The day that was, Thursday 7 December
We are going to wrap up the blog here on the last sitting day for 2023. It’s been a busy day to say the least. Here’s what made the news:
A big chunk of the government’s industrial relations agenda passed the parliament, including a criminal offence for industrial manslaughter as well as “closing the loophole”.
A landmark review into the NDIS scheme has found the critical lifeboat supporting more than 600,000 Australians with disabilities needs to be fixed to ensure its future sustainability for decades to come.
The government detailed how new legislation aimed to ensure community protection following the passage of citizenship cessation laws in parliament.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said the opposition did not take up an offer from the government for a briefing on the legal advice surrounding the NZYQ high court ruling.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, echoed the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, in warning Israel against driving Gaza’s civilian population “into the arms of the enemy”.
We’ll be back tomorrow with a live blog on all the latest news of the day.
Until then, enjoy your evening.
Updated
Labor MPs say more rent control measures ‘too great a risk to bear’ and could make things worse for renters
Both the Coalition and Labor senators said they did not support a rent cap, with Labor MPs Marielle Smith and Louise Pratt saying the recent increase to Commonwealth Rent Assistance and Labor’s plan to build 30,000 social and affordable rental homes in five years would help to elevate the pressure in the market.
They wrote:
On the balance of the evidence provided to the committee from housing policy experts, Labor Senators are of the view that the potential unintended consequences of implementing a strict rent freeze and additional rent control measures are too great a risk to bear and could ultimately make things worse for those they seek to help.
The committee did agree that banning no-grounds evictions, including after the first term, and curtailing rent bidding would help better protect renters.
In August this year, the federal government announced it would work with the states and territories to develop a “genuine reasonable grounds for eviction, having consideration to the current actions of some jurisdictions”.
The inquiry heard that almost 650,000 households across Australia were in severe housing stress, with stories of renters struggling amid soaring prices and low vacancy rates.
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Labor and Greens clash over renters’ rights in Senate inquiry
Labor and the Greens are again at loggerheads over renters’ rights, with the Senate inquiry investigating Australia’s rental crisis pressing divided recommendations in its final report.
The committee – which includes Labor, Coalition, and crossbench members – disagreed over measures like rent caps, with the chair and Greens senator, Janet Rice, calling for a nationwide rent freeze for two years, increasing the rate of all income support payments to above the poverty line and stronger minimum standards for dwellings.
Rice also called for the federal government to “redirect forgone revenue from negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts to increase the supply of public and community housing” and called for stronger protections for renters, including making unlimited rent increases illegal.
She said:
Renters shouldn’t be treated like second-class citizens and live in complete insecurity, at the whims of their real estate agencies or landlords. Fixing this means strengthened and consistent renters’ rights across the country.
We are in a housing and rental crisis, and it’s time Labor starts acting like it.
This demands crisis-level intervention – we need a rent freeze now, and an increase to all income support payments to lift millions of Australians out of poverty and housing insecurity.
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‘Cop-out’: Greens senator accuses federal Labor of ‘palming off’ shark net issue to state governments
The Albanese Labor government has today responded to a Senate inquiry that reported back on shark mitigation and deterrent measures under the former Turnbull Coalition government – that’s two prime ministers and six years ago.
The committee recommended the Australian government pursue the NSW and Queensland governments to replace drumlines with Shark Management Alert in Real Time drumlines and phase out meshing programs.
The government did not agree with all 20 recommendations and simply noted some of them, claiming in response to most of them that responsibility for the issue lay with the states and territories.
The Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson said the government’s response was a “cop-out”:
[The government] has a critical mandate to protect endangered marine wildlife killed by lethal shark nets and drumlines deployed by the states.
Palming off responsibility for these critical issues to the states is a cop-out, yet for the last decade federal governments have shown no leadership on this serious matter of public interest & instead embarked on a culture war on sharks and endorsed ineffective shark control measures.
The Greens want the federal government to remove existing exemptions to state-controlled lethal shark net programs that risk federally protected species & urgently fund research & development of non-lethal [and] non-destructive shark control measures that can replace nets and drum lines.
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Identity check system passed in parliament, paving the way for planned digital ID
It’s been a busy day in parliament, but worth noting that the identity verification services bill 2023 and identity verification services (consequential amendments) passed the parliament today.
This is basically the legislation that legalises the existing identity check system that had been operating illegally for the past few years.
It will also pave the way for the government’s planned digital ID system, which will use this as the backbone of verifying identity. The legislation for that has been entered into parliament, but it likely won’t go anywhere until mid-2024.
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First Nations language education to receive $14m funding to teach in primary schools
The education minister, Jason Clare, and the assistant minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, have announced $14m in funding for primary schools to teach Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages in classrooms.
The government is accepting expressions of interest for the program, which has been developed in partnership with First Languages Australia.
It will support up to 60 First Nations language educators in primary schools from 2024.
McCarthy said:
It’s important to know that Indigenous languages from the oldest continuing cultures on earth will be taught in classrooms around the country.
All students, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, will benefit from this program that will ensure First Nations languages thrive into the future.
