What we learned today, Wednesday 29 May
And that’s where we’ll leave you this evening. Here’s a small sample of what we learned today:
Labor MPs, including the home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, defended the immigration minister, Andrew Giles, over visa cancellations, saying the government was “deeply concerned” by some of the AAT’s decisions to reinstate some visas under ministerial direction 99.
Peter Dutton and the opposition continued to attack Giles over the ministerial direction.
Adam Bandt moved to suspend standing orders to debate his motion that the House recognise the state of Palestine, which lost in an 80-5 vote.
Home affairs department officials revealed that 4,614 Palestinians have been denied visitor visas to Australia.
Annual inflation in April rose to 3.6%, up from 3.5% in March.
Legislation establishing a new national Environment Protection Authority was introduced into federal parliament.
Environment groups called the government’s new Environment Protection Australia bill “a waste of time” and “not good enough”.
The Greens said Labor “sold out the environment” in the new bill.
Eleven public servants who are paid an average salary of $400,000 charged taxpayers almost $2,000 for dinner and alcohol at a Canberra restaurant in February.
The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, backed an investigation into the claims made by Ariel Bombara that WA police ignored her warnings about the danger her father posed to her family.
The head of the Office of National Intelligence told Senate estimates that the agency “first wrote on fossil fuels and the greenhouse effect in 1981”.
Thanks so much for your company today. Politics Live will be back again early tomorrow morning for another day of fun. Until then, look after yourselves.
Updated
About 40% of Asio caseload is violent extremists, estimates hears
The Greens senator David Shoebridge is back in the chair and is asking Asio about whether its violent extremism caseload has changed in recent months.
At its peak, the broad group of extremists, which includes neo-Nazis, took up half of Asio’s counter-terrorism caseload, the director general, Mike Burgess, said:
It’s less than that today, but it’s still a significant issue. They’re active. They’re actively trying to recruit new members to the fold … we have a handle on the people we know about and we’re interested in discovering those other people that such an ideology and violence is the answer.
Burgess said about 40% of the agency’s caseload was taken up by violent extremists while 60% focused on religiously motivated extremism.
You can get some background on this issue here:
Updated
