The day that was – Wednesday 31 May
We will wrap up the live blog there for today.
Here’s what made the news today:
Legislation to support the constitutional referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament passed the House of Representatives 121-25.
Some Coalition MPs voted against the bill to allow them to provide information on the no case in a pamphlet to be issued by the government.
Reserve Bank of Australia governor Phillip Lowe fronted Senate estimates where he said the bank was committed to bringing down inflation, as new data showed inflation rose to 6.8% in April while underlying price pressures eased.
Lowe said it was easier for the RBA to raise the cash rate than for politicians to raise taxes or cut spending
He also said one of the drivers of Australia’s skyrocketing rents and the housing crisis was more people living alone or moving out of home, and encouraged people to go into share housing.
The US warned Australia that the Brereton report may trigger a provision that bans US assistance to units linked to alleged gross violations of human rights.
The South Australian parliament passed rushed through anti-protest laws after a 15-hour debate.
The Greens have called for the PwC scandal to be investigated by the new national anti-corruption commission when it begins on 1 July, however the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has said the matter has already been referred to the AFP for investigation.
We’ll be back with you again tomorrow with all the latest news. Until then, enjoy your evening.
Updated
Greens skeptical over NDIS budgetary savings
The Greens senator Jordon Steele-John has expressed some, shall we say, scepticism about the government’s plan to save billions by spending millions.
Back on budget day, the government revealed it would spend $73m on (to put it simplistically) efficiencies within the National Disability Insurance Scheme. These efficiencies would lead to $7.2bn in savings, they said, part of a broader $15bn savings effort.
In Senate estimates, Steele-John said that was rather a large figure.
There are fears the “savings” are more like “service cuts”.
The NDIS actuary, David Gifford, said he would be “hesitant to draw a direct link” between the expenditure and the saving, while the NDIA chief, Rebecca Falkingham, said the maths worked because it was about “avoiding future growth” in the scheme, which has been ballooning. She said:
We want to have a better planning process … we don’t want a situation where every single plan is overspent because that means every initial plan was incorrect. We think we absolutely can reduce that growth in the scheme longer term.
That did not appear to ease Steele-John’s scepticism.
Falkingham also revealed the agency had not been consulted before a national cabinet decision to reduce the growth in the NDIS from an expected 14% to 8%.
Updated
Greens reiterate push for NACC investigation into PwC scandal
During question time earlier, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, resisted a call from the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, for the PwC scandal to be referred to the National Anti-Corruption Commission when it begins operations on 1 July.
Albanese said the matter had already been referred to the Australian federal police for investigation.
In response this afternoon, Bandt said the AFP had failed to investigate PwC twice already in 2018 and 2019, according to information heard in Senate estimates.
He said:
We need an independent investigation into the PwC scandal by the national corruption watchdog, an investigation in which the public would have confidence.
The parliament set up an anti-corruption watchdog to get to the bottom of big, complex scandals. It’s not enough to create a Nacc, you have to actually use it.
The AFP should continue with its investigation, but it’s time to set the anti-corruption watchdog on every aspect of the PWC scandal.
Updated
NSW government supports motion to release Kathleen Folbigg
The New South Wales government has supported a motion that passed in the upper house calling for the release of Kathleen Folbigg but with amendments that the government take action as soon as appropriate and practicable rather than immediately.
Sue Higginson, the NSW Greens’ justice spokesperson who put the motion forward, said now was the appropriate and practicable time for the state’s attorney general to issue advice to the governor that Folbigg be released.
Folbigg, who has always maintained her innocence, has spent 20 years of a 25-year sentence in prison since she was convicted in 2003 of murdering three of her children, and the manslaughter of a fourth child.
But calls have been growing for Folbigg to be released after a final hearing into her convictions last month heard there was enough evidence to suggest her children had died of natural causes.
Higginson:
With this motion being carried, the calls for Ms Folbigg’s release will continue to escalate and the pressure on the attorney general will increase.
Member of the upper house for Labor, Stephen Lawrence, said during the debate the evidence given at the inquiry was the most “significant development in the criminal justice system in New South Wales living memory”.
It’s perhaps those horrors that make this case quite difficult to engage with on a human level, but engagement with it needs to be done.
Updated
Watchdog calls for reforms to penalise market power abuse
The competition regulator has called for court-order powers that could break up big businesses, including supermarkets, if they abuse their market power.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (Accc) chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, said on Wednesday such a reform could lower food prices by improving competition in a tightly held sector dominated by Coles and Woolworths.
“In a situation where Australia faces a number of quite significantly concentrated markets it would be a worthwhile power for a court,” Cass-Gottlieb told the Senate economics legislation committee in response to questions from the Greens senator Nick McKim.
The proposal, supported by the former ACCC chair Allan Fels, would give the courts the power to break up a company, rather than only issue a fine or similar penalty, if deemed necessary after a breach of competition law.
Coles and Woolworths control two-thirds of the supermarket sector and have increased their profit margins during a period marked by the pandemic and inflation-fuelled rise in living costs.
The supermarket sector is one we are watching closely. There is less constraint on them in price competition than we would want to see.
Coles and Woolworths were contacted for comment.
Updated
Video of the Surry Hills gas leak.
Surry Hills | #FRNSW working to disperse gas from a ruptured gas main Crown Steet nr Fitzroy Lane. Crown St closed, gas co in attendance. @LiveTrafficSyd @2GB873 @WSFM1017 @TripleMSydney @2SM1269 @abcnews @smh @dailytelegraph pic.twitter.com/HA3WBjmtz4
— Fire and Rescue NSW (@FRNSW) May 31, 2023
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has recreated the famous meme of the former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian getting ready to watch the State of Origin tonight.
Getting ready for Game 1. Go the @NSWBlues ! pic.twitter.com/9bemSopIOf
— Chris Minns (@ChrisMinnsMP) May 31, 2023
Updated
70 people have been evacuated from the site of a “major gas leak” between Foveaux and Albion St in Surry Hills, Sydney. Fire and Rescue NSW say the gas company is on the scene.
SURRY HILLS: Route 304 buses are diverting away from part of Crown St due to a gas leak between Fitzroy St and Albion St. Buses towards the city are using Foveaux St, Elizabeth St and Albion St. Buses away from the city are using Albion St, Flinders St and South Dowling St.
— Sydney Buses Info (@BusesInfo) May 31, 2023
Australia’s emissions sink at a glacial pace, latest data shows
Australia’s carbon emissions edged lower in 2022 with reductions from the electricity sector partly countered by increases in pollution from transport and agriculture.
The country’s emissions last year totalled 463.9m tonnes of CO2-equivalent (Mt CO2-e), down 0.4% or 2m tonnes from the previous year. Preliminary estimates for the year to 31 March indicated emissions totalled 464Mt CO2-e, or 0.,2% lower on a rolling 12-month tally, the national greenhouse gas inventory shows.
Since June 2005, carbon pollution had dropped by 24.7% by the end of 2022, or slightly more than half the Albanese government’s 43% emissions reduction target by 2030.
Australia’s total budget under the Paris climate agreement is 4.353bn tonnes of CO2-e, and so far it has burned through 27% of the total in 25% of the accord’s time period.
We need emissions to keep falling at the rate they did during the lockdowns, and well... they are not. pic.twitter.com/hL9ucUvdHS
— Greg Jericho (@GrogsGamut) May 31, 2023
Of the different sectors, changes in land use and forestry have decreased by the largest margin of any sector since June 2005, or so the data claims. In fact, it has dropped 179.1% or 144.6 Mt CO2 -e, “due to reductions in land clearing and native forest harvesting, increases in plantations and native vegetation, and improvements in soil carbon”.
Doubts remain, though, not least because the land sector has somehow managed to remain a net-carbon sink despite increased land-clearing in Queensland and NSW in the past decade.
By contrast, emissions in the power sector have decreased 21.4% or 42.1 Mt CO2 -e since June 2005.
“After decades of strong growth, emissions peaked in 2009 and have since fallen 26.9%,” the inventory said. “This reflects accelerating renewables deployment and gradual displacement of coal as a fuel source.”
Updated
Boy, 3, found dead in Sydney apartment
A young child has been found dead in a Sydney unit and a man is in critical condition, authorities say.
The three-year-old was found dead inside an apartment in Riverwood after emergency services were called about 4pm.
Police found the young boy dead inside the unit, along with a 45-year-old man who was treated at the scene for serious injuries and taken to hospital in critical condition.
A crime scene has been established and the incident is being investigated by police.
Updated
NSW to investigate use of consultants after PwC scandal
A NSW parliamentary committee will hold an inquiry into the state government’s use of consultants amid a scandal embroiling consultancy giant PwC, AAP reports.
The Greens NSW Legislative Council member Abigail Boyd was named as the new head of the Public Accountability Committee on Wednesday, and revealed plans to tackle what she said was an “overreliance” by the NSW government on consultants.
PwC has come under fire after revelations staff shared confidential tax information from the Treasury department.
“Breaches of confidentiality and trust are of course of enormous concern, but the purpose of this inquiry goes beyond that,” Boyd said in a statement.
“I’m particularly interested in investigating exactly how far these enormous private consulting firms have burrowed into the machinery of government, displacing public sector workers and depleting our capacity for self sufficiency.”
Updated
ADF chief faces allegations of ‘gross lack of transparency’ in Senate
The chief of the Australian defence force, Gen Angus Campbell, has faced more questions in Senate estimates about the letter he received from the US defence attache in the wake of the Brereton report into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan, and any actions the ADF took in response.
The earlier questions were from Jacqui Lambie; the Greens senator David Shoebridge is leading the questioning now. Shoebridge said the advice from the US embassy was dated 21 March 2021; Campbell did not dispute that date.
Campbell told the Senate committee there “was an interest in understanding what Australia was doing with regard to the Brereton report and I think in good faith that such considerations were not triggered”.
Asked to confirm the US department of defense refused to engage with Australian special forces for a period of time, Campbell said:
There was a precautionary period where we looked to our arrangements.
Asked how long that was for and what restrictions applied, Campbell said he would take that question on notice.
During the exchange before the Senate’s foreign affairs, defence and trade committee, Shoebridge said Campbell was obliged to cooperate with the committee and “just a bland statement that you will take it on notice is unacceptable”. Shoebridge added:
When our major ally has advised our chief of defence that they won’t work with a key unit of the Australian military and you won’t tell us for how long that restriction lasted or what the nature of the restriction was, we have a significant problem, don’t we – a gross problem of a lack of transparency in our military, don’t we?
Campbell replied:
No, senator, that is not the truth.
Campbell confirmed that Australian special forces, including SAS, were currently in a position to operate with US military forces, and were not subject to any restrictions as a result of US Leahy laws.
Updated
Tax Practitioner Board defends ‘slap on the wrist’ PwC penalty
The Tax Practitioner Board chair, Peter de Cure, has defended the penalty it imposed in the PwC matter to cancel Peter-John Collins’s registration for two years.
De Cure said “we imposed sanctions we thought appropriate”. Michael O’Neill, the chief executive and secretary, took on notice why seeking a financial penalty in the federal court was not considered appropriate.
De Cure said if Collins reapplied for registration after two years he would have to satisfy criteria. As for the penalty, it was appropriate because he “had admitted the conduct, showed remorse for the conduct, [and said] he would cease to practise as a tax agent”.
The Greens senator Barbara Pocock said the penalty looked like nothing more than a “slap on the wrist”. She asked how it looked to the public given two members of the board are ex PwC employees and receive retirement payments from PwC, suggesting this meant the board was “fundamentally compromised”.
De Cure responded:
The two partners who were formerly of PwC, from the moment this came into our field, were excluded from all discussion. They’ve made appropriate statements. They left the room whenever it came up, they did not participate in investigation, or conduct committee’s work. They were totally excluded.
Updated
Queensland LNP criticised for ‘failure of leadership’ on voice
Queensland’s minister for treaty, Leeanne Enoch, has criticised the LNP leader, David Crisafulli, after he revealed he would vote against a federal Indigenous voice to parliament.
After months of speculation, Crisafulli announced on Wednesday he would vote against the voice as he was “not convinced that is the best mechanism to deliver the changes needed”.
Enoch, a Quandamooka woman and the first Indigenous woman to be elected to Queensland parliament, said Crisafulli’s rejection of the voice was “yet another failure of leadership”:
The legislation passed in federal parliament today on the voice gives us a chance to create history and address the injustices faced by First Nations people.
We now know that the Queensland LNP will play no constructive role in this history-making opportunity.
Updated
Burney on Hawthorn racism probe
When asked to comment on the Hawthorn AFL club investigation into historical racism allegations making no finding, Burney says she feels for those involved.
I make it very clear that there is no room for racism anywhere in this country in any institution. In any workplace. It is a terrible thing to experience racism. I feel very much for the families that have been involved in this episode. I understand that some of those families may be pursuing other means of dealing with the issue through the Human Rights Commission. I actually do not want to say too much.
Updated
Burney says voice referendum date won’t clash with grand finals
Burney says it is up to the prime minister to name the date of the referendum on a voice to parliament, but says it will not be on a grand final day of either the AFL or NRL.
She says she is buoyed up by the various sporting codes and organisations joining the yes campaign in recent weeks.
When asked whether more work needs to be done to get multicultural communities in western Sydney on board – she said the Yes 23 campaign has some fantastic initiatives getting up and running to get more information out about the vote.
Updated
It’s time for positive campaign on voice, Linda Burney says
The minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, is on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing after the passage of legislation in the House of Representatives to support the voice referendum.