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Nineteen schools in western NSW to be closed tomorrow due to extreme fire danger ratings
The NSW education department has announced that 19 schools in western NSW will be shut tomorrow due to extreme fire danger ratings being declared.
Students will be provided with learning from home resources, and the department says parents and carers should follow the advice of police and emergency services during periods of heightened bushfire risk.
The temporarily closed schools are:
Barellan Central school
Binya public school
Clare public school
Coleambally Central school
Darlington Point public school
Goolgowi public school
Hillston Central school
Lake Wyangan public school
Narrandera East infants school
Narrandera high school
Palinyewah public school
Pooncarie public school
Rankins Springs public school
Tharbogang public school
Wamoon public school
Whitton-Murrami public school
Yanco public school
Yenda public school
Yoogali public school
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NDIS review leaves many questions unanswered, shadow minister says
The shadow minister for the NDIS, Michael Sukkar, has said the NDIS independent review report leaves many questions unanswered and stones unturned.
Sukkar said the government will now have to outline which changes it will support, and how the scheme’s 8% growth cap will be met, “although it seems clear that the government will seek to deny access to the NDIS for children with autism and developmental delay”.
He said the government was now “seeking to effectively implement independent assessments for participants, albeit under a different name”, something he said they opposed in opposition.
Updated
Deal struck in US Congress to allow sale of nuclear subs to Australia
Australia has welcomed a breakthrough in the United States which allows the superpower to sell nuclear-powered submarines, AAP reports.
Congress powerbrokers have reportedly struck a deal that paves the way for Washington to sell at least three Virginia-class nuclear submarines to Australia in the next decade.
Noting the passage of the legislation was a matter of Congress, the defence minister, Richard Marles, said the bipartisan support for the Aukus alliance provided an enormous sense of confidence.
“As the deputy prime minister has said, across the political spectrum in the United States there is an overwhelming commitment to and strong support for the US-Australia alliance and for Aukus,” a spokesperson for Marles said.
“Australia welcomes the continued progress of legislation through the US Congress and acknowledges the ongoing work of Congress and Biden administration.”
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has expressed confidence the two nations will be able to streamline collaboration in the long term.
Britain rounds off the Aukus pact, which paves the way for Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines and collaborate over next-generation military tech. Australia and the US nations are also reforming defence technology export laws to streamline the transfer of tech and intellectual property.
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Josh Taylor is going to take you through the rest of the afternoon, but I’m just going to take this opportunity to do a longer-than-usual signoff, since with the parliamentary year coming to a close, so too is politics live.
We’ll be back next year of course, when the parliament year begins again, but it is time for me to go back to general political reporting and leave you mostly alone until February. Like a parliamentary Grinch, I shall return to my standing desk and yell at screens and the walls instead of invading your eyeballs with my stream of consciousness and my regular descent into QT-induced madness.
But I cannot end the year without the biggest of thank yous and adoration to Katharine Murphy, Paul Karp, Daniel Hurst, Josh Butler and Sarah Basford Canales – the mightiest team in the gallery, with hearts to match. This little blog is nothing without their guidance, brains, labour and fast fingers.
And of course, the soul of the Canberra bureau, Mike Bowers. He not only brings you into the parliament, he knows everything at all times. He is beloved.
A very big thank you (and my neverending gratitude and apologies) to the people you never see named here – the producers, the moderators, editors and other reporters who are always cleaning up my messy fingers, adding in important clarity, directing traffic and ensuring we produce the best product possible. It truly is a team effort. And of course, to every other reporter at Guardian Australia who go above and beyond in getting information to you.
But the most important thank you, as always, is to you – our readers. We truly would be lost without you. We appreciate your messages, your criticisms, your concerns and your queries. I read them all, even when I can’t respond. You make us think, and you bring different perspectives which inform our reporting. It is the most valuable gift a reporter can receive from a reader – so thank you. This year has been rougher than most when it comes to taking in the world around us, and that includes our world at home. It’s not just news – it is people’s lives and hopes and aspirations and dreams. And realities. We know. Politics is not just politics. It isn’t a game, and it’s not theatre. It matters. And you remind us of that every day.
I wish all of you a safe and happy break. Hug those closest to you. If you need a hug, let people know. And above all – take care of you, and those around you. It’s important.
See you in 2024.
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Minerals Council boss labels Albanese government ‘economic vandals’ who have declared war on resources
Tania Constable, the chief executive of the Minerals Council, told reporters in Canberra that the Albanese government has engaged in a “declaration of war” against the resources, not just from its same job same pay reforms, which are passing parliament today, but also on tax, environmental legislation and “all of these issues”.
The Minerals Council has set aside $24m for ads campaigning against the IR bill. Constable said it will “not stop” raising its concerns that Labor’s policies are resulting in a “weaker Australia”, labelling them “economic vandals”.
She said:
Every Australian will hear about what this is going to mean to the average Australian. When you attack the resources industry, you attack superannuation accounts … you attack jobs … you attack every part of our cost of living, of energy, of groceries, of transport.
Constable said the MCA was “disappointed” in the crossbench which “should never have done a deal today”.
