet that much of Sydney will be baking later today, with forecast tops of 39C in a few regions. The CBD, shielded a bit by sea breezes, will still be pretty warm, reaching 34C if the predictions are right.
After days of fairly warm nights and days in the 30s (away from the coast), demand for cooling is, well, running hot. With a lot of coal-fired power plants at reduced capacity because of maintenance (about 6 gigawatts worth), the grid’s supplies will again be tight.
The Australian Energy Market Operator has this morning issued another of its (dreaded) level 3 lack of reserve market notices. Unless there’s a response from generators, there could be an “interrupted load” (aka blackout) of 84 megawatts in NSW at about 4.30pm today.
To be clear, the market is likely to respond, so the lights and (more likely) fans etc. can stay on.
Still, there are also the LOR level 2 warnings in NSW for today, from 3pm to 4.30pm (Aedt) and 6pm to 8pm. These both call for about 750-800 more megawatts to be made available as a reserve - in case some of the presently committed generation capacity drops out.
Even with forecasts of easing heat tomorrow, there are probably going to be more such alerts (and for Queensland). It’s a reminder that the buffer between “all’s good” and “oops” is quite narrow.
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Oxfam Australia responds to ceasefire deal news
Oxfam Australia has released a statement on the expected 60-day ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah. Its Lebanon country director, Bachir Ayoub, said:
While news of a ceasefire will bring relief to millions in Lebanon, it is only a fragile pause that will not guarantee an end to the violence. Until then, Israel seems determined to bombard the country.
This 60-day conditional pause in the hostilities will allow some of the 1.4 million people displaced by this brutal war to start returning to their homes, however hundreds of thousands of people have nowhere to return after Israel razed entire villages. A permanent agreement must be reached so that communities can begin to rebuild their lives.
All parties to this agreement must now work toward a full, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in both Lebanon and Gaza. After 415 days of violence this deal, although insufficient, may bring an end to the escalation in Lebanon for now, but there can be no true end to this war while Palestinians in Gaza continue to endure relentless Israeli bombardment, deprivation and death.
Speaking on the deal earlier, the US president, Joe Biden, said it was “designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities”.
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Another rental bill to go before Victorian parliament next year
Another bill will be introduced to the Victorian parliament next year, to:
Ban agents and owners from charging extra fees when paying rent or applying for a property
Stop landlords making dubious bond claims without sufficient evidence
Cap the cost of breaking a lease
If a tenant requests an additional electronic key or fob, making it a requirement for landlords to provide one, and making it an offence to terminate electronic access unless it’s part of the process of terminating a rental agreement.
You can read our previous story on these changes below:
Some elements of Victorian rental reform already announced last month and last year
The other elements in the bill were previously announced last month and in September 2023, as part of the government’s housing statement. They are:
Remove all no-fault (or no-cause) evictions
Ban all types of rental bidding
Increase the notice period for rent increases and notices to vacate to 90 days
Make rental applications easier and protect the privacy of renters by introducing obligations around the use, collection and destruction of renters’ personal information
Introduce mandatory training, licensing and registration for real estate agents, property managers, conveyancers and owners corp’ managers
Introduce tougher penalties for real estate agents and sellers who break the law
Require rental properties to have yearly smoke alarm safety checks
Establish Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria
Ban third-party businesses, particularly rent tech apps, from charging extra fees when paying rent or applying for a property
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Victorian rental reforms to include penalties for landlords who don’t comply with minimum standards
Among the new changes, the bill will expand the list of factors considered by Consumer Affairs and the Victorian civil and administrative tribunal when assessing a rent review. This will include the size of the rent increase and any other improvements that have – or haven’t – been made at the property since the last increase.
The minister for consumer affairs minister, Gabrielle Williams, said this was important because “it enables VCAT and CAV to get a more accurate determination of whether that rent increase is exorbitant”.
[And] I think this will be extremely welcomed by renters across our state, and particularly those who are doing it tough and who may have seen quite extreme individual rent increases in recent months and years.