Burney says the referendum is a reality, it’s standing in front of us, and it’s time for a positive campaign.
The important thing is that I believe that there is such a growing momentum for the voice and it is what it can do. It is not what it is not going to do. It is what it can do. Of course, the issue of recognition and the issue of listening to make sure there are good, practical outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is absolutely what this is about.
Updated
‘There is less constraint on them … than we would want to see,’ ACCC says of Coles and Woolworths
A lack of competition in the supermarket sector is making it easier for major players to charge shoppers more, AAP reports.
The consumer watchdog has a close eye on the big supermarkets to make sure they aren’t using their market position to charge much higher prices for groceries.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, said in markets where there were few players, firms were under less pressure to compete on price.
“I would accept that there is less constraint on them in a price competition than we would want to see,” she said in reference to the two biggest players, Coles and Woolworths.
The supermarket sector is dominated by the two companies although Cass-Gottlieb said Aldi was growing and MetCash independent supermarkets were also adding to competition in some areas.
But she told a parliamentary committee there were several supply-side factors pushing up food prices, including problematic climate change-induced weather patterns and geopolitical factors.
“However, in a more competitive market, you may see those elements competed away.”
Updated
The New South Wales parliament has chosen Maria Kovacic to fill the vacant senate seat in the federal Senate, following the passing of Liberal senator Jim Molan.
She is expected to be sworn into the Senate in the next sitting period, commencing 13 June.
With this afternoon's joint sitting of the NSW #UpperHouse and @NSWParlLA, Maria Kovacic (@KovacicMaria) has been chosen to fill the vacant seat in the @AuSenate, following the passing of Senator Jim Molan #AUSpol #NSWpol pic.twitter.com/Dw87SqXaI8
— Legislative Council (@nsw_upperhouse) May 31, 2023
I am going to hand you over to Josh Taylor to take you through the evening.
We have one more day of house sitting and estimates to get through. Like Ted Lasso and AC Richmond, I believe in you. (Do I believe the finale will actually wrap up everything and give us a satisfactory ending? No. Will I still cry? Like a baby which missed its nap)
I will be back early tomorrow morning, swollen eyes and all. Thank you to everyone who joined today, and I hope to see you tomorrow. As always – take care of you Ax
Updated
Independents to host climate forum tonight in Canberra
The independent Warringah MP, Zali Steggall, and independent ACT senator David Pocock are co-hosting a climate forum in Parliament House this evening.
The pair said the forum would call on the government, policymakers, industry and business “to accelerate the emissions reduction ambition to 75% reduction by 2035 and urgently focus on the key warming accelerator, being methane emissions”.
Steggall:
Australia currently ranks poorly in global climate action, currently positioned in the bottom 10 countries on the Climate Change Performance Index. By adopting the ‘75 by 35’ target, Australia can transform itself into a leader on the global stage.
Pocock:
Climate change is the biggest challenge we face. It requires bold and ambitious action to safeguard the future of the people and places we love. Our transformation to a low-carbon economy presents incredible opportunities, but we need to move fast. Setting an ambitious 75% by 2035 target will send a strong market signal and allow Australian industry and innovators to lead the world in the transition.
On the panel are:
· Prof Nerilie Abram – professor of climate science, Australian National University (ANU)
· Martijn Wilder AM – founder and CEO of Pollination
· Charlotte Hanson – climate policy consultant to the Environmental Defense Fund
· Prof Frank Jotzo – head of energy, ANU Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions
· Anna Freeman – policy director at the Clean Energy Council
Updated
PWC’s project ‘certainly raised issues’, Tax Practitioners Board says
The Tax Practitioners Board, which made findings against PwC and its partner Peter-John Collins, is now up before Senate estimates.
Michael O’Neill, the chief executive and secretary, said that PwC’s Project North America, advising clients based on confidential briefings, “certainly raised issues of integrity, breach of confidentiality, breach of conflict of interest”.
O’Neill said the 144 pages of emails the board provided in answer to questions were “the ones we considered responsive to the question about internal PwC emails that reference unlawful disclosure”.
Asked why PwC’s registration hasn’t been suspended (rather than just Collins), the board’s chair Peter de Cure said:
When we completed the investigation, we went through the process of considering to impose a sanction. We imposed the sanctions that were about making sure these problems did not occur again in future. We considered that appropriate at the time. We have ongoing consideration of matters surrounding this issue, we’re making further inquiries. We don’t have any current plan to suspend [it] … We don’t want to prejudice any other investigations. We wouldn’t like to comment, we have ongoing inquiries. We are not considering further sanction at this time.
Updated
US raised concerns with ADF chief about Brereton report
The United States warned Australia that the Brereton report may trigger a provision that bans US assistance to units linked to alleged gross violations of human rights, a Senate estimates committee has been told.
According to a US fact sheet, “Leahy law” refers to statutory provisions “prohibiting the US government from using funds for assistance to units of foreign security forces where there is credible information implicating that unit in the commission of gross violations of human rights”.
The chief of the Australian defence force, Gen Angus Campbell, gave details about the matter in a Senate estimates committee hearing this afternoon in response to questions from the Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie. The Brereton report on alleged war crimes by Australian special forces soldiers was released in late 2020.
Campbell told the Senate foreign affairs, defence and trade committee this afternoon:
I received a letter from the United States defence attache here in Canberra indicating that after the release of the Brereton report, that report – because it had credible information of allegations of what the United States would call gross violation of human rights, may - may - trigger Leahy law consideration with regard to the relationship between the United States armed forces and a partner unit or organisation, in this case either being Special Operations Command or the Special Air Service regiment.
Asked whether the defence minister at the time knew about this, Campbell said he did not recall advising the defence minister at the time, but would take it on notice. When Lambie suggested it was “a pretty big matter”, Campbell said he thought there was “a difference between may or does” trigger the provisions.
Asked whether the current minister, Richard Marles, knows about it, Campbell said:
No, he does not know what I am telling you here, Senator.
Campbell said he knew “of one member of the army whose employment arrangements – as in posted position – was adjusted based on consideration of the question in part of whether Leahy law issues may emerge”.
Updated
Question time mood board as seen by Mike Bowers:
Roger Cook to officially put himself forward as replacement for McGowan
In WA, the deputy premier, Roger Cook, is officially putting himself forward as Mark McGowan’s replacement and says he has the backing to do so, making it all but a done deal that he will be the next “state daddy” of WA (yes, I hate myself too).
Updated
The LNP MP for Petrie, Luke Howarth, continues his long campaign to be crowned the best and brightest point-of-order raiser, but there is no love there from Milton Dick, who tells him there is no point of order.
Howarth doesn’t turn around to say “I am the eldest boy”, but you know he kinda wants to.
And question time ends.
Updated
David Coleman ejected from question time
There is a dixer for Michelle Rowland and Milton Dick has to again address the groans coming from the opposition benches, which for some reason, only seem to groan out loud when questions are directed to women ministers.
Yesterday, it was Tanya Plibersek and Anika Wells (as well as Clare O’Neil).
Today, it is Rowland.
Dick says:
The member for Banks [David Coleman], I have been crystal clear about having commentary when ministers are walking to the dispatch box. You will leave the chamber under 94A. It is a nonnegotiable. Ministers are entitled to talk without commentary and groans.
Updated
PM says primary advice to government should come from public sector, not private sector
The independent MP for Goldstein, Zoe Daniel, has the next crossbench question and asks:
Australians are rightly concerned at the evident lack of integrity that has become apparent in the relationship between the commonwealth and the consulting firm PwC. My question is twofold: will the government suspend all current contracts with PwC while the situation is fully investigated? And will the government trigger an integrity review of commonwealth relationships with all large private consultancy companies?
Anthony Albanese:
I refer to my previous answer to the member for Melbourne … I outlined the government position on this. The breaches in confidentiality by PwC are indeed extraordinary, outrageous and deserving of complete condemnation. Not just by the government but by all Australians, I believe. To have a brief that is then turned into an opportunity is what occurred here. And … of course, the Treasury has referred the matter to the Australian federal police.
The PwC breach did not arise, I repeat, as a result of an active procurement or commonwealth contract, which we have.
I am very concerned about it. I repeat that prior to the election, one of the things we spoke about – and [there] has been some criticism of an increase in use of the public service – but one of the things I want to do is restore the public service to the primacy that it should be in. The public service should be the body that provides the primary advice to government. Not the private sector. Not any other interest, be it industrial, be it community groups; everyone can have input into government policy, through the political process, and that’s important.
Daniel asks about relevance and Albanese addresses the other part of her question:
I take these issues very seriously indeed. Anything that we do will not interfere with AFP investigations as is appropriate. It is important that people be held to account, and sometimes, you need to take a step back and allow those processes to occur.
That is what the government is doing here. This is rightly troubling, but the government has taken very swift action, as soon as we were made aware of … [it].
Updated
Here is what the gallery looks like at the moment, as captured by Mike Bowers:
Updated
Albanese outlines timeline for constitutional recognition beginning in 2017
Anthony Albanese goes through the time line:
The First Nations constitutional convention was held at Uluru in 2017, just more than six years ago, and it was timed to commemorate the date of the 1967 referendum.
That arose out of, originally, the proposal from John Howard as prime minister who went to the election in 2007, saying that he would support a referendum on constitutional recognition.
Then the Gillard government began a process with the constitutional recognition working group that led to the process of people including the member for Berowra and others like Noel Pearson, other senior, legal commentators, working on proposals, and then a series of consultations in the lead-up to the Uluru statement, in the lead-up to that constitutional convention.
[What] occurred then was the former Coalition government went through a range of processes. There was a jointly chaired inquiry that was then chaired by Senator Patrick Watson and the member for Berowra that made recommendations.
There was then a process set up, chaired by Tom Calma and Marcia Langton. That process then led to a report that went to the cabinet of the Morrison government, not once, but twice.
This is a process that has been many, many years in the making, leading up to this process.
We also, I note, established a timeframe very clearly for people when I indicated that there would be a draft. I announced it at Garma last July. We then had a process in a referendum working group that included people like Ken Wyatt, the former minister for Indigenous affairs, who came to a common position.
It then went to the parliament here, and it is unfortunate that decisions were made but they are entitled to do that, before that process had even reported to this parliament.
The legislation will now go to the Senate and then it will go to the Australian people. The Australian people will get to decide, and I certainly hope that they vote yes.
Updated
LNP’s Garth Hamilton questions referendum timeframe
The LNP MP for Groom, Garth Hamilton, says the last time a constitutional change was proposed, the proposed republic model was agreed and the public was given more than 18 months to consider the detail:
Why is this prime minister is asking Australians to first agreed to put the voice permanently into the constitution and then to give him six months to work out how will work?
You may remember the speech Labor MP Tim Watts gave about his ancestor, John Watts, and the role John Watts played in the displacement and death of local Indigenous people in Queensland’s Darling Downs. That’s the area Groom takes in.
Updated
Crossbencher Kylea Tink highlights record Hecs rise due to indexation
The independent MP for North Sydney, Kylea Tink, asks Jason Clare:
Tomorrow, more than 3 million Australians will see their student debt rise in line with the inflation. The highest increase in more than three decades and nearly double the rate of wages growth this year.
… What plans does the minister have it these millions of Australians copping this smackdown tomorrow?
Clare (after acknowledging his friend Mem Fox):
The short answer to your question is there is no changes to Hecs. We are … increasing youth allowance, rent assistance.
… Changing the way Hecs is indexed doesn’t put an extra dollar in the pocket of a university student today. It is not the way that Hecs works, it is not like a mortgage [where] the amount you pay every year is based on your income.
I get that affordability is an issue, and that is why I have asked the universities accord team to look at these along with a whole bunch of other serious issues in … our higher education system.
I can advise the member that Prof Bruce Chapman has been advised to work on this. Going to university is important. Going to university is your ticket to the show. Nine out of 10 new jobs today require you to go either to university or Tafe and going to university makes you money.
The average income of somebody with a university degree is about 90 grand. The average income for someone with a last year of education is year 12 is $68,000. That is a big difference. A life-changing difference.
Hecs has made that possible for millions of Australians to go to university, get the degree and change their lives. But not everyone. In the member for Wentworth’s electorate, 67% of young people aged 24-34 have a uni degree but in the member for Rankin’s electorate, it is only 19%. In the member for Melbourne’s electorate, 69% of young adults have a university degree. In the Member for Longman’s electorate, it is only 16%. And in the member for North Sydney’s electorate, 71.3% of young adults have a university degree.
What is the cost of those kids missing out? I don’t want us to be a country … where your chances in life depend on your parent’s income, where you live, or the colour of your skin, but the statistics tell us that is where we live today and this is what the Universities Accord is all about.
Updated
Just absolute scenes today.
It’s like a Waystar Royco board meeting, but if ChatGPT wrote the dialogue.
Updated
PM says opposition questions on 60-day dispensing are ‘fake outrage’
Sussan Ley is back and asks: can the prime minister to guarantee that under his 60-day dispensing rule no pharmacist will be worse off?
There is a lot of noise and a lot of head shaking and a lot of drama but it boils down to this from Albanese:
I can guarantee under our cheaper pharmaceuticals policy 6 million Australians will be better off.
Six million Australians will be better off. We had questions at the beginning of Question Time about the cost of living and then they stand up and say that people who have had arthritis, people who have heart conditions, people who have diabetes should pay more for their medicines.
That’s what [the opposition] say.
There is a back and forth with Ley pretending she has a point of order, as she approaches the dispatch box to raise it, Ley turns to Albanese and says:
Are you going to sit down, prime minister?