Updated
Parliamentary year all but over as preventive detention legislation passed and IR bill to follow
The matter of public importance is under way (a debate where MPs get to choose the topic and then spend an hour making what are usually theatrical statements) but the parliamentary year is all but done.
The government passed its preventive detention legislation; the first part of the IR bill will go through the senate very soon; and then that’s it. Legislative agenda for the year, done.
And then we enter the second half of the parliamentary term, which is all about the next election. That’s not due until mid-2025, but with three-year terms, the first part is about settling in and doing any reforms and the second half is about bedding down for the next election. And the way the second half of this year has gone, the government has some work to do.
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PwC lodges complaint over false AI-generated allegations of wrongdoing in Senate submission
Consulting firm PwC Australia has lodged a complaint over a Senate submission that relied on artificial intelligence to make false and serious allegations of wrongdoing against it.
Last month, a group of academics apologised to the big four consultancy firms for a part of their submission that was collated by an AI tool and not factchecked.
One academic has claimed responsibility for the errors, generated by the Google Bard AI tool, which produced case studies that never occurred and cited them as examples of why structural reform was needed.
PwC Australia has highlighted a dozen errors it believes should be corrected including a false allegation that it was fined $60m by the corporate watchdog, ASIC, for an audit of Storm Financial. The report cited the penalty as “the largest fine ever imposed by ASIC on an accounting firm”. PwC Australia says that never happened.
In a letter to the secretary of the parliamentary joint committee on corporations and financial services, PwC Australia’s chief risk and ethics leader, Jan McCahey, said: “We believe it may be helpful to place on the public record some of the incorrect statements which have been made”:
These errors relate not just to PwC Australia but to the industry as a whole, and to the rules and regulations which govern firms.
Updated
End of year vibes, by Mike Bowers:
Updated
The main point there is that the opposition was offered a briefing on the legal advice the government received in relation to the high court decision on indefinite detention and the subsequent options, and did not take it up.
Updated
Dan Tehan claims PM misrepresented him after Albanese says he missed legal briefing due to Jericho Cup
And then after all of that, Dan Tehan is standing up to make a personal explanation – which is certainly a vibe shift.
Tehan says he was misrepresented during question time when the prime minister said he missed a legal briefing because he was at the Jericho Cup.
So was he at the races?
Tehan:
During question time, the prime minister said that I wasn’t available for a legal briefing because I was at the Jericho Cup, a commemorative race meeting, which honours those who have fallen … in the service of duty during the first world war, including the Charge of the Light Brigade•. The prime member said that I was playing politics!
So the prime minister was right?
Tehan:
He said I wasn’t available to have that briefing. That briefing hadn’t been offered. It was offered Sunday night, after the races. Sunday night. Sunday night!
Anthony Albanese then says he has a personal explanation because now he has been misrepresented.
The offers were made for Sunday night. Monday 8am. Monday 4pm … It is now Thursday at [3:40pm] and at no stage has the opposition taken up the opportunity of receiving access to the legal advice.
It is giving “end of year, get me out of here”.
*Mike Bowers just pointed out that the Charge of the Light Brigade was an English action in the Crimea in 1854. Tehan probably meant the Charge of the Australian Light Horse regiment which occurred in Beersheba (Palestine) in 1917.
Updated
Everyone gets a thank you from Milton Dick, everyone gets a Merry Christmas, and everyone gets their freedom until February 2024.
Peter Dutton acknowledges troubles of world, and PM
Opposition leader goes through the same list of thank yous as the prime minister, colleagues, staff, family, friends, parliamentary staff, police protection, veterans, his spoodle, etc, etc.
It’s been a year right around the world of difficulty as the prime minister points out: war in the Middle East, the Ukraine war continues and … our thoughts and our prayers are with people right across the world who are in a difficult situation at the moment.
And the prime minister:
For the engagement we’ve been able to have, as you point out, there’s rightly a robust adversarial nature to this chamber and for better or worse, that’s the part that the Australian public sees. But there is a lot where we’re able to resolve and issues that we can work on for the betterment of our country, and thank you for that engagement.
Updated
The crossbench gets a shout out, and then Anthony Albanese wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and sits down.
Peter Dutton is now up.
I want to start by saying thank you to all of my colleagues for their support during the year, for the support that they provide to their constituents and the differences that they’ve made in individual cases in the lives of Australians and that goes for everybody in this chamber for the work that they’ve done in their electorates and the Australians and so they’ve been able to help, some of whom have been in their darkest hour and have had some reprieve because of the intervention that a member of parliament has been able to provide.
And I think sometimes we forget to remind ourselves of that.
On behalf of all my colleagues, I want to extend Merry Christmas and the very best wishes to the Australian people. And there are many Australians so we’ll do a tough this Christmas because they’ve lost their job, because there is a cost of living crisis for them and for many businesses across the country who have closed during the course of the year, the disruption to that family and to their life is quite profound.
So I wish all of those people who are much less fortunate than us all the very best over the course of this Christmas and I hope that it’s a time where they can really spend some time with their family and those they love.