The other new feature contained in the bill is new penalties for landlords who don’t comply with the government’s minimum rental standards. Agents could be fined up to $59,000 and individuals $11,00 if they advertise or offer to let properties that do not meet the standards. Williams said:
We’re talking about things like a functioning toilet, hot and cold running water, lockable doors. These aren’t asking for luxury. They’re asking for the basics of liveability, and they are very important to ensuring that we’ve got a housing stock across our state that is safe and comfortable for renters.
Now, at the moment, the rental minimum standards would apply from the time of occupation, what we’re doing today is making them apply from the time of advertisement or time the property is put up for lease. Why? Because when renters move into their property, we want them focused on where they’re going to put the couch and whether they can find a rug that matches the curtains, not gearing up for a dispute with their landlord.
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Victorian government to announce raft of rental reforms
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has been holding a press conference in Melbourne to announce the government would introduce a raft of rental reforms to parliament.
The consumer and planning legislation (housing statement reform) bill would bring into effect reforms the government has already announced, as well as two extra changes.
The two new reforms that we are announcing today is about giving regulators more powers to crack down on those excessive rent hikes that renters have told us is putting a lot of financial stress on their personal circumstances, and secondly, putting in place a minimum standards that are at the point of advertising or offering the property to rent.
Faruqi calls on government to fully fund and implement anti-racism framework
The Australian Human Rights Commission has launched a national anti-racism framework, setting out 63 recommendations for the government to implement – steps that it believes can eventually stamp out racism.
Mostafa Rachwani has all the details below:
The Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi has called on the government to fully fund and implement the framework, and has said in a statement:
The framework rightly makes no bones about the roots, extent and depth of systemic, structural and institutional racism and white privilege in this country. It is rightly grounded in the racial injustice First Nations people have been subjected to since colonisation.
The only way to unwind systemic and entrenched racism is to accept that approaches to date have failed because governments have avoided the truth about racism and its harm. The only way to tackle racism is to dismantle the whitewashed structures that persist at every level.
While racism will only be eliminated by working across society, the government has a responsibility to show leadership and accountability. Labor could start by establishing a standalone anti-racism portfolio responsible for implementing this framework.
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Independent MPs to call on government to dump three controversial migration bills
Later this morning, refugee advocates and independent politicians will call on Labor to scrap its three controversial migration bills – which it is hoping to pass before the final sitting week of the year wraps up tomorrow.
The independent MPs include Kylea Tink, Zoe Daniel, Monique Ryan and Zali Steggall, as well as independent senator Fatima Payman, who will argue Labor and the Liberals are in a “race to the bottom” on migration.
They will be joined by refugee and human rights groups, including the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Acoss, the Human Rights Law Centre, Refugee Council of Australia and Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.
As Paul Karp just reported (see previous post), we can expect at least the migration amendment bill, and the prohibited items bill to pass this evening, and probably all three in one big package. For more, you can read his explainer:
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Committee report confirms Coalition will vote for migration bill
Last week we reported that the Coalition would support Labor’s migration bill, subject to a one-week inquiry. The bill allows Australia to pay third countries to take non-citizens, and also supports reimposition of ankle bracelets and curfews on non-citizens released from indefinite immigration detention.
On Thursday, we reported that the Albanese government had introduced a bill expanding powers to confiscate phones from immigration detainees.
On Monday, we reported that the Coalition and Labor were set to agree to pass these bills along with reviving Labor’s stalled deportation bill, which would impose criminal penalties on non-citizens who refuse to cooperate with steps to deport them. In the lower house, Dan Tehan confirmed the Coalition would support the prohibited items bill.
And yesterday evening the legal and constitutional affairs committee reported back, recommending that the migration amendment bill pass.
The Coalition senators, the shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, and Paul Scarr, said:
Coalition members support the chair’s recommendation that the Senate pass the bill and will seek to work constructively with government to fix the mess of the Labor government’s own making. Coalition members also recommend the government accelerate its efforts to lodge community safety order applications with the courts to keep the highest-risk offenders behind bars and protect the Australian community.
This confirms that we can expect at least the migration amendment bill, and the prohibited items bill to pass this evening, and probably all three in one big package. We are working to confirm what amendments Labor and the Coalition may have agreed as part of this deal.
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Only four in 10 South Australian female teenagers always feel safe in schoolyard
Only four in 10 female teenagers always feel safe in the schoolyard, compared to about six in 10 males.