So that gives you some idea of how ridiculous QT is today.
There is no point of order and Albanese is getting heckled by the shadow frontbench and returns serve to one of them: “you struggle to find the chamber, mate”. So yup, all is going well.
Albanese finishes with:
I sat down the head of the Pharmacy Guild in Brisbane two weeks ago. I have sat down with the president of the Pharmacy Guild in my electorate, just a couple of weeks ago.
I will continue to engage with community pharmacies …
What we won’t do is ignore completely … the cost-of-living pressures on people who have a health condition that requires regular drug treatment for the rest of their lives.
And why should they pay double what they need to? Why should they? That is what those opposite have to ask.
And they can be angry, with all this fake outrage, from those opposite. What we are doing is we are delivering … cheaper pharmaceuticals.
Updated
Dutton accuses PM of ‘ripping $160,000 out of pharmacies’
OK, we are back with another mess of a question and answer.
Peter Dutton:
Prime minister, what is your message to the pharmacists in the gallery today?
Anthony Albanese:
My message to the pharmacists in the gallery today is: good on you, good on you for the work that you do.
The opposition side of the chamber starts yelling. Albanese continues.
Good on you for the work that you do in the community. That is one of the reasons we argued during the pandemic pharmacists should do more, … but those opposite held that back.
They left them on the bench they could have been used to assist with vaccines and I don’t know if my friend Adele [Tahan] is up there … She is up there, my friend Adele is there, she is the vice-president of the Pharmacy Guild.
I met with Adele at my electorate office because as a good local member I still represent the people of Grayndler and I had a very constructive chat with Adele. Her pharmacy at Rozelle does extraordinary work.
… Because one of the things I understand with small business is that people like Adele and my local pharmacy across the road from my electric office on Marrickville Road …
Tahan waves at the prime minister.
Dutton senses he is losing momentum and optics, and tries to grab both back with a point of order:
It is on relevance. The prime minister is ripping $160,000 out of pharmacies.
There was an analysis by the health department that in the fourth year of this plan, pharmacists could lose up to $158,000 in foregone government payments for dispensing. The government has committed to returning that money to community pharmacies.
There is no point of order. The answer continues, but it is hard to hear.
Updated
It makes sense that the LNP leader would announce that – Queenslanders were the main voters in the no camp for the referendum legislation federally, which means they will be taking the lead on the no pamphlet and the political no campaign, federally.
The no campaign is focusing on Queensland and WA in order to defeat the referendum – the yes side needs a majority of people in a majority of states to win, which is the harder task. Which is why Queensland and WA are so important.
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Queensland LNP leader to oppose Indigenous voice
Stepping outside question time for a moment – Queensland’s opposition leader, David Crisafulli, has revealed that he will be voting against the establishment of a federal Indigenous voice to parliament.
For months the LNP leader had been reluctant to state his position on the voice, saying changing the Australian constitution was “a big deal” and that he needed time to make up his mind.
On Wednesday, Crisafulli said he’d come to his decision after looking at the committee report and watching the prime minister’s address in Adelaide.
I’m just not convinced that is the best mechanism to deliver changes needed.
I won’t be campaigning on this, my focus is on Queensland.
My concern is, if it’s embedded in the constitution, what is the risk that comes with that?
Crisafulli’s comments come after all 34 members of the LNP voted with the government to pass the state’s path to treaty bill in parliament earlier this month.
Shadow minister for the environment, Sam O’Connor, is the only state member of the LNP to publicly announce that he will support the voice to parliament.
The premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has expressed her resounding support for the voice, saying it would help Australia “move forward as a nation”.
Updated
There was a lot of head shaking from the pharmacists in the gallery there.
There will be another question on this, no doubt, so expect some more theatre.
Updated
Health minister: ‘We are delivering on our commitment to make medicines cheaper’
Mark Butler:
I welcome the pharmacists in the gallery here and the work that they do and the work they did all through particularly the pandemic. They were the most accessible health service in almost all of our communities for three years.
I welcome a question on our commitment to cheaper medicines. We are delivering on our commitment to make medicines cheaper for all Australians at a time of cost-of-living pressures hitting all people in Australia. People who rely upon medicines not just for one month because they have an infectious disease … patients who have chronic disease, for years and years, if not decades.
There is more to do, Mr Speaker. Although we have a strong record of cutting the price of medicines in just 12 months, there is more to do, so we did accept the advice of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advice Committee that there could be 60 days of supply for 300 common medicines prescribed for chronic disease …
That is not new advice, because the former government received that advice five years ago about common medicines for chronic disease. They decided in their wisdom, they decided … [there are so many interjections that Milton Dick has to call for order] … As I was saying, this is not new advice, the advisory committee provided the same advice five years ago.
The former government in their wisdom decided not to follow it and as a result, millions of patients pay twice as much for their medicines as they otherwise had to …
We are following the advice of the experts … It will halve the number of times 6 million patients have to visit the GP.
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Nationals’ Littleproud claims Labor policy risks ‘bankrupting community pharmacies’
We are now into the theatre section, with David Littleproud asking about community pharmacies (of which there are many representatives in the gallery – all dressed in their pharmacy whites). The opposition waves at the gallery while Littleproud, with the zeal of am amateur actor hearing there is a commercial director in the audience, asks:
Hundreds of regional pharmacies like Mrs Rhodes face potential bankruptcy because of Labor’s new 60-day policy. Will government enter into a new agreement with pharmacists before this policy commences so the cost-of-living relief can be delivered without the risk of bankrupting community pharmacies?
Paul Karp hears a Labor MP ask Littleproud – “how’s the Gold Coast mate” (Littleproud has recently bought a Gold Coast property) while Mike Freelander asks “How about you worry about the patients for a change?” and Nola Marino points at the gallery and says “they are the ones paying”.
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PwC matter already referred to federal police, says PM
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, gets the first of the crossbench questions and asks:
Estimates hearings have revealed … the PwC scandal, including last night [that] the ATO reported PwC to the [Australian federal police] back in 2018. PwC remains the internal risk auditors for the government, for the AFP and Treasury, and has made donations to Labor and Liberal. Prime minister, would you refer the growing PwC scandal to the national anti-corruption commission when it begins in July?
Anthony Albanese:
I thank the member for Melbourne for his question and I certainly agree with him that the breaches in confidentiality by PwC is an absolute scandal and it is deeply troubling.
And I’m sure that anyone who has a look at the details that have been revealed for those events that occurred, of course, back in 2018 and around then when PwC was giving advice to the then government on multinational tax changes, finds these revelations are shocking.
The Treasury has referred the matter already to the Australian federal police, so it’s gone well beyond the step that the member suggests, already.
The PwC breach did not arise as a result of an active procurement or Commonwealth contract.
The Department of Finance has already taken a number of actions under the commonwealth procurement framework to strengthen our systems following the disclosure of the PwC [scandal] …
Can I conclude with this point to the member for Melbourne: one of the things this government spoke about before we were elected was the reduction in the capacity of the public service to give that frank and fearless advice which is so required, and the increasing use of contractors. And third-party workers which is off public service employment directly for critical jobs including defence, agriculture, veterans’ affairs and the ATO.
We think the contract with which we made these commitments was certainly not around this because I am sure, I’m certain, that members of the then government won’t aware of these details either. These revelations are indeed shocking but they do point towards a policy failure as well and that is what the government is addressing.
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Australian author Mem Fox is in the gallery and receives a round of applause from the chamber – it is the 40th anniversary of Possum Magic.
Ley asks question on rising inflation
Sussan Ley is next with a non-government question:
This morning’s monthly CPI released from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows inflation has once again risen higher than the market expected. Will the prime minister finally take responsibility for this cost of living crisis that is hurting so many Australians?
Anthony Albanese:
I congratulate [the member] in calling the Reserve Bank governor for the straight shooter that he is, this morning … Of course, the member would know that the highest quarter of inflation that has occurred this century, was in the March 2022 quarter, the last full quarter which those opposite presided over.
The Reserve Bank governor has made it very clear, about the government’s response. He said this: ‘I don’t think that the budget is adding to inflation, it is actually reducing inflation.’
… The governor was also asked helpfully by the shadow finance minister [Jane Hume], I must say, asking some very good questions today. She said this: ‘Do you believe that not adding to inflation is still something fiscal policy should be prioritising today?’
This is what the governor said: ‘Given my job is to get inflation down, that would be helpful. I don’t think the budget is adding to inflation it is actually reducing inflation in the next financial year.’ Thank you, Senator Hume for that question. Thank you.
… Those opposite like to talk down the Australian economy, they like to talk down the positive future that Australia has. We are getting on with the job of making a difference, our budget that turned around what was predicted to be a $78 billion deficit, and instead produced a forecast $4.2 billion surplus, actually has a downward impact on inflation. I would have thought that was pretty obvious.
The governor knows it is pretty obvious, I would have thought those opposite should recognise that as well.
Updated
Question time begins
Peter Dutton has his serious face on, so you know things are seriously serious.
The prime minister promised Australian families before the last election [that] no family will be worse off; he had lasting plans for cheaper mortgages and better pay. With the typical Australian family now $25,000 worse off since Labor was elected, why won’t the prime minister apologise for misleading Australians into thinking life would be easier under Labor?
Anthony Albanese:
I thank the leader of the opposition for his question and I note the RBA governor, Philip Lowe, has appeared at Senate estimates, just this morning.
And prior to the appearance, the leader of the opposition’s deputy said this about Governor Lowe: ‘he is a straight shooter and I’m sure he will tell it as it is.’
… This is what the governor had to say this morning: ‘I don’t think that the budget is adding to inflation; it is reducing inflation.’
… They went on to say this: ‘The government has got a lot of extra revenue, improved our public finances, that’s fantastic. They could have elected to use the revenue to increase spending but they didn’t do that.’
I wonder who the governor was thinking of. You would not have had to think back too far. He would have had to think back to the 2022 budget handed down by the Coalition … in the context of the highest quarterly inflation of 2.1%, this century. That is what they presided over.
He went on again to say this: ‘… It is fair to say we had very responsible action by the government.’
He went on to endorse the actions we have taken on energy … There it is, the governor of the Reserve Bank, just after the fine endorsement by the deputy leader of the opposition, making it very clear, that Labor’s responsible budget is making a positive difference, including the measures that were opposed by those opposite.
Updated
Angus Taylor will be absent from QT:
Statement from Angus Taylor’s office:
— Kieran Gilbert (@Kieran_Gilbert) May 31, 2023
The Shadow Treasurer has taken personal leave from the Parliament, as he did last week, to deal with an ongoing personal family matter.#auspol
Updated
Looks like question time will be focused on pharmacies today:
About 30-40 pharmacists in the public gallery for #qt. Fair bet that Labor's 60-day medicine dispensing policy going to come in for Coalition scrutiny. #auspol
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) May 31, 2023
Updated
Crossbench to urge stronger laws on ads for gambling, junk food, alcohol, fossil fuels
Crossbench MPs will urge the government to legislate stronger regulation on the marketing of harmful products including gambling, junk food, alcohol, and fossil fuels.
MPs Dr Sophie Scamps, Zali Steggall, Allegra Spender, Andrew Wilkie, Kate Chaney, Kylea Tink, Dr Monique Ryan and Zoe Daniel want the government to close loopholes that allow industries to saturate broadcast and social media with harmful product marketing.
The crossbench push comes one week after Daniel introduced her private member’s bill to ban gambling advertising. Scamps will also introduce her private member’s bill to regulate junk food advertising before parliament’s winter break.
Several of the crossbenchers will speak on the issue in the House of Representatives today, where they will say stronger legislation is needed to protect the health of children. Scamps said:
One in four children in Australia are already on the path to chronic disease because they are overweight or obese.
If we continue standing by while children are being deluged by junk food advertising every time they go on social media or watch TV, then we are failing them. The current regulations are not strong enough and we know self-regulation does not work.
She said the crossbench wants Australia to join 40 other countries that have or are planning to implement regulations to protect children from pervasive junk food marketing.
Ryan said commercial entities will harm health and increase inequity “if we don’t regulate their activities appropriately”.
Alcohol, sugary foods, gambling, and tobacco use profit multinationals but can really harm Australians.
I’m keen to work with other MPs to achieve responsible legislation around the marketing of alcohol, sugary foods, and gambling.
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‘You can get your kids going to jail, you can get poorer health outcomes’: Burney answers fears of ‘special treatment’
Asked how, as an Aboriginal woman she felt hearing some of the arguments from the opposition last week, that the voice would give “special treatment” to Indigenous people, Linda Burney says:
I’m going to tell you a story. I used to be the director-general of the Department of Aboriginal affairs in New South Wales. And the receptionist, bless her, her name was Gail. And she had [an] experience that I think is an absolute answer to your question.
A woman rang her late one afternoon and … said: I have found out I have Aboriginal heritage, what can I get?
And she said you can get [insecure] housing, you can get your kids going to jail, you can get poorer health outcomes, you can get a short life expectancy. And I think that is what answers that question.
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Dreyfus dismisses suggestion of lost support due to Leeser’s rejected amendment
Mark Dreyfus is asked whether, by not accepting Julian Leeser’s amendment to take out the reference to executive government, they potentially lost some support from the Coalition side:
No, it is vital that the voice be able to make representations to the executive government, it is also vital that the amendment on its face make clear it is about the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first peoples of Australia.