Anthony Albanese then turns to Israel and Palestine:
If people can think about their neighbours and community and reach out to people who might be just going through a tough time or might just need someone to have a word or a meal or drink with.
These are testing times for the world and Australia is not immune from what we’re confronted daily with news of terrible loss and devastation with images that challenge our very faith in humanity.
We know that for so many people for the Jewish community the rise in antisemitism is having a real impact for those who have relatives and friends in Gaza, it is a tragic time for them as well and we have seen Islamophobia is a very real issue that we need to deal with.
It is a time where the ethics that I was certainly raised with of kindness should be a theme for all of us as we go forward.
That’s what the message of Christmas is about.
It’s about reaching out and assisting others and I hope that 2024 is a more peaceful time whether it be in Middle East or Ukraine or other troubled areas, or we’re very fortunate to live in this great country of Australia.
Updated
PM acknowledges opposition leader
He then turns to Peter Dutton and says he wants to acknowledge the opposition leader:
It’s a terrible job. I know, having done it.
But I wish you well on a personal level. And I think that in spite of other things I say publicly what I say privately as well, we are always able to engage and I would have more conversations with you in a month than I had in the previous three years when I was in your position with my counterpart [Scott Morrison] and you need to be able to talk in a civil way even when there are disagreements.
We’re able to do that.
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‘Blocking an electorate office … doesn’t change a political decision’: PM
Anthony Albanese moves to some of the protests which have been held in his electorate office:
We’re reminded in places like Ukraine and the Middle East, journalists losing their lives in order to cover stories that are important and to my electorate staff as well, I’m sorry that there’s so many demonstrations at the moment in particular, and I just make this point.
Blocking an electorate office of a member of parliament doesn’t change a political decision. What it does is it stops people who need their local member getting access to social security and health care and others.
And, you know, the Middle East is a very difficult issue but my electorate office are not responsible for anything that is happening there.
Updated
Anthony Albanese continues:
And we should always understand that we only get that privilege because of our electorates that send us here. And I know that overwhelmingly, regardless of where people sit in this chamber, people go into this life with the best of motives because of the sacrifices that have made in people’s personal lives in order to be here.
He then moves onto the thank yous – his electorate, his partner, his son (happy Nathan day for tomorrow), his caucus, his front bench, security, the public service, his staff, emergency services, Milton Dick, etc, etc.
The house moves on to the end-of-year speeches.
Anthony Albanese:
Can I say that yesterday of course, was a really emotional day. To be in this place. Can I think people from the chamber for paying tribute to our dear friend, Peta Murphy. The parliament at its finest, I know that Rod Glover, her beloved husband listed all day as did other members of her family.
They were very touched. At the tribute that were made in this chamber.
There was a common theme I have to say. Through those speeches about the privilege that we have of serving this great nation. A gift that should be cherished, every minute that those of us and there are not many, throughout our time since federation of had the privilege of sitting in this chamber stop of the House of Representatives.
It is a gift and we must cherish it every day and every day.
And every day in this place has also a chance to change the country for the better.
Updated
In a follow-up question in the Senate, the Greens senator Janet Rice asked:
Given the calls of the UN secretary general overnight, given that Israel are clearly not complying with international humanitarian law, given the appalling deaths of civilians, why can’t Australia join the calls of the UN for an immediate, permanent humanitarian ceasefire rather than support towards a ceasefire?
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, answered:
The language we use reflects the need for a ceasefire not to be one-sided, senator, and we know that hostages are still being held. We know that Hamas has no place in the future of Gaza, nor in any progress towards a two-state solution.
Can I say, though, that in using the words carefully that I do, does not diminish our concern for the numbers of civilian casualties that we are seeing …
We are seeing that there are increasingly fewer safe places for anyone in Gaza to go. We have continued to reiterate the importance of international law.
Rice replied that aid agencies were saying nowhere in Gaza was safe any longer, with 80% having left their homes. She asked whether Australia would boost its existing announcement of $25m in aid for Gaza.
Wong suggested that Australia stood “ready to do more” if there was “the capacity to deliver more aid”, but said “the constraint in Gaza is access”. She said Australia would continue to call for more humanitarian access.
Returning to Senate question time - and the Greens senator Janet Rice directed the following question to the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong:
Minister, you’ve said that the state of Israel must exercise restraint and protect civilian lives in Gaza and must comply with international humanitarian law.
Minister, it’s estimated that over 70% of the more than 16,000 people killed in Gaza have been women, children and the elderly. Overnight the UN secretary general urged members of the security council to press for a humanitarian ceasefire to avert a humanitarian catastrophe, saying, ‘Amid constant bombardment by the Israeli defence forces ... I expect public order to completely break down soon, rendering even limited humanitarian assistance impossible’. The UN human rights chief has warned of a heightened risk of atrocity crimes.
Minister, will Australia join the call of the UN and aid organisations for an immediate and permanent humanitarian ceasefire?
Wong replied:
What I would say to Senator Rice is: I hear from how she asked that question how important this is to her. It’s a serious question and I sought in my first answer to set out the many issues which have to be considered in the context of this humanitarian crisis in the aftermath of the heinous 7 October attacks.