The latest report from South Australia’s commissioner for children and young people, Helen Connolly, looked at survey responses from 908 South Australians aged from 12 to 19.
It also found that in all circumstances – on public transport, on the street, in parks, shopping centres and more, males feel safer than females. Teenagers often feel marginalised and threatened, and a commitment to addressing homophobia, transphobia, racism and ableism was among the things needed to support their safety, the report found.
Connolly said there was a chance to allay those teenagers’ fears:
Teenagers were clear their feelings of safety would increase if schools and the broader community were more positive toward them in general.
They want to be welcomed into community places and spaces by friendly, nice, kind and respectful people of all ages.
There is a clear need for more education around aspects of safety to be taught within the school curriculum, as well as across the broader community. Topics could include teenage safety in relation to domestic and sexual violence, consent, racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia, bullying, aggression, verbal and physical violence.
More from Wong on ceasefire deal
Continuing from our last post, Penny Wong said she wasn’t going to comment on the reasons why this has occurred.
What I would say is Australia has been advocating for a ceasefire, along with the majority of the international community, for a long time in Gaza, and we made clear our opposition in relation to Lebanon earlier.
Obviously, we want to see diplomatic efforts to ensure that the relevant UN security council resolutions are complied with. That is in the interest of all parties.
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Wong welcomes ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has just responded to news the governments of Israel and Lebanon have accepted a US proposal to end the “devastating” conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Speaking in Canberra, Wong said she hopes “that this is a catalyst for a broader ceasefire in the region, and we look forward to the day when there is a ceasefire too in Gaza”.
We’ve been calling for a ceasefire in Gaza for over 11 months now, and we see every week the death toll rising – more children, more women.
We again join with the overwhelming majority of the international community [calling for a] a ceasefire, but today we are very pleased to see that there is a ceasefire with Hezbollah, and that the people of Lebanon and Israel can know some peace.
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Lidia Thorpe says she won’t support under-16s social media ban bill
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe says she will not support the government’s bill to ban under-16s from social media.
In a post to X, Thorpe said the ban would “isolate and harm” queer kids and “young mob in regional areas [who] use social media to connect with other mob around the country”.
We should crack down on social media companies directly for the harm they do. Banning kids isn’t the answer.
Thorpe also noted that young people use social media to take part in politics and activism:
Many young people are critical of Labor online, so maybe that’s what this is about, but I think it’s good that young people are engaged.
She also took aim at Labor for “rushing” through the legislation:
The government is rushing through this legislation without going through a proper inquiry process, without speaking with the community and without working with the crossbench. It’s not a well thought through policy, it will be ineffective and will lead to unintended harm.
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In pictures: ABC Showcase
Yesterday, the ABC Showcase was held in Parliament House, where everyone – including the prime minister – was quick to line up for a photo with Bluey and Bingo. Mike Bowers was there to capture all the action:
Four in 10 Australian men say there is nothing they can personally do about violence against women
More than four in 10 Australian men say there is nothing they can personally do about violence against women, an Our Watch survey has found.
The survey of 1,001 men also found that while more than nine in 10 men in their 30s wanted to do something to stop violence against women and girls, the same was true for just under seven in 10 of those in their 50s.
It also found that almost half feel pressure to be “stereotypically manly”. Our Watch points out that men who support rigid ideals of masculinity are 17 times more likely to say that they have hit a partner.
The Our Watch chief executive, Patty Kinnersly, said more needed to be done to get through to men and boys:
We know that young men receive an overwhelming amount of ‘advice’ about how to be a man today, including on social media and in popular culture, such as pornography.
To stop violence before it starts, we must work with young men and boys at school, in workplaces and online to help them navigate the complexities of what healthy masculinities look like for them.
If we do this right, it is more likely that young men will grow up to be respectful, feel safe to express their emotions and know that violence is never the answer.
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Wilkie doesn’t think government will address ban on gambling ads before next election
Andrew Wilkie was also asked about news the government would not respond to calls for a ban on gambling ads this year.