We don’t – we respectfully don’t agree with the amendment, at the same time as expressing real appreciation for the principal position the minister has taken throughout. And we are looking forward to him expressing his support throughout the campaign, because to be clear, Mr Leeser made it completely plain in the parliament today that he will be giving his full-throated support as a Liberal to the voice.
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Dreyfus says he has spoken to Lidia Thorpe about black deaths in custody
The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, adds to that answer:
I have talked Senator [Lidia] Thorpe about black deaths in custody. It remains a matter of concern for our government and something on the agenda at the standing council of attorneys general which I have reestablished …
I’m looking forward to relevantly real-time reporting of black deaths in custody commencing after July this year, which is a very important matter, and we will continue to look at those recommendations, some of them concerned the states and territories and we’ll continue to work with the states and territories to reduce and do what we can about black deaths in custody.
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Linda Burney is asked about independent senator Lidia Thorpe’s comments on the weekend that it has been hard consulting with her and whether she is doing anything to try and bring Thorpe on-side.
Burney says:
My role in this is to be, is to be a ... unifier, my role in this is to talk to as many people as possible, which is certainly what I am doing, including Senator Thorpe.
My role is also to make sure that this debate is conducted in a civil way. In a respectful way and in a positive way. And that is what I am focused on.
When you think about the level of support out in the community for the Voice, it is huge, it is huge. You have the NRL, the AFL, the AIU, Olympic Committee, Cricket Australia, the netball Association, you have the churches, the union movement, you have civil society, you have the business community and just yesterday you had Qantas come on board.
Every day there are new groups putting their hand up to support this campaign and I can assure you that going to the supermarket is just this wonderful approach of people saying to keep going, we are with you.
You catch a plane and you get the same thing.
I want to just assure all of you in the media that the campaign that we are involved with is positive, it is about taking this country forward and I know that the Uluru dialogues are doing some wonderful work with the start young program as well as Yes23, is coming together in terms of doorknocking and community activities right across this country. We will focus on those things and that is why I have every faith in the Australian people that this will be a successful referendum.
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Linda Burney says ‘we are so close’ after referendum bill passes lower house
The minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney is holding a press conference with Mark Dreyfus on the passage of the referendum legislation through the house.
Burney says it is one step closer to the voice.
Friends, we are so close. We have left base camp at Uluru. We can see the goal on the horizon. A yes vote at a referendum later this year will move Australia forward for everyone. It will be a new chapter in our country’s story.
And a yes vote will make a practical difference. I cannot stress that enough. The voice will make a practical difference. Because the solutions to so many of our challenges can be found in the knowledge and the wisdom of local communities.
Updated
We have a press conference coming up on the passing of the voice referendum legislation in the house and then it will basically be question time.
Woot.
Government to potentially mandate health warnings on single cigarette sticks
The health minister, Mark Butler, says the government will look to mandate health warnings on each individual cigarette stick, as well as outlawing tobacco products carrying labels like “fresh” and “smooth”, in a new bid to further crackdown on smoking.
The minister announced the new initiatives on Wednesday, opening consultation on a fresh round of tobacco control laws. The government had flagged some of these moves months ago, in a new attempt to lower smoking rates.
Butler said the new rules would include standardising sizes and shapes of tobacco products, to stop certain products from using size as a selling point; to prevent additives like menthol being put in to tobacco products; mandating the inclusion of health info inserts into pouches and bags of tobacco; limiting the use of “appealing names that imply reduced harm”.
That final one, Butler said, would outlaw the use of terms like smooth, cool and fresh being associated with smoking products. The government is also looking at putting warnings on each individual cigarette, not just the picks themselves.
Butler said the government would introduce laws later this year, after consultation, as they needed to address a looming sunset of tobacco control laws brought in by the Rudd government in 2014.
The government is separately working on a wider crackdown on vapes, including banning flavours and colourful packaging. Butler said today’s announcement would bring vaping products into current advertising rules on tobacco.
The minister admitted this would be a challenge, due to many vape sellers already marketing their products under the table but said the federal government was working with state counterparts – including police – to design more serious consequences for vape dealers not following the rules.
Updated
Reader question time
Reader QT update – a very big thank you to everyone who has sent in questions – there are quite a few and they are all very interesting!
So far we have questions on integrity, EVs, health services, roads, education and more. It is a breath of fresh air to see actual questions on policy being asked.
We will send them off to the MPs and ministers to answer and we will keep you updated on the blog. It might take until the next sitting for when I can start rolling out the answers but I hope that by then I will be in a rhythm with this segment and it will get a lot faster. I will also let you know who doesn’t answer the questions.
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ACCI claims ‘stickiness’ of inflation demands more wage moderation but RBA says wage rises not to blame
In news that will shock absolutely no one, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry says the “stickiness” of inflation means “continued wage moderation was imperative”.
The chief executive, Andrew McKellar, said in a statement:
An inflation-linked wage rise for those on award wages would be unsustainable without a corresponding offset via productivity increases. This will make it far more difficult to return inflation to target.
We cannot afford a situation where unit labour costs continue to rise, while there’s no growth in labour productivity.
With the Reserve Bank meeting again next week, the ability for small businesses and households to stomach further rate rises is limited after 11 increases to the cash rate since last May.
Philip Lowe himself said that wage rises were not driving inflation, and conceded that there was no evidence of a wage price spiral – just that the bank wanted continued “vigilance”. But there was nothing to suggest we were even approaching a wage price spiral. That’s also the view of Treasury secretary Dr Steven Kennedy.
Updated
Coalition targets Defence officials over ‘secretive’ nature of Ukraine assistance
The Coalition has taken aim at the government’s secrecy over exactly how much of the equipment and assistance promised to Ukraine has actually been delivered.
The government has repeatedly refused to be precise on how much of the promised assistance has arrived in Ukraine – including how many of the 90 Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles – citing the need for operational secrecy. Journalists and senators have typically asked such questions broadly, rather than seeking the exact date of forthcoming deliveries or delivery routes – but the government’s answer is always the same.
The leader of the opposition in the Senate, Simon Birmingham, took up the issue in Senate estimates today. He read out comments by the British government giving updates to the public about the completion of delivery of specific equipment, and asked:
Why is Australia so much more secretive about the actual delivery of our assistance to Ukraine that the United Kingdom is?
The secretary of the Department of Defence, Greg Moriarty, replied:
Senator, I don’t accept that we are being secretive – we are delivering the equipment in a methodical way.
We’ve delivered a substantial amount of what the government has committed. What we seek to protect – and I think senators very much appreciate this – is how many vehicles are delivered, on what days, via what routes, into where.
I think that is really important to protect that information, not just in terms of vehicles but the range of equipment. But the government is concerned to be transparent with the Senate about the way in which we are approaching that gifting. The gifting is ongoing.
Birmingham asked how the Australian government’s approach was “an acceptable level of transparency when cast against what the UK is doing”. Birmingham made clear that he was “not going to the specifics of individual operational elements, not talking about individual schedules of delivery but at least confirming that they got the job done”.
Hugh Jeffrey, a deputy secretary at the Department of Defence, said:
The majority of the equipment list that I read out to you today, senator, has been delivered. We would expect that most of it, the great majority of it, will be done by the middle of the year, and we can take on notice, senator, the question of if you want individual confirmation of what has been delivered. Again, our concern is not to go into the specifics, though, with the commitment that we have delivered the bulk of it and expect to do so by the end of the financial year.
Updated
Hecs/Help loan holders to be hit with record 7.1% indexation
Holders of student loans are bracing for a 7.1% increase on their debts tomorrow with a record indexation rate to come into effect.
The National Union of Students has joined the calls of a coalition of backbenchers urging the federal government to freeze Hecs indexation to ease the burden on young people caught up in an “intergenerational wealth crisis”.
The national union president, Bailey Riley, said today’s young people were “looking at becoming the most indebted generation in Australia’s history”.
Now the federal government is looking to profit from young Australians during a cost-of-living crisis.
The total value of Hecs loans will increase by $4.5bn tomorrow, with average debts of about $24,000 expected to increase by $1,700.
The education minister, Jason Clare, has stood firm on the increase, pointing to the Universities Accord Process due to hand down its final report in December. The NUS said it was disappointing student debt had been palmed off to the process.
The government keeps telling students to wait for these accords. The time to act is now, not years into the future once students are thousands of dollars further in Hecs debts.
Updated
I don’t think this is going to catch on.
We won't be wearing maroon or blue for tonight's #StateOfOrigin. This year, the hot new colour is #buff.
— AEC ✏️ (@AusElectoralCom) May 31, 2023
*buff being a pleasing shade of yellowish-beige used for referendum ballot papers pic.twitter.com/fm3opBx8pZ
Updated
Fuel excise change hangover among the distorting inflation signals
As mentioned in an earlier post, underlying price pressures weren’t quite so bad as some of the headlines about the headline inflation suggest. (We gave our story a tweak.)
Automotive fuel was particularly volatile last month in part because of the base effect of what was happening a year earlier. On the surface, fuel jumped 9.5% from a year earlier, reversing the 8.2% decline, and then some, for March.
The Morrison government’s last budget halved the fuel excise, lopping 22 cents off a litre. That triggered a 13.8% fall in fuel prices in April 2022, the ABS says. Fast forward to last month, and it’s understandable fuel prices jumped back since the excise holiday is now over (cancelled in the October budget). Hence their exclusion from the underlying inflation rate.
That’s not to say all was well at the bowser in April, since fuel price did rise 2.9% for the month mostly because of higher wholesale prices being passed on to consumers.
Lately, retail prices are actually lower, at 175.6 cents a litre on average as of 28 May, compared with 186.8 cents at the end of April, the Australian Institute of Petroleum says.
Fuel prices have lately been tilting up in part because of higher production costs but also retailer margins widening too. (Source: AIP) pic.twitter.com/EWTkGukAAn
— @phannam@mastodon.green (@p_hannam) May 31, 2023
That drop would suggest automotive fuel might be a clear down arrow come the release of May CPI numbers in a month’s time.
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Health minister to release new draft smoking and vaping laws for consultation
The health minister, Mark Butler, will release the draft update to smoking legislation for consultation a little later today (it will appear on this site later this afternoon).
That’s the legislation which will include vaping products. It covers:
Updating and improving graphic warnings on packaging
Standardising the size of tobacco packets and products
Preventing the use of specified additives in tobacco products
Standardising the design and look of filters
Limiting the use of appealing names that imply reduced harm
Requiring health promotion inserts in packs and pouches
Improving transparency of tobacco sales volumes, product contents, and advertising and promotional activities.
Capturing vapes in advertising restrictions
Anyone can have their say, so if you have a burning desire to be heard on this issue, send in your submission.
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Housing advocate criticises RBA governor’s comments on reducing demand
Maiy Azize from the advocacy group Everybody’s Home has responded to the RBA governor’s comments in Senate estimates today about the rental crisis.
Lowe suggested that the only way to see housing costs come down was to reduce aggregate demand, which included more people sharing dwellings or staying with their parents for longer.
Azize said that is not a solution:
Home sharing or staying at home longer is not the solution to the housing crisis. Governments building more social and affordable housing is.
Younger Australians are already living at home for longer than any previous generation. Working people are sharehousing until their thirties and forties. And many people on low incomes are stuck in overcrowded homes.
Women shouldn’t have to decide between sharing a home with a violent partner or becoming homeless. Essential workers shouldn’t have to choose between overcrowded housing or moving away from their community, only to make our workforce shortages worse.
The reality is that record numbers of homes have been built over the last ten years. Our system allows some people to hoard those homes, keep houses empty, and profit from record-high rents.
Lecturing people who are already the system’s losers won’t help.
If the governor is serious about tackling Australia’s housing crisis, he would join the call for more affordable and social homes – instead of putting more pressure on people who are already paying the price for a broken system.
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Defence strategy will ‘decentralise’ and ‘take recruiting to the people’
Further to my last post, Defence officials have given more details about the recruitment challenges facing the Australian defence force.
Maj Gen Wade Stothart, the head of people capability division, explained that it was “a challenging employment environment for Defence”, which was “not immune” to broader factors in the Australian economy. He said a number of external factors “have been buffeting us for some years”. He said of the recruitment changes planned:
We are shifting our model from one which is centralised and … requires individuals to come into our recruiting centres to one which is decentralised, where we are attempting to take recruiting to the people – and particularly those demographic areas that are of most interest to us that show the highest propensity to serve in the Australian defence force.
What our market research is showing is that the young Australians and less young Australians in the target demographics for us maintain a high propensity to consider service in the Australian defence force and that has remained relatively stable over the last few years. What is occurring in that cohort in an environment of full employment is that that cohort has many different options and choices being placed before it.
Guaranteed university offers before you’ve finished your year 12 or your high school certificate are occurring very regularly now for university entry. So the marketplace has become more competitive for us.
So the first aspect of our recruiting model change is to go deeply into those demographic areas and take recruiting to those people in a more decentralised way than we’ve done before including in regional and rural parts of Australia.
The Greens’ defence spokesperson, David Shoebridge, suggested that the changes were a case of “tinkering around the edges” and would not “magically increase recruitment” by the numbers the government requires.
Jenny McAllister, representing the defence minister, said recruitment and retention were a “substantial challenge” and there was not an “easy answer” – but the government had made a start by announcing a retention bonus and a review into housing arrangements.
Updated
Defence to fast-track recruitment
The Department of Defence says it will fast-track recruitment processes and actively target rural and regional areas in a bid to tackle what the defence minister, Richard Marles, has labelled a “personnel crisis”.