The senator would know from what I have said in this place that we have made a number of points, and I released a statement with the foreign minister of France when she visited this week which went through some of those principles that I outlined in the answer earlier. We have called for Israel to respect international humanitarian law, we have called for civilians and civilian infrastructure to be protected, and we have called for safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to be increased. We have also said that the number of civilian deaths including children has been harrowing and it cannot continue. We have said we want to see the pause resumed and Australia supports international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire and that we recognise this cannot be one-sided.
I appreciate that this may not be as far as some might want. It is further than others might want. This is a situation which has been very difficult for the Australian community.
Updated
Question time ends
Anthony Albanese takes the usual end of year dixer of listing everything the government has done so that the government back benchers can say “hear hear” and do a rah rah. But it is fairly muted this year. It is obvious that the last few months have had a toll on the government and most people can’t wait to get out of here.
And then he calls an end to question time.
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PM asked about phasing out oil and gas
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, asks Anthony Albanese about the phasing out of coal and gas. And he asks for Albanese to answer it directly, not pass the question to another minister as has previously occurred when he has asked about the same issue:
My last two questions to you on coal and gas, you handed off to someone else, but I ask you directly today, as the head of the government, will Labor join more than 100 countries and support a call for a phase out of coal, oil and gas in the communique from this week’s climate summit?
Albanese:
Australia, when we are at the COPP summit where minister Bowen is representing Australia there, will be back around the table with credibility, as we have been at the Pacific island Forum, as we have been in our region.
We are a government that is taking this seriously, we are a government that understands in order to take climate variously, you need to bring the community with you and you can’t also adjust flick a switch or with the best of intentions, what you need is a plan, a strategy to get there.
(But the answer is no answer)
Updated
Coalition did not take up offer to see legal advice on immigration ruling: PM
Anthony Albanese continues:
I was asked about the minister and he has responded on the basis of the legal advice, that we have had, under the terms agreed to by the opposition, we would make available for them to go into the room, read the legal advice so that they could assure themselves of the basis of the government’s actions.
They had not read it on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Too interested in playing politics.
They have refused to make themselves available. The member for Wannon (Dan Tehan) was busy at the races at the Jericho Cup, he was not available.
James Paterson, Senator Patterson, the shadow minister for Home Affairs, is too busy at Harvard doing a course.
Senator Cash, Senator Cash was not able to find time in between Sky interviews. And the leader of the opposition has not made himself available either, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.
They have failed to avail themselves of the offer that we made very clearly, we contacted them, we made times available, we made three times available for them and on none of them have they made themselves available to walk into the secure room and read the advice and sit down on that basis.
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More on released detainees, more MPs removed from the house
Dan Tehan is back. What a gift! He asks Anthony Albanese:
The minister for immigration has now confirmed that he released a criminal with an outstanding warrant into the community. What will it take for the prime minister to finally take action and sack this incompetent minister?
(Sigh – points to the sign)
Albanese:
Ministers Giles and O’Neil have done more to address this issue in the month and those opposite did in nine years.
There is a roar of noise from the opposition. The LNP MP Henry Pike, the member for Bowman is booted out. Merry Christmas again!
Albanese:
After the high court made the decision that they did, our government has been focused on fixing this. This is something that we inherited from a decision, that overturned a 20-year-old decision under the Howard government, not under a Labor government.
And one of the things that happened on Sunday, Mr Speaker, as we said very clearly, we offered a briefing to the opposition on the legal advice. Did they get it on Sunday? Did they do it on Monday? They look at the legal advice on Tuesday? Did they look at the legal advice on Wednesday? Or did they look at the legal advice on Thursday? No.
Tehan jumps up with a point of order, but Milton Dick, burned from many points of order which were not points of order, warns him that the prime minister is being relevant so he better think hard about what he is about to say.
Tehan:
On relevance Mr Speaker …”
Dick sits him down before he has time to finish saying anything else. Another Christmas gift!
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Andrew Wilkie tries to ask a question of Michelle Rowland, over comments she made about truth in advertising in an ABC interview yesterday:
Minister, yesterday on ABC radio, [you] dissociated politicians from the government’s misinformation and disinformation bill by claiming that truth in political advertising will not be covered by the bill, however, we honour that the AEC has no jurisdiction over the honesty of political parties politicians and local candidates.
So will you now admit that your statement about the exclusions from your misinformation of disinformation bill was misleading, will you correct the record and commit to properly regulate truth in political advertising?
But because Michelle Rowland doesn’t have carriage over the AEC, the question is directed to Amanda Rishworth (who represents the special minister for state in the house who does have carriage over the AEC). Wilkie was given an opportunity to rephrase the question (take out the reference to AEC) but it is not clear he understood.
So he doesn’t really get an answer.
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Tony Pasin is thrown out under 94A.
“Merry Christmas,” Milton Dick says.
Wong says ‘increasingly few safe places to go’ in Gaza
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has echoed the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, in warning Israel against driving Gaza’s civilian population “into the arms of the enemy”.