Are there any guarantees this could happen early next year? Wilkie responded, “Let’s hope there will be the next parliament”, and said he doesn’t think this will be addressed before the next election:
They don’t want to go near this … This might be the last sitting week of this parliament. Maybe we’ll come back for a couple of weeks next year. But basically, the government’s run out of runway, but they don’t want to do it anyway.
And I’ll tell you why, Patricia. This government and the opposition are scared stiff of the gambling companies, scared stiff of commercial media that pockets hundreds of millions of dollars in gambling advertising, and scared stiff of the major sporting codes, who also pocket tens of millions of dollars in payments from the gambling companies on account of debts being laid on their games.
The government doesn’t want to go anywhere near this.
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Wilkie says he has backflipped on under-16s social media ban: 'the whole thing's nonsense'
Andrew Wilkie has said he has backflipped on his position regarding the under-16s social media ban, and views the bill as a “big problem”.
Speaking to ABC RN just earlier, the independent MP said “I’ve done a backflip on this … I got it wrong, and I’ve changed my mind”.
I’ve got two teenage daughters and I’ve got three teenage stepsons. My first response to the news that under-16s would be banned, I agreed with joy. I thought ‘that’s a great idea’. But as soon as I started to research it, as soon as I started to hear commentary from youth and adolescent mental health experts, from youth welfare experts, from technical experts to talk about the practicalities of this, I realise the whole thing’s nonsense and, frankly, I am doubtful that it will ever be realised.
Wilkie said the “challenge”, instead, is to “rein in the companies that run these platforms, and make them clean up their act”.
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Bowen says ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon would be a ‘welcome development’
Chris Bowen was also asked about reports the US president, Joe Biden, said the governments of Israel and Lebanon have accepted a US proposal to end the “devastating” conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
You can read more on this on our separate live blog, as the latest developments unfold:
Bowen said the news had only broken while he was on the program, but said:
I know Penny Wong would be very closely monitoring that, and we will respond in due course.
He said any steps towards peace would be a “welcome development” but he would leave it to Wong to respond fully.
I’ll leave it to Penny to respond fully, after she’s had a chance to fully digest the information.
We’ll keep an eye out for her response and bring you that here on the blog.
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Bowen on timing of release of 2035 target
Chris Bowen also spoke with ABC RN just earlier, where host Patricia Karvelas pressed on whether the government’s 2035 targets would be released before the next election.
He said the government was waiting on advice from the Climate Change Authority, and he didn’t know when the election would be:
I do not know when the election shall be. But I do know this … if there’s a choice in the next election between us, who are achieving a 2030 target and have putting in place strong plans, and an opposition, which accidentally is leaving the Paris accord, can’t tell you what their 2030 target is …
Karvelas said the opposition hadn’t said they wanted to leave the Paris accord but didn’t have a 2030 target. Bowen said this was “pretty essential to staying”.
They’re seeking office in 2025 and they can’t tell you what their 2030 target is, they’ve got no clue about a 2035. So if there’s going to be a contest about this I’m happy for our plans and our achievements to be judged.
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Is setting emissions reduction targets more challenging with the return of Trump?
Chris Bowen told ABC News Breakfast that “we need to take into account all the factors”. He pointed to the Climate Change Authority and said it would give advice to government on targets:
It would be unlawful to set a target before we receive that advice. That advice needs to go to our domestic opportunities, and also obviously the international situation, and the pace in which the rest of the world is de-carbonising does have an impact on how quickly we can de-carbonise, when you consider how integral we are to the world’s energy needs.
He said that governments change, elections change and administrations change, but “the fundamentals don’t change – that we need to deal with climate change”.
If there’s less renewable investment overseas, there might be more renewable investment in Australia. But it also ebbs and flows to the impacts of world events on us, and we’ll take all of those into account. I know the Climate Change Authority is doing that as well.
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Bowen says Australia is meeting climate targets
The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, has been making the rounds on breakfast programs as the government claims it is on track to meet its legislated 43% emissions reduction target by 2030.
As Adam Morton reports, the government said annual emissions projections suggest national climate pollution would be at least 42.6% less than 2005 levels by the end of the decade, compared with 37% last year.
Bowen told ABC News Breakfast that “all the analysis shows it’s going to have the impact that we need to meet our targets”.