Defence has repeatedly missed its recruitment targets in recent years, but both major parties have committed to ambitious plans for an additional 18,500 Defence personnel by 2040, raising questions at Senate estimates today about how that could be achieved.
Justine Greig, a deputy secretary of the department, said:
We’re currently transitioning to a new recruitment model - the centrepiece of that is we will recruit – from application to enlistment - within 100 days.
That is a significant reduction of time so that we are … not losing those people to other organisations, other industries.
Maj Gen Wade Stothart, the head of people capability division, said the plan would involve doing multiple checks concurrently:
One of the problems with our recruiting model at the moment is it takes too long.
We have a number of checks that we need to go through – aptitude, psychological, security, safety checks – that need to be done to make sure we are taking people in who are fully aware of what service will entail and they are prepared for the demands of that service and they have every opportunity to succeed as fully as they can.
Stothart said there would also be greater “candidate care” – or “customised care for individuals to concierge them through that process” – and added:
We are very confident that this will improve our recruiting achievement, albeit within the difficult circumstances that we face. That is one of a number of initiatives we are taking to address what Minister [Richard] Marles has called a personnel crisis that we know we are under.
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ACMA powers to get boost in new bill as social media giants reveal extent of online misinformation
The federal government will shortly release a draft bill to strengthen regulators’ powers to address online misinformation, as social media giants reveal they deleted or restricted many thousands of posts during last year’s election.
The annual transparency reports for members of the voluntary Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation have been published – with Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, Bing and more revealing how they’ve been managing misinfo, with a particular focus on politics and Covid.
Google said it removed more than 80,000 videos in Australia last year that violated community guidelines, including 2,000 for violating misinformation policies and 3,000 related to dangerous or misleading Covid information. Google ran election ads from 127 verified advertisers in 2022, but rejected nearly 12,000 by unverified advertisers. Google got $28.3m in Australian election ads, with most unsurprisingly coming from the United Australia Party ($19.1m), then the Labor ($2.3m) and Liberal parties ($1.46m).
Facebook and Instagram took action on 91,000 bits of content for violating its health misinformation policies, removing 100 pages and accounts. The Meta platforms also took action on 131,000 pieces of hateful content and 246,000 pieces of content that violated violence or incitement policies, and rejected 17,000 ads for not complying with political ad policies.
Importantly, neither Facebook or Google detected any coordinated influence operation or inauthentic behaviour campaigns targeting the election.
Michelle Rowland, the communications minister, said the government would “shortly” release a draft bill to boost powers of the Australian Communications and Media Authority “to request digital platforms keep and provide records on key metrics that measure the effectiveness of their activities to combat misinformation and disinformation.”
The government had committed to releasing this draft in the first half of the year, so we can expect it in coming weeks. Regarding the coming voice referendum and fears of misinformation, Rowland said “it is important that digital platforms implement these commitments during the voice referendum”.
Updated
Anti-fossil fuel protesters make human chain outside NAB in Brisbane
Meanwhile, in Brisbane
BREAKING: Human chain - We are peacefully blockading the doors to the @NAB Brisbane branch on Queen St. If NAB wants to work for fossil fuels, we will stop them working! #MoveBeyondCoal #NoNewCoal pic.twitter.com/KVZ6riIpV0
— Move Beyond Coal Brisbane (@MBCBrisbane) May 31, 2023
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Service Australia can use spyware to detect fraud, senate estimates hears
Services Australia has told senate estimates it uses Israeli spyware to detect fraud but that it is used in line with Australian law.
Cellebrite can be used to bypass someone’s phone password during investigations into welfare fraud, and there was a report in ITNews in April of the software being used to check on a woman’s relationship status.
Greens senator Janet Rice said the technology allowed “cracking into smartphones and copying all data”.
The agency’s Chris Birrer said it was used to investigate “higher end” criminal cases including fraud attempts against the commonwealth and identity crimes.
Birrer said it was used consistently with Australian law, after the execution of a search warrant.
We provide forensic services to assist [the AFP]
He continued that only a small number of forensics investigators used it and said the agency did not consider it commercial spyware.
You can read more about the spyware here:
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RBA governor Philip Lowe during senate estimates
Mike Bowers was there to capture the full range of Philip Lowe in front of senate estimates:
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Headline inflation picked up but underlying numbers less worrying
The ABS inflation numbers for April have an up and a down arrow. Headline inflation for the month picked up to 6.8%, or more than the market had been expecting, and up from 6.3% in March..
That will cause some conniptions. However, the underlying inflation rate, when volatile movements are excluded, wasn’t so bad. That reading was 6.5%, still high, but down from 6.9% in March.
Given the RBA is more concerned ultimately with the underlying trends, the immediate impact has been for the dollar to drop slightly.
It was 65.15 US cents before the data release and now it’s about 65.05 US cents, implying investors aren’t quite so worried about interest rates going higher than they were a few minutes earlier.
Assistant ministers are sworn in to their portfolios
Oh wow! Such diversity in this photo.
I mean, I count five different tie designs! They’re not all blue!
What a win.
This morning, three Assistant Ministers have been sworn in to their portfolios by the Governor-General.
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) May 31, 2023
Congratulations to @PatrickGormanMP, @ALeighMP, and @AnthonyChisholm.
For more information, click here: https://t.co/sVytiu5zvO. pic.twitter.com/AP6G2ap5AG
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Hawthorn says internal report into alleged club racism had ‘good intentions’ despite no findings
Dipping out of politics for a moment;
The president of the Hawthorn football club has reiterated it had “good intentions” when it commissioned an internal report into alleged racism within the club and says that “in a perfect world” they would not be sanctioned by the league.
Andy Gowers spoke to media on Wednesday morning, only hours after the AFL revealed that an independent panel would make no adverse findings against the three former Hawthorn staff who were linked to the allegations: Alastair Clarkson, Chris Fagan, and Jason Burt.
All three have strongly denied any wrongdoing.
The AFL is still considering sanctions against Hawthorn for any potential breaches of AFL rules in relation to the allegations.
Gowers said on Wednesday that in a “perfect world” the club would not be sanctioned, with penalties including the fines or the stripping of draft picks among the options reportedly being considered. He said:
We went into this with the best of intentions. Where it ended up, no one is happy about. That’s clear. But the dialogue between all parties has not been able to happen to this point. We would welcome that and we think that that is an opportunity for people to be heard, to tell their truth and to heal, as I said before.
As AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said multiple times on Tuesday night, Gowers also said the way in which the report was made public influenced the club’s ability to properly hear from the past First Nations players who made the claims, and from the former coaches alleged to have been involved.
Gowers said:
As Gill said last night, it was leaked and that blew everything up.
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So what drove inflation?
The revised figure for April is out – 6.8%
So what were the main drivers? Peter Hannam has told you about fuel. But there was also Housing. Again. That went up by 8.9%. Food and non-alcoholic beverages (non-discretionary) went up by 7.9% and transport (driven by fuel) went up by 7.1%.
Those are not things people can keep cutting back on.
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Inflation rose in April to 6.8%
Annualised inflation rose in April from 6.3% to 6.8%, according to the ABS.
The change was driven higher by automotive fuel costs, stoking concerns of another RBA rate rise.
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Lowe wraps up senate estimates as next data dollop about to land
The RBA governor has ended his two-hour session which included his view about being appalled by the PwC scandal, and the fact the bank won’t be signing new contracts with the disgraced accounting firm without more transparency and accountability.
More here if you’re keen:
We knew the RBA was “data-driven” when it comes to setting interest rates, and don’t you know it, there’s another notable number about to land. The ABS will tell us how bad inflation was in April at 11.30 AEST, so don’t stray from the block.
Economists are expecting the monthly number to tick up to 6.4% from 6.3% in March. Slightly confusingly, the March quarter (ie January, February and March) came in with consumer prices up 7%.
In any case, we know the jobless rate jumped for April with full-time jobs cut while the wages data for the March quarter were not particularly strong.
As for Lowe, Liberal senators said they looked forward to seeing him at the next estimates in October, which assumes his term is extended beyond September. For his part, Lowe said it was up to the federal government to decide his fate but ended with “hope to see you in October”.
I suspect we might see a partial extension so he beds down the changes flowing from the RBA’s review.
Lowe says it’s easier for RBA to make ‘hard decisions’ on tax increases than it is for politicians
Given the imbalance in how the interest rate hikes are being felt, what does Dr Philip Lowe think could be done differently, so fiscal policy (the central bank) isn’t the main lever?
Lowe:
Well, let’s just say it’s a philosophical question. And a governance question.
From a public policy point of view do you want for the burden of managing every demand to be done with interest rates?
You could design different governance arrangements where tax expenditure policies moved as an instrument of aggregate demand management.
And it would be difficult to do because with the greatest respect, I think it’s easy for me, for the board, who’s a bank to take these hard decisions to inflict pain than it would be for the political class to increase taxes.
In principle, we’re smart enough to work out how to overcome that problem, but there’s a kind of a governance and political issue that would need to be solved and the experience both here and elsewhere is that is too hard.
But it could be done. But it’s hard to do it. Would they want to do it? I don’t know.
Lowe says countries with longer parliamentary terms haven’t solved the problem.
I think the difficulty is restraining aggregate demand is painful. And it’s unpopular. A central bank, you know, we’re immune from that whole kind of process and the experience has been that it’s better to give [that responsibility] to independent entities that are apolitical.
.
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First homeowners and low income renters are spending less, RBA boss confirms
The economics committee is on a break. But looking back at Dr Philip Lowe’s answers, he confirmed that newer homeowners and people on low incomes are feeling more financial stress (as in cutting back spending).
Asked where the geographical areas of pain were, Lowe said:
We don’t have data from the banks on which localities people are doing the spending and what we do have insights is in areas where people have borrowed a lot of money recently …
It’s pretty clear from the transaction account spending data that people who borrowed a lot and borrowed a lot recently, in the last three years spending is growing much more slowly than the rest of us.
And areas where there are a lot of low income renters people [are] having to cut back more.
So that assessment from the banks is corroborated from our liaison with the retailers who say their shops [are] in locations where there’s lower income or a lot of first homeowners, spending [is] less and it’s slowing.
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Senator Malcolm Roberts confirms no raise in gold reserve
Senator Malcolm Roberts has the call for questioning now and I was JUST about to mention that he has so far managed not to raise the gold reserve but I was too slow.
And he just asked about the gold reserve.
The answer is the same as always.
We’ve got our gold reserves and we haven’t bought and sold for a long time and we have no intention of changing that
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We will be getting the monthly inflation figure today (for April) as well. That should be coming down from the ABS very soon.
Increasing housing capital means ‘re-designing our cities’, Lowe says
But to increase housing capital, would mean re-designing our cities Dr Philip Lowe says which is not something Australia is great at:
I don’t know what the solution is. It’s hard to change the design of our cities because there’s so many vested interests so that I won’t ask you to comment on government policy, but I think capping investment into infrastructure in our cities at $120bn or at a nominal amount over a decade isn’t going to solve the problem.
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RBA boss says Australia’s population growth needs to be balanced by more capital
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie has asked Philip Lowe about population growth. This is part of the Coalition’s ‘big Australia’ attacks, despite the increase being a correction after closed borders, and that numbers were forecast to be higher under the Coalition.
Lowe puts housing growth with increasing productivity:
So if we’re going to have 2% more people in the country, we need 2% more capital, and that requires investment by business and investment by government.
And we’ve got to find a way collectively to do that.
I think strong population growth brings a lot of benefit. But we do need to increase the capital stock in line with the number of people in the country and that requires high levels of investment.
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Lowe agrees no sign of a wage-price spiral, nor a profit-price one
RBA’s Lowe is entering the home stretch for his estimates session, and is covering familiar territory in terms of previously stated positions.
He agrees with treasury secretary Steven Kennedy that there are no signs of a wages-price spiral, but vigilance is necessary (see earlier post about the absence of productivity growth).
As for company profits pushing up inflation, Lowe says that if companies were taking advantage of the cover of rising prices to fatten their profits, “you’d see it in the aggregates”. Excluding the mining sector, the share of national income going to profits has not been going up, he said.
(The RBA briefed the Guardian [among others] a couple of months back, and has provided similar stats to various places, including economists’ breakfasts for a while. However, there is an ongoing debate about gouging, such as among the big supermarkets.)
Lowe also said the big commercial banks’ profits were not fat because of rising interest rates since net-interest margins hadn’t been changing “at all”.
The bumper profits were because there were “very few impairment expenses” caused by borrowers being unable to repay their loans, he said.
Suspect those debates over profiteering aren’t going to go away.
‘More people in each dwelling’ one way to bring down inflation, RBA boss says
RBA governor Dr Philip Lowe has also talked about the housing market, including rents which are one of the biggest drivers of CPI.
So what does Lowe think is the solution? We go back to share houses.
We’ve got a lot of people coming into the country, people wanting to live alone or move out of home.
The way that this ends up fixing itself is unfortunately through higher housing prices and higher rents.
We need more people on average to live in each dwelling, and [higher] prices do that.
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Labor Senator questions Service Australia about Synergy 360 and departing MP
Labor senator Anne Urquhart has been asking Services Australia chief executive officer, Rebecca Skinner, about Synergy 360 and departing MP Stuart Roberts. You can catch up on the brouhaha here:
Skinner said she does not have the authority to look into anything except the conduct of public servants.
Speaking of brouhahas, there was also a to and fro between Labor senator Anne Urquhart and Liberal senator Linda Reynolds which ended in withdrawals and accusations of false accusations. If I can work out exactly what it was all about, I’ll come back to you.