She has also acknowledged that there are “increasingly few safe places to go” in Gaza, and she announced that the assistant foreign affairs minister, Tim Watts, would travel to the region this week to pave the way for “deeper ministerial engagement”.
In Senate question time, Wong said:
The future for both Israelis and Palestinians depends on a just and enduring peace and a two-state solution and clearly the status quo is failing all.
As I have said before in this place, we mourn every innocent life which has been lost in this conflict and we express our condolences to all families and communities affected by the violence. We unequivocally condemn Hamas’ terror attacks on Israel on 7 October, the heinous acts of sexual violence perpetrated in those attacks, and the reneging on the recent truce arrangements. We call for Hamas to immediately and unconditionally release all remaining hostages. We have clearly affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself as guaranteed by the UN charter, and we have said in doing so Israel must respect international humanitarian law. Civilians and civilian infrastructure including hospitals must be protected.
More than 60% of residential dwellings in Gaza are reported by the United Nations to have been destroyed or damaged. Nearly eight in 10 civilians have been displaced. Civilians who fled northern Gaza are now being pushed further south and as the conflict spreads south there are increasingly few safe places to go. The world has witnessed a harrowing number of civilian deaths, including children. This must not continue.
US Secretary of [Defence] Austin is an expert in urban warfare against terrorists from experience fighting Isis and, like us, is a steadfast friend of Israel. And this week he shared this wisdom. He said, if you drive the civilian population into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat.
Wong described the end of the recent “pause” in hostilities as a “grave setback”. She said, like France, Australia supported “international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire” but “this cannot be one-sided”.
Wong said Australia supported five principles outlined by the Biden administration, including “no forcible displacement of Palestinians or reduction in territory” and no use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism.
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Paul Fletcher is next up on this:
The vice-president of the rule of law institute has said that on November 8, ‘the government was obliged only to release NZYQ. It was under no obligation to release the others because it could not be certain about the new principles governing indefinite detention.’
The government could have used the time between November 8 November 28 to put legislation in place to keep Australians a safe. Has the minister apologised to Australians for his catastrophic failure and to the victims of crime are carried out by the release detainees?
Andrew Giles:
As the statement tabled by the attorney general early this week makes clear, the decisions that a new limit on the power that the executive has to detain anyone in the same position as the plaintiff, anyone in the same position as the plaintiff, and further, but that had to be implemented immediately.
That is the case, that is the law, a law that was unequivocally confirmed by the written decision as delivered by the court.
The Rule of Law Institute vice-president is Chris Merritt who is also the legal affairs contributor for the Australian.
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Nationals MP Sam Birrell has asked about another of the people released by the high court who has been re-arrested. The man was previously convicted on child sex offences and re-arrested after allegedly attempting to contact a minor online.
Anthony Albanese goes through people who were released under the Coalition who had been convicted for crimes such as terrorism, and accidentally released or released and re-arrested.
I am sympathetic with anyone, any of the circumstances, we have had to deal with these because you have to deal with the law as it is, just as the former government did. Just as the former government did during the nine years, during the nine years in which it was in office and barely a month went by where there was a not a circumstance such as this.
Australia has one of the highest documented recidivism rates in the world. Just over half of people released from jail will be re-arrested within two years. This is not an issue confined to non-Australian citizens. It is across the Australian community.
Crimes, especially those involving violence, terror or sexual assaults are of course, heinous. But we release Australians who have been convicted of those crimes and completed their sentence into the community every single day.
That there has been a successful scare campaign around this element (and I am not saying mistakes have not been made by the government here – it is patently obvious that there has been) shows how little understanding there is around all of this.
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Question on reported arrest of fifth released detainee
Back to the Coalition questions and Dan Tehan is up. Yay.
The Courier Mail newspaper reported that Queensland police arrested a fifth criminal release by the minister into the Australian community. The individual has reportedly been arrested did in connection with an outstanding return to prison warrant after being released by the minister without any checks being carried out. Can the minister confirm that this person should not have been released into the community?
Once again, it was a high court decision. (slams head against wall)
Andrew Giles:
As the opposition leader himself has said, and I quote the leader of the opposition, ‘I am not going to comment on individual cases because I will have been a decision-maker. Of matters go to court again, I do not want to intervene or taint of that process.’
I will say this, on the 10 November, we set up government operation Aegis, a joint taskforce between the AFP and the ADF to work closely with state and territory police forces to share information and enforce visa conditions, steps that have been enhanced by the legislation that passed the parliament late last night. This work of course continues.
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PM asked about yesterday’s press conference with attorney general
Sussan Ley is up:
My question is to the prime minister on the attorney general’s aggressive verbal attack on a young female journalist yesterday. This occurred in a media conference regarding the government’s most mishandled actions in listing almost 150 hardcore criminals into the community. A young female journalist asked if a woman assaulted by one of those released deserves an apology, not only did the attorney general refused to apologise, he aggressively shouted at the young female journalist. Has the prime minister forced the attorney general to apologise?
Here is that interaction so you can judge the whole thing for yourself.