What about the target of 82% of power from renewables by 2030? Bowen said Australia is on track to meet this:
Yes, and the capacity investment scheme that we’ve been rolling out has been working even better than we thought it would. Just in the last quarter, we’ve seen more investment in renewable energy than we did in all of last year … and so we are seeing very significant step-ups in renewable energy investment.
We’re working very closely with all the states and territories with renewable energy transformation agreements to make sure that our systems are working together on all the planning elements, for example, to get the energy built. The answer is yes – the things we’ve put in place are working to achieve both targets.
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Education minister hopes for ‘broad agreement’ on under-16 social media ban
On the under-16s social media ban bill, Jason Clare said he hopes there is “broad agreement across the parliament on this one”.
As Josh Butler reports, several Coalition members have raised alarm about the privacy implications of the bill, with concerns over whether platforms such as Facebook or TikTok would require personal documents to verify a user’s age.
Clare told the Today show he thinks this “should be above politics”:
We want to work with the opposition on this legislation, and we’re under no illusions … that this is going to be perfect or that it’s going to stop every young person from getting access to social media, but it will get it out of the hands of most young people, and that’ll take the pressure off a lot of mums and dads.
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Changes to Hecs indexation passed parliament last night
The education minister, Jason Clare, spoke with the Today show earlier after changes to how the Hecs indexation is calculated passed parliament last night.
He said the changes will be backdated to June last year, and those with a debt of $27,000 will wake up with about $1,200 taken off that – “so that’s a good start”.
Clare was asked about a report in the Financial Review saying the changes would add $9bn to the budget, along with Labor’s plan to cut student debt by 20%. He told the program:
Well, this is the way Hecs works. It’s a loan to Australian students – 3 million of them – and they pay that back once they start earning. At the moment [it’s] about $54,000, but we’re going to increase that to about $67,000.
The fact is that universities got a lot more expensive over the last 20 years than it was when you and I went to university, and it’s meant that, for a lot of young people, it’s got harder to pay off that debt and to get a loan to buy a house. So we want to make it a bit easier.
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Previous coverage on government’s migration bills
Just circling back to news earlier that the government is seeking to push three controversial migration bills through the Senate, during these final two sitting days.
We have covered this trio of migration bills extensively. Guardian Australia understands that the Coalition and Labor are closing in on a deal to pass all three, due to be debated today.
Paul Karp wrote this explainer on the bills, for all the much-needed context for the day ahead:
For more on the prohibiting items in detention bill specifically, you can read more here. On the migration amendment bill, you can have a read here, and the deportation bill, here.
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Thousands on jobseeker lacking essentials because welfare payments so low: report
Thousands of people on jobseeker and sole parents are lacking two or more essential items including stable housing, yearly dental checkups or $500 in emergency savings because the welfare payments are so low, a new report from the Australian Council of Social Services has revealed.
The Acoss report found about one in two people relying on jobseeker and one in three sole parents are experiencing multiple material deprivation, compared with about one in 12 people nationally.
The majority of people living below the poverty line (81%) are experiencing material deprivation, with private renters twice as likely to experience “multiple deprivation” compared with the general population (19%).
The Acoss chief executive, Dr Cassandra Goldie, said people receiving income support are “experiencing multiple material deprivation at rates that far exceed the general population”.
This tells us that jobseeker, youth allowance and related payments are so woefully low that people can’t afford the basic essentials of life.
The extremely high rate of deprivation among people with low wealth and low incomes (81%) – such as students – shows the important role that wealth plays as a protection against poverty.
In its upcoming budget, the federal government must raise income support payments to livable levels, fix employment services, boost social housing and enact a jobs, services and training plan to reduce long-term unemployment. These policies will go a long way to reducing poverty and material deprivation across Australia.
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More on the labour market as CPI results loom
We’ll get the government’s updated GDP, employment and budget forecasts in the week of 16 December when it releases its midyear economic and fiscal outlook … and perhaps Seek’s optimism will be reflected there.
Less optimistic, though, are investors about a near-term RBA rate cut. At present, there’s only a 9% chance of 25 basis-point cut when the final RBA board meeting for 2024 wraps up on 10 December. On present guesses, that first rate reduction won’t land until perhaps May or July next year.