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Voice legislation passes lower house
Labor MPs celebrate the passing of the constitutional alteration bill through lower house
On cue, Labor MPs have welcomed the passage of the constitutional alteration bill through the lower house. PM Anthony Albanese tweeted that Australia was “one step closer to recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our Constitution.”
Our Constitutional Alteration Bill has just passed the House of Representatives.
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) May 31, 2023
We’re one step closer to recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our Constitution.
Attorney-general Mark Dreyfus called the 121-25 margin in the House “a fantastic result”, saying it was “on to the Senate and then the Australian people.” He tweeted a video of applause in the parliament as the bill passed this morning.
The Bill for a referendum for a Voice to Parliament has passed the House 121-25. A fantastic result.
— Mark Dreyfus (@MarkDreyfusKCMP) May 31, 2023
Now it's on to the Senate and then the Australian people. pic.twitter.com/b7JAHO14ru
Labor MP Jerome Laxale called it “a historic moment for Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander voices” and a “a positive move towards reconciliation”. Senator Pat Dodson, special envoy for reconciliation and the Uluru statement, tweeted “Let’s move our nation forward!”
The Constitution Alteration Bill for the Voice has passed the House with an absolute majority!
— Patrick Dodson (@SenatorDodson) May 31, 2023
121 to 25.
The Bill will come to the Senate, and once passed, it will be up to the Australian people to decide in the referendum later this year.
Let’s move our nation forward!
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Lowe says it ‘may be possible’ to keep unemployment rate 3.5%
Back to economics estimates and Greens senator Nick McKim is asking Philip Lowe about unemployment.
The question is based around the Nairu – the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment – which is basically a number Treasury and the RBA consider to be the amount of ‘full employment’ the economy can handle before inflation starts to increase. For years it has been at about 4.5%. We now have an unemployment rate with a 3 in front of it and that has led to some economists speaking about the need for unemployment to increase, to help bring inflation down.
But that means people losing jobs. And in a country where the unemployment benefits are well below the poverty line, that seems a very unfair trade off. Especially since most of those same economists who think unemployment needs to increase don’t think the unemployment payment should increase because that could be inflationary.
So for those people caught on the margins, it is not exactly fair. In fact it is not only unfair, it is punishing.
Lowe says:
If I can get inflation back to target, and we can keep unemployment below where it was before the pandemic, well below where it was for 30 years, and as the economy continues to grow, I think, be a good outcome.
I think realistically, the assessment, our assessment and the assessment of Treasury and of the government and most private sector economists, is that we’re beyond full employment.
And most estimates of full employment kind of come in the low fours and that could be wrong.
And it may be possible to keep the unemployment rate at three and a half percent.
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Voluntary code launched to get fossil fuel cash out of sports and arts
The Climate Council has launched a voluntary code for sports and arts organisations to pledge they won’t accept sponsorship from fossil fuel organisations.
The council said it had launched the code in response to “mounting pressure from athletes, artists, fans and punters” over sponsorships of arts events and “sports washing”.
Head of advocacy at the council Dr Jennifer Rayner said:
It is absurd that, as climate change reshapes our way of life in real-time, the logos of fossil fuel companies responsible for this mess are plastered across athletes’ chests, emblazoned on gallery walls, and prominently displayed at festival grounds. It has to stop.
Signing the pledge would mean organisations “will not enter into sponsorship arrangements, take funding or any in-kind contributions from coal, oil and gas companies” and use of fossil fuel logos would not be permitted on any promotional materials. The pledge states:
Where we currently have sponsorships with fossil fuel corporations, we will cease these at the end of the current contract term. We will not enter into new sponsorship arrangements with fossil fuel companies in future. We will disclose all of our sponsorship arrangements annually for transparency.
Prof Sophia Nimphius, co-author of the code at Edith Cowan University, said a report produced with the code included guidelines for organisations “to seek new sponsors that align with their values and our shared vision for a sustainable future, effectively severing their ties with fossil fuel company sponsorships.”
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PwC apparently failed to raise concerns about robodebt
The PricewaterhouseCoopers saga just keeps on keeping on. Also in Senate estimates this morning, we’ve heard that Services Australia got the scandal-ridden consultancy giant on board to do a compliance review into the robodebt scheme back in 2017.
PwC apparently did not raise concerns about the scheme and didn’t end up delivering a report – although deputy chief executive officer Chris Birrer, from the royal commission Response Team, said there was a PowerPoint presentation.
Greens senator Janet Rice is quizzing Birrer on whether the agency withheld any information from PwC, which is in a world of trouble over using confidential government information to help its corporate clients.
Birrer said as far as he knew, they didn’t withhold information from PwC, and that PwC didn’t raise concerns about the legality of robodebt. He said:
PwC was brought in as part of planning out a new way of delivering that program and so it was really based around the operational steps in terms of how to improve the efficiency of the programme, and didn’t really go to those underlying aspects of the legality that you raised.
Rice asked whether “even without being asked questions specifically about the legality … at any stage did any PwC staff raise any concerns with you about the scheme being wrong or unfair or detrimental?”
I’m not personally aware of that, senator,” Birrer said.
Rice said:
So … some people that were suiciding because of being issued illegal debts, and it took some brave Centrelink staff to blow the whistle. But PwC were paid a million dollars and didn’t raise any concerns about that.
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Protest law passes in SA parliament
During that very busy hour in the federal parliament, the South Australian upper house passed the protest law changes.
There had been a 15 hour debate (or one question time) and the Greens attempts to send the bill to committee for review (it has been rushed through the parliament) or put a sunset clause on it were voted down.
But ‘recklessly’ has been removed from the wording after an amendment from SA Best was supported by the Greens and the crossbench. So it is now ‘wilfully’. The penalties remain.
You can read more about the lead-up to this move here:
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Chief of nuclear-powered submarine taskforce asked about Aukus submarines
Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead, the chief of the nuclear-powered submarine taskforce, has been asked about Aukus at Defence estimates.
He said Australia was working with the US about which Virginia class submarines will be transferred to Australia from the early 2030s.
Mead said the submarines to be transferred would have “over 20 years of service life remaining” (meaning they could be second-hand) but the exact submarines were “yet to be determined”.
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Treasury and RBA on same page about budget and inflation
So that is a unity ticket – Treasury and RBA are both on the same page when it comes to whether the budget was inflationary or not and have returned a ‘yeah, nah’. (Obviously that is official economics parlance)
Liberal MPs have been trying everything they can to try to find something to hit the government with over the budget as part of their ‘it’s the government’s fault you are enduring a cost of living crisis’ attack line, but so far the boffins have not been playing ball.
That is not to say there aren’t more things the government could be doing. But so far, the budget has not upset those paid a lot of money to keep an eye on numbers.
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RBA’s Lowe says federal budget was ‘broadly neutral’ for interest rates
Lowe douses much of the overheated commentary that the May budget had been inflationary.
In fact, the budget was “broadly neutral” as far as interest rates, it was not something that shifted “our needle at all”.
Yes, the extra spending would add about $3bn-$4bn this year to the economy, and was “mildly expansionary”, that came in an economy generating more than $2tn a year in activity.
On the other hand, bracket creep that saw inflation push people into higher tax levels was contractionary for the economy, hence it roughly balanced out.
The budget “hasn’t affected our outlook for the economy or interest rates”, Lowe said.
Of course, markets in the wake of the budget told you all you needed to know (even if a lot of the media weren’t looking in the right places):
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Barnaby Joyce and Andrew Wallace among the no voters
According to the live minutes, here are the no votes:
Sam Birrell, Colin Boyce, Darren Chester, Pat Conaghan, Mark Coulton, David Gillespie, Alex Hawke, Kevin Hogan, Barnaby Joyce, Michael McCormack, Llew O’Brien, Keith Pitt, Anne Webster, Andrew Wilcox, Scott Buchholz, Ian Goodenough, Luke Howarth, Michelle Landry, Garth Hamilton, Tony Pasin, Andrew Wallace, Rick Wilson, Terry Young
Bob Katter is not listed as voting.
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Referendum legislation passes the House of Reps
Annnnnd the referendum legislation has passed the house.
121 to 25.
There was clapping from supporters as the final numbers were read.
Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney welcomed the passage of the bill:
BREAKING: The House has just passed the Constitution Alteration! We're one step closer to holding a referendum on constitutional recognition through the Voice in 2023.
— Linda Burney MP (@LindaBurneyMP) May 30, 2023
It is now off to the senate (which is not sitting this week because of estimates) and the house moves on to other business.
The referendum debate has dominated the house sitting for a week and a half.
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Department of Defence reveals it found 435 devices manufactured by Chinese companies on Defence sites
The Department of Defence has revealed that it has found 435 devices made by Chinese companies Hikvision and Dahua on Defence sites.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, said in February that he had asked the Department of Defence “to engage in a further audit, just to make sure we’ve not missed any – and if there are any, they will be removed”.
The Liberal senator James Paterson asked about the issue of cameras and other devices at Senate estimates today. He said that his question on notice late last year asking whether any of these cameras were on defence sites came back on 7 February, as saying there was one system at one site, which was in the process of being removed:
However, a comment provided or information provided to the Australian newspaper on 14 February said that in fact there were 42 cameras on defence sites. Can someone explain to me the reason for the disparity between the information given to the Australian newspaper and the answer provided in the question on notice?
Celia Perkins, the deputy secretary at the Department of Defence responsible for security and estate, said Marles had ordered “a much more detailed physical audit of every part of the estate” and that had led to an increase:
… We found additional devices by manufacturers of concern. The total number of devices was 435. We removed as many of them as we could immediately. Sometimes they were in locations where we needed specialists and in some cases, we needed to leave them on for work health and safety or other reasons. We are now working through a process of getting to complete removal of devices and we are on track to have that completed by 30 June.
Paterson expressed incredulity at the “extraordinary” increase. Perkins said the defence estate was “a vast and complex thing”. The audit had looked at lower risk sites including shops, coffee points and daycare centres:
By 30 June the number will be zero.
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RBA halts signing new contracts with PwC over tax scandal
The Greens Nick McKim has started his questions about the RBA and the scandal-hit PwC accounting firm (not touched on by the Coalition’s Hume who preceded him at senate estimates.
So, Lowe says the RBA will need “complete transparency” and “complete accountability” from PwC before entering any new contracts with the firm.
The RBA has spent from $100,000 to $800,000-$900,000 annually over the past five years with PwC, which is probably chickenfeed compared with the fees raked in from other government agencies.
The audit and management services already contracted will continue because the cost of cancelling them would not be worthwhile, Lowe said.
Lowe said he was “100% confident” that PwC had no access to its monetary policy information. McKim, though, wants to know what kind of data PwC will have and what steps that “Pwc can’t run the same scam on the RBA as they ran on treasury”.
Fallout, in other words, about the PwC misuse of sensitive tax information to assist its corporate clients, continues to dust the federal government departments and its agencies.
PwC’s current contract includes auditing whether RBA staff had been underpaid, McKim said.
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Lowe speaks on energy price gaps and housing market
The economics committee has moved into PwC land, but it is worth revisiting what Philip Lowe said about the (temporary) energy market intervention Peter alerted you too. It wouldn’t have been the answer that the Liberals (who voted against it) would have wanted.
Lowe:
So the energy price gaps in electricity and gas, have roughly taken half a percent off inflation, in the next calendar year. And then the rebates that that have been given through the states, they will take another quarter percent off.
Of course, when the rebates go away, they’ll act as an increase in inflation.
But this year, the combination of those measures is reducing inflation by three-quarters of a percent.
Lowe then moved on to the housing market:
Regulation is incredibly important on the structural side of the economy as well. A particular concern we have at the moment is in the housing construction market. You know the supply side of that market is not flexible, let’s put it politely – and it’s not flexible largely because of regulation, rate planning, zoning developments charges. So there’s a lot of regulation there which is affecting the flexibility of the supply side of the housing market.
And the result of that with strong population growth is rising housing prices and rising rents may not be within the realm of the federal government. But there are certainly things on the regulatory front that could make a difference.
We have been saying it for months – the housing situation is a pressure cooker the government doesn’t seem to have any answers for yet. And it is getting pretty close to boiling point.
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Second reading for constitutional bill passes; All Nationals MPs vote no
Earlier, a vote on the second reading for the constitutional bill passed by 120-25. All Nationals MPs voted no, as well as Liberal MPs including Ian Goodenough, Garth Hamilton, Tony Pasin, Andrew Wallace and Rick Wilson and LNP MPs Scott Buchholz, Michelle Landry, Henry Pike, Terry Young and Luke Howarth.
Last night we reported that Wilson, the MP for O’Connor, had been one of the “authorised dissenters”, assigned to vote no so that the Liberals could contribute to the official referendum pamphlet.
It’s likely the final vote will pass by a similarly large margin, with most Liberals supporting it.
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Coalition questions the number of vessels for Maritime Border Command
At Defence estimates, the Coalition has pursued questions about how many vessels are available for use Maritime Border Command (which is linked to Operation Sovereign Borders).
The chief of the Australian defence force, Gen Angus Campbell, said the ADF was providing to Maritime Border Command eight Royal Australian Navy vessels, with an additional two vessels able to be committed should they be required (on standby).
Air vice-marshal Stephen Chappell, the head of the military strategic commitments division, gave the breakdown as follows:
Five patrol boats and three other warships or large-hull vessels and the additional vessels that are on a recall ability for the commander of joint taskforce.
The Liberal senator James Paterson said that was an increase since February last year, when the number of large-hull vessels was just one.