Anthony Albanese:
The attorney general has my understanding is spoken to the journalist concerned, has apologised, has had a discussion with her.
When our standards aren’t met in this place, we expect that’s the appropriate course of action to take.
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PM fields question on indefinite detention decision
And then we get to the questions. So prepare for whiplash.
Peter Dutton:
The Albanese government [failed] to prepare for a high court decision they knew was coming [for] almost six months, which resulted in the release of almost 150 hardcore criminals, including rapists, murderers and paedophiles, into the Australian community.
At least four of these criminals are alleged to have already reoffended, including a sex offender committing another assault and a paedophile attempted to contact minors. Will be prime minister apologise to the Australian people?
(Regular reminder Australian citizens who have committed crimes are released back into the community once they have completed their sentences. Not all of the people in this cohort are “hardcore criminals”.)
Anthony Albanese:
The high court ruled that indefinite detention was unconstitutional and that is now the law of the land, the government must act in accordance of the law.
We argued against it, but once the high court ruled we had no choice but to respond. Community safety is our priority and I am very pleased that the parliament has passed stronger laws to keep people safe.
And I am pleased that it received support from both sides of the chamber. Our actions meaning we have four laser project in, preventive detention, community safety orders, electronic monitoring devices and curfews and its stringent Visa conditions.
And certainly I am sorry anytime anyone is a victim of a crime. Committed at any time against any victim.
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PM and opposition leader pay respects to retiring AAP journo Paul Osborne
Anthony Albanese stays on the press gallery, by paying tribute to Paul Osborne – who has been part of AAP for almost three decades and a staple of the press gallery.
He is probably one of the most prolific journalists you have never heard of (AAP journalists rarely get individual bylines, but are the backbone of the media industry).
Albanese:
After more than 22 years with Australian Associated Press, it was in danger of one stage, Paul Osborne is leaving the newswire.
He is always watching question time from the press gallery, Paul started with AAP in January 2001, his time covering the news has included more than a decade in Canberra where most recently he has managed the bureau. Paul is a highly respected journalist, for his integrity, for his news sense and for calling it straight. In his job he must work fast but his work is always fair and Paul is rightly admired by his colleagues as a tireless, tireless advocate or AAP. We will remember when his very existence was threatened and for public interest journalism. As a mentoring source of great advice, he has assisted many generations who have come to the gallery, so congratulations Paul, I wish you all the very best with what is ahead.
And Peter Dutton:
After 30 years, he is either a slow learner or other opportunities have not come up, but it has taken him a 30-year sentence in this place to finally leave, so congratulations Paul.
There are some journalists we would wish were leaving, but aren’t, but you are not in that category, Paul. (I have a feeling I know at least a couple who are)
Paul is one of the gentlemen of the gallery. He is a person who is a true professional, but he is somebody who is respected by both sides of parliament.
He is somebody who has contributed significantly to reporting on major events as his LinkedIn biography says, and I quote, ‘G20, APEC, Chogm, Asean, UNGA, PIF, AUSMIN, AUKMIN and pretty much every other major global acronym you can think of’.
He has a meticulous and organised approach, he is a person of great integrity and character and we wish you very well in the next stage of his life.
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PM pays tribute to journalist Bridget Munro
Before question time begins, Anthony Albanese pays tribute to Bridget Munro – a senior producer with SBS (formally at Sky) who was a favourite among many of the press gallery.
One of the world’s greatest ever human beings has sadly passed away. Please keep the entire @SBSNews team and so many of her former @SkyNewsAust colleagues in your thoughts as we collectively mourn and celebrate the life of our amazing @BridgetMunro ❤️ pic.twitter.com/iosxjn8W1g
— Adrian Arciuli (@Adrian_Arciuli) November 23, 2023
I wanted to pay respect to those were mourning the loss of a well-known and much loved former member of the press Gallery, Bridget Munro, who passed away suddenly on November 22. Bridget was universally liked and respected as a wonderful human being with a smile that lit up every room.
Bridget was a senior news producer with both Sky News and later SBS and I know that many members of the federal parliamentary press gallery attended the funeral that was held adjust the end yesterday. Passing is such a young age has been felled heavily by her friends in the gallery, our thoughts are with her husband, Adrian, and their two little girls, Gracie and Margot. Widget was proud of her accomplishments in her career, she loved what she did. The greatest joy in life was her family and we are all thinking of them at this very sad time.
Peter Dutton also pays tribute:
I join with the prime minister in mourning the loss of a person way too young to leave this world, Bridget Munro, leaving behind her two little girls, Gracie and Margo and her husband, Adrian, to all of her family members and friends who will be morning her, we send our sincere condolences and to those in the Press Club who knew Bridget well, worked with her closely, they too have also been shocked by her passing and it is a very sad moment that we mark, but unimportant one, because we want to pay tribute to Bridget’s work here in the building, as a Minister pointed out, with sky and with SBS, but she was a very respected colleague of many within the press Gallery, and we pass our condolences on to her family and friends at this time.
Updated
The last question time of the year is underway.
But first, Anthony Albanese addresses PNG prime minister James Marape and the agreement they have signed together (which Dan Hurst has reported on).