They are only guesses, though. Today’s monthly inflation figures from the ABS, out at 11.30am Aedt, may shape those estimates. Banks such as CBA are predicting the headline CPI rate for October remained at 2.1%, or snuggly at the low end of the RBA’s 2%-3% target band.
Underlying inflation – which currently is a bit different from the headline rate because of government handouts for energy and some rent – will probably edge up to 3.4% from September’s 3.2%, CBA predicts.
These are only the monthly numbers – rather than the more comprehensive quarterly ones – but they’ll nevertheless create a bit of a flurry of headlines in about four hours’ time.
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Labour market steadying as latest monthly CPI result looms
The consensus for much of the year has been the Reserve Bank’s 13-year high interest rates would squeeze demand in the economy, nudge up unemployment and help bring down inflation. And then it could start cutting its cash rate.
Well, the labour market we know has been performing better than expected for a while. A new report out from Seek, the employment website, now finds conditions have stabilised – if not actually improved a bit in recent months.
“Our summary measure suggests that the labour market after loosening since 2022 has tightened since late 2023 and is now broadly balanced,” the report – the first of a regular survey by senior economist Blair Chapman – finds.
Full-time employment growth and hours worked were declining last year but by the first half of this year conditions became more neutral. Chapman said:
And then more recently, we’re actually starting to see [the labour market] tighten.
Supporting demand for workers even in a slowing economy has been the “elevated” demand for roles in healthcare & medical, community service & development, and manufacturing, transport & logistics, SEEK said. Less in favour, though, are the information & communication technology and banking & finance industries, which have fallen below their pre-Covid levels.
And in the background is the pent-up demand for construction – especially houses – that should provide more work once the wave of insolvencies ebbs.
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Cost of living crisis has ‘reshaped’ how Australians approach housing: Flatmates survey
Continuing from our last post: Flatmates.com.au product manager Claudia Conley said the cost of living pressures of the past 12 months has “reshaped how Australians approach housing”, with 43% of respondents saying affordability constraints have pushed them into share accommodation.
Additionally, 35% of renters have faced rent increases in the past six months, with half of these hikes exceeding expectations, highlighting the growing financial strain on tenants.
With 57% of respondents struggling to keep up with rent payments over the past year, the effects of the rental crisis remain present for many Australians. Furthermore, the sentiment among 55% of survey respondents that property ownership is out of reach for young people highlights the growing sense of uncertainty about long-term housing security.
Growing number of Australians over 55 moving into sharehousing
More than half the nation’s renters are feeling the pinch, with 57% struggling to meet their rent payments, up 14% from 2023, according to one of the largest annual tenant surveys.
The annual Flatmates.com.au National Share Accommodation Survey interviewed 87,000 tenants across the country and found a higher proportion of members aged over 55 are entering share housing (up 7% from 2023), as the 75+ age group was the fastest growing demographic in 2024.
Of those who are over 55, one in two (51.6%) stated the cost of living and being unable to afford to live alone as their reason for entering share house living, while one in 10 were doing so for companionship.
Showing the pinch some mortgage holders are feeling, 36% of respondents who identified as homeowners decided to offer their home as a share house for the first time in the past 12 months.
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New bill to ramp up fines for grocery code breaches
The federal government will introduce legislation into parliament today that threatens supermarkets with multimillion-dollar fines for breaches of a revamped grocery code of conduct.
The legislation stems from a recent review of the code, which governs how food retailers deal with suppliers, amid heightened concern over pricing practices at Australia’s major chains, Coles and Woolworths.
The bill allows for maximum penalties for any harmful breaches of the code of up to $10m, three times the benefit gained from the contravening conduct, or 10% of turnover in the preceding 12 months.
It also gives the competition regulator additional powers to issue infringement notices for code breaches. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said in a statement the government had “put supermarkets on notice”.
We want to see a fair deal for Australian families at the checkout, and a fair deal for our farmers.
Australia’s big supermarkets have faced intense scrutiny over their grocery prices, and relationships with farmers, drawing criticism from all political parties before an election expected to be fought over cost-of-living issues.
Coles and Woolworths have consistently defended their business practices, and pointed to the long-term trading relationships they have with many Australian farmers.