Chappell replied:
That’s correct senator. That’s at the request of commander OSB maritime border command.
Asked about the reason for the increase, Chappell said it was best for Home Affairs to answer as it was based on their “classified intelligence assessments”.
Paterson asked whether it was fair to assume it was due to the increased risk of “illegal maritime arrivals”.
Campbell said:
I would summarise the commander of maritime border command’s intention in seeking the additional vessels so as to ensure the realisation of an effective deterrence and response effect.
The Labor senator Jenny McAllister, representing the defence minister at the table, said the Coalition was seeking to make a “very political point”. She said the government had made its intention clear to maintain strong border settings. Where additional resources were requested, they were provided, McAllister said.
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Lowe says federal intervention in energy markets helped trim inflation
The RBA’s Philip Lowe tells Liberal senator Jane Hume that the federal government’s effort to cap gas and coal prices had contributed to cutting inflation. (Probably not what the Coalition has been arguing.)
Echoing previous estimates, Lowe said the price caps would shave half a percentage point off the coming year’s inflation rate. The states’ energy rebates had trimmed off another quarter percentage point (which will reverse when the rebates end).
Those price caps, as we saw last week, have not stopped the electricity prices, just moderated the jump we might have seen:
Lowe repeats his mantra that the RBA will “do whatever’s necessary” to curb inflation, including higher interest rates.
As a hint of other issues, Lowe said he was “disappointed” that the recent RBA review did not examine whether the current arrangements (ie lifting or lowering the cash rate to moderate the economy) was the “best design from a public policy point of view”.
Lowe doesn’t say what other paths might be trod, but a former RBA board member (and husband of one the RBA review panelists) sketched out this alternative:
Final steps for referendum about to pass the lower house
The constitutional amendment bill is about to pass the lower house, one of the final steps before the referendum is officially on.
The House of Reps just resolved to not support an amendment from Liberal MP and longtime voice proponent Julian Leeser, which would have removed the voice’s power to advise executive government from the constituonal change. Speakers including Andrew Gee and Zoe Daniel said this amendment would muzzle the power of the voice, despite Leeser’s claims the change would help the prospects of the referendum passing.
The House is on to its final vote now. It should pass easily, with most (but not all) Liberal MPs to support the referendum bill passing (despite them not supporting the referendum itself).
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Lowe says government can help with inflation
Are there moves the government can make to help the RBA, Jane Hume asks?
Philip Lowe:
In principle way, of course, they can. Without commenting on recent decisions by the government decisions that are made by the parliament can affect inflation, at least in three broad ways;
A more restrictive policy stance – I’d be clear about that, that involves higher taxes or less government spending which would mean less aggregate demand in the economy and less inflation.
The second thing is structural reform that increases the supply side of the economy so that the economy grows more quickly.
And the third thing governments can do is to intervene in specific markets to reduce price pressures.
And we’ve seen an example of this recently in the electricity market, where the interventions they’re reducing inflation by roughly three-quarters and percent in the next financial year. So measures that influence aggregate demand structural reform in specific interventions in markets are there.
That’s the menu which items from that menu any particular government chooses? It’s up, it’s up to them.
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Final vote on referendum legislation bill under way
Over in the house and the final vote on the referendum legislation bill is happening.
It will pass with flying colours.
From here, it is off to the senate, where it will also pass. And then the referendum campaigns begin in earnest.
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Lowe announces RBA target of returning to 3% inflation by mid-2025
Dr Philip Lowe says the bank has decided to pursue a path back to 3% inflation.
The target band has been 2-3%. He says they have landed on 3% because they want to keep some of the employment gains. (Higher unemployment is used to keep inflation down, but is no good for you know, PEOPLE)
Lowe:
Our current central forecast is that the headline innation rate returns to 3% in mid-2025. That’s a bit later than many other countries returning to target.
We’ve consciously taken that decision to have a slower glide path back to target. And the reason is we want to do whatever we can to preserve the gains in the labour market we’ve achieved.
Australia has not got to full employment in four decades. We finally got there. Courtesy of the response by the government, this is a legacy of the pandemic that people talk about, the positive legacy. Youth unemployment is lower in decades.
… It’s fantastic that people can get jobs. Maybe not the job that they want, but in Australia today it’s easy to get a job and has been for 50 years.
We’ve decided to pursue a course back to 3% inflation.
That’s a balanced course and we don’t want to disrupt the labour market than more than we can.
Mid-25 is pressing the length of time we can reasonably take. We take longer than that, people might say, are you serious about the inflation target. We are serious but want to preserve the gains in the labour market.
There’s still quite a lot of uncertainty about how household spending will evolve. There’s uncertainty about the global economy. While inflation expectations are well anchored at the moment we can’t take that for granted.
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Dan Andrews wishes Victorian Liberal MP well after retirement announcement
Daniel Andrews has responded to the news Victorian Liberal MP Ryan Smith will retire from parliament after 16 years.
The Warrandyte MP released a statement on Wednesday morning saying he would resign on 7 July. He said he had become “increasingly uncomfortable with the growing negative tone of politics.”
Speaking to reporters, Andrews, sent his well wishes to Smith:
It’s a great opportunity and a great honour, a great privilege to represent the community that you live in.
I wish him and his family well.
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‘Shocked and saddened’: Bill Shorten on the Melbourne Centrelink stabbing
Government services minister, Bill Shorten, says he was “shocked and saddened” by an incident in a Melbourne Centrelink office last week, where a staff member was allegedly stabbed. Via Labor senator Don Farrell, who is representing him in senate estimates, Shorten said his thoughts were with the injured staff member, their family, and the staff and customers who witnessed the incident. Shorten said:
Frontline workers and first responders should be able to return home safely from work every day. And increasingly this isn’t the case. It’s time to draw a line in the sand.
The federal government has announced a security risk management review.
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‘Productivity growth is the problem’, RBA’s Lowe tells Senate estimates
Phil Lowe, the Reserve Bank governor, is up before senate estimates for two hours this morning.
Interestingly, Lowe doesn’t open with a speech, and kicks off with a comment about his disappointment that his private discussion with a house economics committee leaked to the media.
The subject of that meeting was about productivity growth - or the lack of it - and that’s where today’s chat has started. In short, Australia hasn’t seen any growth in workers’ productivity over the past three years.
“It’s a problem for the country and a problem for inflation as well,” Lowe said, noting inflation and per-unit labour costs tend to move together.
That means the 3.75% or so rise in wages is at odds with the bank’s target for inflation of 2%-3% (ie 2.5% in the middle). “That means unit labour cost in Australia is quite high,” Lowe said.
There are a lot of risks in the economy, he said, but risks remain “on the upside” for inflation.
Meanwhile, here’s how the market looked, re inflation rates, before Lowe began his estimates session.
Ahead of the senate estimates grilling of RBA governor Philip Lowe, investors were assessing the chance of an interest rate rise in June as 10%. However, they place the odds of one more hike - the 12th in this series - as about 90% by August. pic.twitter.com/MPs45I66GD
— @phannam@mastodon.green (@p_hannam) May 30, 2023
Hume asks RBA governor about productivity growth at Senate estimates
What are the drivers of productivity growth, and why is productivity so important Jane Hume asks? For the benefit of hansard, you understand.
What the drivers are? That’s complex. I can go to why it’s important, because the only way that we can increase real wages and real incomes is to become better and smarter at doing thing. To produce more for each hour we go to work. That’s how we become wealthier.
We can’t pay ourselves real wages. The value of our assets won’t go up, there will be more strain on the public balance sheet. Productivity growth is the way we become wealthier.
We pay ourselves high wages and the government has more resources for the services we want. It’s incredibly important.
What we do about it, well, we do have an organisation called Productivity Commission which has written many reports and it has many very good ideas. The challenge is doing them.
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RBA governor says service price inflation is a concern
Jane Hume asks about the ‘stickiness’ of inflation and whether that is a worry for the RBA governor.
Lowe says:
You highlight the persistence of inflation overseas. And it’s exactly the same issue that I’ve just been talking about. The goods price inflation has gone down. And the supply side problems of Covid are being resolved. Commodity prices are back to where they were before the pandemic. That’s driving headline inflation lower. The issue is services price inflation, which is persistent. It’s persistent because growth and unit labour costs in many countries is high – 5% in the US and productivity growth low. That underlies the persistent in inflation around the world. It’s a concern.
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RBA governor in front of estimates committee
Dr Philip Lowe is in front of the estimates committee. Our economics guru Peter Hannam will be watching the hearing and giving you updates, but I’ll pop in with some bits and pieces.
Liberal senator Jane Hume is asking the questions first up – she is building up to working out how to apply pressure on the government over inflation.
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Ley doesn’t blame RBA for housing crisis and says government is ignoring advice
Sussan Ley held a quick doorstop (short press conference) where she was asked about the RBA governor’s appearance at senate estimates:
Q: Do you think Philip Lowe on the RBA board holds any responsibility for the situation many Australian households are facing at the moment when it comes to mortgage pain?
Ley:
I’m not taking issue with the RBA … I’m taking issue with this government, this government that ignores advice, that fails to recognise the pain that people are experiencing, and with this recent news on power prices, actually simply tells us ‘oh, well, that would have been higher if we hadn’t done certain things’, I question whether they would have been higher. What I absolutely know is what absolutely every Australian knows is there far too high increases admitted by the energy regulator to be 25 to 29 per cent higher from the first of July. Now unless this government puts in place a proper plan how can we expect really struggling families?
Q: So do you believe that Phil Lowe should get to stay in the job?
Ley:
That’s a matter for Phil Lowe, it is a matter for others than me, I’m not giving gratuitous advice to people about the positions that they should be taking or not taking.
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Federal Coalition is against ACT government acquiring Catholic-owned public hospital
The federal Coalition is going hard against the ACT government’s decision to forcibly acquire the Catholic-owned Calvary Public hospital.
Calvary and the ACT government were in negotiations over the site in May last year, but the talks failed to come to an agreement. Earlier this month, the ACT government announced its plans to take over the hospital, which would transfer the staff to the ACT public health service.
The government is also planning on allocating $1bn towards a new hospital at the existing Calvary site, with construction to begin in 2025.
Under the legislation, Calvary will be compensated. But the Catholic health service has announced it will challenge the legislation which will allow the forced take over in court.
The federal opposition has come down on the side of Calvary, urging Anthony Albanese to use federal powers to overrule the ACT government.
This is an extraordinary attack on freedom of religion and on the rights of private and religious health care providers to care for the sick. It sets a dangerous and unsettling precedent for every faith-based school, aged-care provider, or social welfare service.
The ACT Government’s legislated asset grab of Calvary hospital sends a chilling signal to religious and private healthcare providers: if you don’t submit to ideological left governments, they will come after you.
The Federal Coalition is both amazed and aghast at the manner in which the ACT Government has gone about this process – with little consultation or contact with the Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn who have successfully operated this facility for decades.
The prime minister must reconsider and intervene.
This is a Territory law. The Commonwealth Government can and should intervene to override the ACT Government and make clear that it will not stand for this outrageous hostile acquisition.
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Victorian Liberal MP Ryan Smith announces retirement
Victorian Liberal MP, Ryan Smith, has announced he will be retiring from parliament after 16 years.
The member for Warrandyte, who made a failed bid to become opposition leader after the November state election loss, said he had become “increasingly uncomfortable with the growing negative tone of politics, both internally and more broadly”.
Full statement:
The Liberal MP for Warrandyte has issued this statement saying his resignation is effective of July 7. @abcmelbourne pic.twitter.com/3rs0UFke7O
— Richard Willingham (@rwillingham) May 30, 2023
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Final vote on referendum today in the House of Representatives
At the same time the RBA governor is facing a senate committee, the final vote on the referendum legislation will be under way in the house.
It will pass, although there will be some nominated ‘nos’ within the Coalition because of a strange little quirk where some have to vote no in order for the ‘no’ pamphlet, that will go out to people along with the ‘yes’ pamphlet to get up.
Only those who vote no can write the no pamphlet (and vice versa) so we will see who the Coalition has picked very soon.
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RBA governor to front economics estimates soon
RBA governor Philip Lowe will be in front of the economics estimates committee in just over 30 minutes.
What a time.
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‘Very modest law change’: Malinauskas continues to defends SA’s anti-protest law
In fact, he thinks that people pointing out the flaws in the law, given the wording and how it can be interpreted by police is actually what is dangerous:
I think the very suggestion speaks to an extremist argument that is not consistent with the facts, that actually, I think, does the cause of progressive politics a great disservice.
As a person who has participated in protests - I marched against the war in Iraq, you know, schools for climate, all these sites of protest I have attended myself on many occasions - and I think the progressive side of politics does itself a genuine disservice when they start ignoring the facts and making really, I think, extreme suggestions that somehow what is a very modest law change is going to result in homeless people being locked up.
It’s actually, I think, irresponsible to proffer suggestions like that so what we’re doing as a government and what the Parliament seems to be doing and as far as I can tell a significant majority of South Australians support is modest steps to maintain the good order of the city at the same time preserving that sacrosanct principle and right for people to be able to demonstrate and protest to advance their democratic cause, whatever that may be.
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SA Premier in damage control over anti-protest law changes
South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas is in damage control over the anti-protest law changes his government is supporting.
He is speaking to ABC News Breakfast trying to explain how nothing is changing when it comes to protest in South Australia, despite the law change proposal, which would see ‘wilfully obstruct’ changed to “intentionally or recklessly engages in conduct that obstructs the free passage of a public place”
The fine would increase from $750 to $50,000 with the option of three months jail.
Critics of the law change, which has been put forward by the Liberal opposition and embraced by the Labor government say it could lead to homeless people or people having a mental health breakdown in public fined or jailed, while undermining the democratic right to protest.
Malinauskas says it won’t:
I keep coming back to a fundamental principle which seems to be looked over by some of the commentary and that is there is nothing changing to the Public Assemblies Act and that is the law that protests the way protests happen in South Australia and has been since 1972. Nothing is changing there. What we have a clear focus on is those people who are breaking the law repeatedly with impunity. They’ve been coming in from interstate, the people that caused the most recent shutdown of the city came from interstate. Protest is welcome but it’s got to be done in such a way that is conscious of other people’s rights within our community.
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Hume to ask RBA governor about lowering inflation at estimates today
Jane Hume is a lot more excited to talk about the RBA governor Dr Phil Lowe’s appearance in front of estimates today.
She wants to ask him what the government could be doing to help the RBA lower inflation. Treasury has already said it doesn’t consider the budget to be inflationary, but the Coalition is on the hunt.
Especially since Lowe warned, in a private briefing with both Labor and Coalition MPs which was meant to be confidential, about the dangers of wages rising above 2-3% without an offset in increased productivity.
The RBA has been obsessed with warnings about a ‘wage price spiral’ (where wages are increased to inflation, causing inflation to rise, causing wages to rise and so on until you get the 1970s) but given workers are only just seeing their wages hit 2012 growth levels and most haven’t seen a pay rise in a decade, AND the pay rises which are happening aren’t anywhere near inflation for most workers, it all seems to add up to it never being a good time, economically, for workers to get pay rises.
We don’t hear the same thing about massive profits, for instance, do we?
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The Big Four consulting firms’ work for the Coalition rose from $282m to $1.4bn
Under the Coalition, work for the Big Four consulting firms rose from $282m to $1.4bn over a decade. Why was Jane Hume’s government so happy for those firms to do the work and not the public service?
Hume says, again, that the public service can’t do everything. Which is true. But she neglects to mention the public service caps the Coalition put in place, which led to a ‘shadow public service’ being provided by the private sector.
It meant the government could show head count was down in the public service, having created an ‘average staffing level cap’ which (outside the military) meant staffing levels were kept to 2006-07 levels – about 167,596.
But of course, the work load increased. So the Coalition used private contractors to fill those gaps, with an audit finding the equivalent of nearly 54,000 full-time staff were employed as consultants or service providers for the federal government during the 2021-2022 financial year – the equivalent of 37% of the 144,300-employee public service.
Hume:
Well, because the public service can’t do everything without running the Commonwealth is a very complicated and increasingly so complicated task. There are some things that the private sector can do better than the public sector.
That’s the best way to spend taxpayer money to make sure you get the most efficient outcome.
Now, I can’t speak to individual contracts. Obviously there were plenty of them across government and there remains plenty of them and there will remain plenty of them. But I think that there is a public expectation that governments will spend their money in the most efficient way, but they will do it when they partner with external consultants. They’ll do it with a very tight the terms of their contract, and that those partners will act with within the law.
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‘A fair and reasonable expectation’
But Jane Hume can’t really know that for sure, can she?
Hume:
Well, no, we can’t. But that’s the expectation. That’s the community expectation. That’s the commonwealth expectation. And I think that it’s a fair and reasonable expectation.
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Expectation contractors will ‘act ethically’
But why are they different issues, given how much confidential information private contractors are privy to when they work with government departments?
Jane Hume:
99.99% of the time, they may will have access to that information and they behave within the terms of their contract and within the terms of the law, and they act ethically.
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Consultants will always be needed, Hume says
Asked about the former Coalition government, of which she was a part, spending $21bn on consultants in the previous financial year to 2022, Jane Hume says:
I think you’re conflating two issues – the PwC issue was, in fact, not a procurement contract for consultants.
It was simply a commonwealth department seeking expert advice that happens all the time and will continue to happen.
So we want to make sure when that happens, that those partners those people that are being consulted act ethically act within the terms of their contract, act within the terms of the law. The issue of consultants is a very different one.
And again, the commonwealth still can’t do everything on its own. There will always be – and I think the treasurer has said it yesterday – there will always be opportunities or necessity to to appoint contracts with the big consultants or or other experts in the field.
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‘Privacy laws are there for a reason’
But given what has happened, why is Jane Hume defending the privacy provisions for those contracts?
Privacy laws are there for a reason and they’re imposed upon agencies for very good reason to however, I think that, you know, everybody across the parliament would agree that something has gone wrong here when there is a contract, however, between a provider and the commonwealth, that the terms of an agreement have to be upheld and that includes the ethical standard that the community would expect from the provider.
Now, that’s really at the crux of the issue with PwC.
We know that governments can’t do everything on their own, they’re always going to refer to expert advice somewhere along the chain. That’s just a reality.
But when it partners when government partners with private enterprise, it’s everybody’s expectation that those partners will act ethically, they’ll act within the terms of their contract, and most importantly, that they’ll act within the terms of the law.
That’s the failure that’s occurred here.
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Why didn’t the Coalition government know about these issues?
Shouldn’t it have?
Jane Hume:
And that’s exactly I would imagine the issues that will be fleshed out by this inquiry it, because this has been a loophole if you like, but that said privacy provisions, particularly when you’re dealing with government agencies, are really important to engender trust.
Now, as I said, there are a number of processes under way. We’ve seen what happens in recent times, when there is ongoing media commentary or into matters that relate to criminal proceedings. So we should be very careful about being part of that commentary that might impact other proper processes.
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Hume asked about contract secrecy provisions
Shadow finance minister Jane Hume is up now and she is asked about the secrecy provisions around contracts which prevented Treasury from pushing PwC on what was going on, despite some suspecting not all the Treasury confidentiality provisions were being adhered to.
Hume doesn’t think that we should jump to scrapping those secrecy provisions:
Secrecy provisions are there and privacy provisions are there for very good reasons. Now, whether those privacy provisions manifested in the best outcome here is for others to say, but I don’t think we should throw the baby out of the bathwater. We want to make sure that people have trust in the ATO trust when they give information to agencies that it will be kept private.
But look, this will all be flushed out it will all be flushed out in two inquiries. One by the AFP – there’s been a reference made to them already. And the other by a Senate references inquiry and I don’t want to pre-empt exactly what that particular that references inquiry will find. My colleagues right across the chamber will be investigating this issue, I would imagine, very thoroughly along with others to do with the PwC scandal.
So did the Coalition government know about those issues?
Jane Hume says as far as she knows, no.
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Plibersek pushed on PwC contracts
Moving to PricewaterhouseCoopers, Tanya Plibersek is asked if the environment department has any contracts with the firm:
Yes, one of the very first things obviously I did as a minister when I saw this story was check whether we’ve got contracts. We do have a small number of small-value contracts and I’ve asked the secretary of the department to meet with PwC and make sure that there are strict controls around those contracts to ensure that they’re being done in in an ethical way.
Plibersek then pivots to who she thinks is ultimately to blame for why there are so many consultants in the public service (spoiler – it is the former government):
This is obviously a very concerning development. It does come as a result I think of the fact that the previous government pretended to be cutting the number of public servants.
Well, in fact, they did cut the number of public servants but they replace them with a whole lot of people on these short-term contracts in 2020-21. They spent $21bn on outsourcing work that you know, much of which could have been properly done been done by public servants in my own department. We had hundreds of people on short-term contracts doing ongoing work. So we’ve made those people permanent, and the government will continue to work to make sure that contractors were they are used or used in an ethical way. And it was a mistake.
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Plibersek won’t answer on Woodside
Tanya Plibersek DID NOT want to talk about the Woodside deal for its WA gas project, which sees it exempt from the proposed PRRT changes.
Pushed to give an answer, she points to other things the government is doing:
What I think is right is that we get Australia to net zero carbon emissions and we’re on a path to do that.
It is really important that both in Australia and globally we get to net zero of course that has an impact on the environment. And that’s why we’re introducing our net zero legislation.
That’s why we’ve got our safeguard mechanism up and running. That’s why we’ve signed the methane pledge.
That’s why I’ve legislated stronger ozone protection that’s why we’re investing in making sure that Australians can buy electric vehicles if they want to. It’s why we’re seeing a massive increase in investment. In renewable energy projects.
I’ve doubled the approvals of renewable energy projects. That’s why we’re investing $20bn in upgrading our transmission lines so that our electricity grid can handle the new amount of renewables that we’re putting into the grid. It’s why we’re acting to get carbon emissions down in Australia.
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How is Australia going with meeting the target to phase out new plastics by 2025?
Tanya Plibersek:
We do have a long way to go in Australia. We set some very ambitious targets under the previous government [and] implementing them so we’ve really had to get our skates on domestically.
We’ve invested $250m in new recycling facilities with $60m in the October budget specifically for hard to recycle plastics, like those soft plastics you mentioned.
So we’ve got about 48 new recycling facilities being built. About 12 of them have already been delivered – that almost doubles our recycling capacity. By 2025.
And yet we will still need to do more. So we’ve made sure that both the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and our new national reconstruction fund had the capacity to invest in new recycling and remanufacturing facilities, but also in alternatives to plastic. I mean, there’s a lot of exciting work being done on basically replacing plastic packaging with materials made from things like kelp or algae or other, you know, like corn starch, sugar cane – there’s a bunch of other things that people are experimenting with.
If we can get some of those replacement materials up and going at an industrial scale, that’d be great. Because as you’re growing them, you’re sucking carbon dioxide out of the environment, not putting it into the environment as you do with petrochemical-based plastics. So we’ve got the CSIRO working on a plan to end plastic waste. We’ve working with the chief scientist, I’ve got a ministerial advisory group to advance the circular economy as well.
And that’s really important because about 70% of waste is locked in at the design phase of an object. So if we can change the design of things, to make them easier to recycle, to be using less problematic plastics in the first place.
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Plibersek talks plastic
Tanya Plibersek is speaking to ABC radio RN Breakfast about the plastics treaty negotiations she was involved in.
But Australia is far behind in breaking its relationship with plastic.
Plibersek said the government was working to speed this up after the former government dragged its feet.
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Good morning
Welcome to the Wednesday house sitting and estimates hearings – things got spicy overnight.
The economics committee heard that more was attempted to be done in 2018 to address what the ATO thought was a potential breach of confidentiality. It tried to get the AFP to look into it back then, which means the latest referral is the second time the AFP has been asked to look into it.
The AFP said the ATO had only provided representative sample documents in 2018 and there was not enough to support a formal referral.
Expect more on that today.
There will also be the referendum legislation vote where some in the Coalition will have to vote no for the no pamphlet to go out.
And of course, cost of living.
Thanks to Martin for kicking us off – you have Amy Remeikis with you for most of the day now.
Grab your three coffees and let’s get into it.
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Complaints to Australian medical regulator about telehealth surge
Complaints to the national medical practitioner regulator arising from telehealth appointments have increased by 413% in three years, a significant number of these relating to prescriptions, our medical editor Melissa Davey reveals.
The data provided to Guardian Australia by the Medical Board of Australia comes as the body prepares to release new guidelines for health practitioners and companies that provide telehealth consultations with patients.
Guardian Australia understands the guidelines, to be made public by Friday, will state that real-time video or phone consults are “preferred” over real-time text-based consults such as online chat because identification is harder to establish without video.
Read more of our exclusive story here:
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Philip Lowe to be quizzed about next interest rate call
Eyes will be trained on the Reserve Bank of Australia governor during a parliamentary hearing before the June cash rate call.
Philip Lowe will take questions at a Senate estimates hearing on a variety of matters but the pathway for interest rates is likely to dominate discussions.
The central bank started lifting interest rates last year to tackle high inflation. While past its peak, at 7%, inflation remains well above its 2% to 3% target range.
From May 2022 the RBA lifted interest rates 10 times in a row before pausing in April.
The central bank board then opted to lift interest rates by a further 25 basis points in May – a move that few were expecting after keeping rates on hold for just one month.
Assistant governor financial system, Brad Jones, will also appear at the hearing alongside the governor.
The RBA will also get an update on inflation via the Australian Bureau of Statistics monthly gauge.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to the refuge of news hounds everywhere as we kick off another day of rolling coverage of Australian politics. I’m Martin Farrer bringing you the top overnight lines before Amy Remeikis comes along to take over.
The House of Representatives will today vote to set up the referendum on the Indigenous voice to parliament and finalise the wording of the question and proposed change to the constitution. Debate on the voice will then shift to the Senate and is likely to pass parliament in June, before the referendum some time between October and December. It comes as we report on a “damning” study of the deaths of more than 150 First Nations women at the hands of their partner or former partner, which has found patterns of policing failures, and data showing two-thirds of all Queensland children charged with breaching their bail conditions under controversial new laws are Indigenous.
We have a big report on the rising cost of airfares today, with travellers facing an increase of 50% for their favourite destinations overseas. It’s partly down to inflation and the RBA chief, Philip Lowe, will take questions at a Senate estimates hearing today on a variety of matters. But the pathway for inflation interest rates is likely to dominate discussions.
In sport, the AFL staged a surprise media conference last night to announce that its eight-month inquiry into racism allegation had produced “no adverse findings” against Hawthorn’s Alastair Clarkson, Chris Fagan or Jason Burt. AFL chief Gillon McLachlan said the independent inquiry investigations into the bombshell claims would end but that the parties involved could still pursue legal actions. There’ll be more reaction on this coming up, I’m sure.
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