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Good morning
Emily Wind here, signing on for blogging duties – many thanks to Martin for getting us started this morning.
We’ve reached the second-last day of the parliamentary sitting year, and it’s bound to be jam-packed. You’ll have the whole Canberra team bringing you the latest – Karen Middleton, Paul Karp, Josh Butler and Sarah Basford Canales, as well as Mike Bowers capturing all the action.
Let’s get into it.
Full Story podcast: Unpicking Dick Smith’s strident views on renewables
When climate and energy policy is in the news, it’s not always easy to decipher what’s accurate and what’s not.
An interview with Dick Smith broadcast around the country on a long-running ABC radio program earlier this month caused environment and climate correspondent Graham Readfearn to raise an eyebrow. He examines the millionaire businessman’s claims about renewable energy and why his comments matter.
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Assange’s family to lobby PM to put pressure on Biden over pardon
Campaigners for Julian Assange hope the prime minister can put pressure on the outgoing US president, Joe Biden, to deliver a pardon for the WikiLeaks founder, AAP reports.
Assange’s wife, Stella, and his brother, Gabriel Shipton, will be in Canberra today to lobby MPs for support in placing diplomatic pressure on America for a pardon to be granted during the dying days of the Biden administration.
A multi-partisan group of MPs had been instrumental in helping to raise the plight of Assange and secure his release from custody on espionage charges after years behind bars.
Shipton said time was running out for a pardon to be secured before Donald Trump was sworn in as president in January:
The parliament was integral to getting Julian out and they were the key to unlock his cell basically, and they can continue and finish the job and push for this pardon.
There’s a ticking clock going on for when the president can make the decision to pardon Julian.
It really is in the power of President Biden to unwind this precedent that originated with the Trump administration. [A pardon] would be a real coup for the prime minister.
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More on that legislative agenda, via AAP
Continuing from our last post: the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, introduced another bill that would confiscate mobile phones from detainees and use sniffer dogs in immigration detention centres.
Jason Donnelly, a prominent immigration barrister, said:
The broad and discretionary determination of ‘prohibited items’ by the minister, including items like mobile phones, risks arbitrary and inconsistent application.
The minister said the powers were needed to end a “prison-like” culture.
The third bill, which Labor first introduced in March before being shot down, gives the home affairs minister unilateral power to ban visa classes for relatives of asylum-seekers from blacklisted countries that don’t accept deportees.
People from Iran, Iraq, Russia and South Sudan had been floated as possible targets of the ban but no exhaustive list has been released by the government.
The Greens, who described it as a “Trump-style ban”, along with the Coalition and crossbench previously blocked the legislation.
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Labor pushes three controversial migration bills
Paying countries to accept deported non-citizens, banning mobile phones in immigration detention and barring entry of people from certain nations to Australia are all part of the government’s legislative push before year’s end, AAP reports.
Independents, the Greens, legal experts and human rights advocates have condemned the three bills, with the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre dubbing them “a cruelty package”.
The government doesn’t have a majority in the Senate and will most likely find support from the coalition to get the legislation across the line.
Proposed amendments to the Migration Act seek to deport non-citizens, including people not convicted of crimes and to pay third countries for their part in the removals regime.
An inquiry revealed more than 80,000 people could be affected but the Department of Home Affairs maintains the legislation impacts about 5000 people on bridging visas and another 1000 in immigration and community detention.
It would grant extensive immunity to government officials and those in third countries involved with the removals as well as reversing protection findings for refugees.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live politics blog. I’m Martin Farrer with some of the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Emily Wind on deck.
The Albanese government is closing in on a deal to pass three migration bills that have been introduced to before parliament, including paying third countries to take people who can’t be deported, and creating powers to confiscate mobile phones in detention. The bills are listed to be debated today, but asylum seeker advocates have dubbed them a “cruelty package”.
Meanwhile the government will claim it is on track to meet its legislated 43% emissions reduction target by 2030 after a departmental analysis found it had improved its position over the past year. It comes as ministers launched a review of how the power grid can accelerate the take-up of renewables when existing support ends.
And supporters of Julian Assange are in Canberra today campaigning for the prime minister to put diplomatic pressure on the US to pardon Assange. More on that soon.
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