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Senate agrees to lobbing inquiry
Independent senator David Pocock has been successful in getting the Senate to agree to an inquiry into lobbying – which is in tandem with independent MP Monique Ryan’s push in the house to have the issue addressed through her private member’s bill.
Ryan said:
With this inquiry, there will be more scrutiny on the regulation of lobbyists than there has been in years. The committee has been tasked with answering important questions about the lobbying register and sponsored passes. I look forward to its report.
It’s very telling, though, that the federal government amended Senator Pocock’s motion to stop the inquiry from examining whether Ministerial diaries should be made public – despite supporting that idea when it was in opposition.
You can’t advocate for transparency from opposition, only to block it when in government.
Ryan has again called on the government to support her cleaning up politics bill.
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Labor MP delivers strongly worded pro-Palestine address in parliament
The Labor MP Maria Vamvakinou, a co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Palestine, has just delivered a very strongly worded speech to the House of Representatives. She told the chamber:
Tragically thousands of Palestinian women, their children and their families have been killed in Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza …
What we are witnessing is Israel’s breach of international humanitarian law, the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, and the renewed expulsion of the Palestinian people from their ancestral homelands.
It is to the shame of this parliament that we have not, at the very least, given equal weight to the dead children and women of Gaza [and] not acknowledge that at the heart of this tragedy is Israel’s occupation and the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.
The Israeli government has defended its military operations in Gaza, saying it is focused on eliminating Hamas after the group’s 7 October attacks in southern Israel, even as UN agencies increasingly raise alarm about “apocalyptic” conditions in Gaza.
The Israeli ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, has previously rejected claims that the innocent people of Gaza were being collectively punished for Hamas’ atrocities and has maintained that Israel is acting in compliance with international humanitarian law.
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We are just moments away from the last question time of the year.
And yes. We have to sit through it.
Royal commission into veteran suicides granted three-month extension
In the wake of the IR deal, there has also been progress when it comes to an extension of the royal commission into veteran suicides.
The government has granted a three-month extension for the commission to complete its inquiries. Part of the reason it wanted an extension is because of how slow commonwealth agencies had been in responding to the commission’s requests for information.
The government originally said no and wanted the original time frame to stick – which would have meant reporting by 17 June next year – but it has since allowed for an additional three months.
The new reporting date is 9 September.
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‘The party’s got to stop’: Shorten on fraud within the NDIS
On the issue of fraud, Bill Shorten says its not the people on the scheme, but some of the providers.
My own gut instinct is that there are some people having a lend of this scheme – not the people on it but there are some people having a party on this scheme and the party’s got to stop.
I do think there is waste.
I think there is criminality.
It’s hard to put a number on criminality because you’ve got to catch it to prove it but my instinct is there are improvements in terms of effectiveness.
If we wake make this a more human scheme and a person can have one person to deal with year in year out, if you don’t have to each year prove your lifelong disability again, if you have 5-year default plans, if we have a system of prices in Australia which outlaws the ability of someone to sell you a protein shake and then put the words NDIS in front of it and call it an NDIS protein shake and charge more for it – so I think that is the sweet spot.
I recognise we need to clarify eligibility. We need to make sure people are receiving evidence-based best practice services.
The scheme is very much focused on providing individual hour-by-hour therapies to kids. That makes sense but along the line, families have been forgotten. It’s psycho-social support. The recovery model is being neglected. All of this together will lead to better outcomes for participants. Better outcomes equals better economics.
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‘It’s not one size fits all’: Shorten acknowledges issues with accessing NDIS providers
Back to the press club address and Bill Shorten acknowledges that there issues with accessing NDIS service providers depending on where you live:
If you are living in Melbourne or Sydney, it’s different to living in Longreach or northern Tassie. Tasmania has huge worker shortages in these areas. So we need to look at what we call – the jargonists call thin markets – looking at other ways to commission services.
We’re working with the West Australian government, in the Northern Territory, we’re work being the aged care portfolio to do new services on the south coast around Eden.
We think there’s different ways to deliver services that mean people can use their packages.
You might have a package for $40,000 but because there’s no one there to help you with your needs, you don’t utilise it.
So we think it’s not one size fits all.
Councils play a good role here. We can work with the states. They might be delivering a service. How do we make Aboriginal controlled and community organisations in Port Hedland. They might have 40 or 50 members of their community on the NDIS but they can’t use it. It would be better if we were able to say, ‘listen you need physio, OT, maybe speech pathology, maybe psychology’. If we can work out the person having an individual package but it’s funnelled through an accredited service provider in a thin market so that employer that can actually offer meaningful work to speechies or OTs or psychologists in that community, and everyone can actually get real utilisation.
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Sydney Airport braces for bumper holiday season
Sydney Airport is bracing for its busiest holiday period in four years, warning domestic passengers checking in luggage to arrive two hours before their departure time, as the city also prepares for an influx of foreign tourists.
The airport is expecting 2.6 million passengers through its terminals between 14 December and 3 January, almost 500,000 more than the same period in 2022 and 95% of levels in 2019. Domestic travellers will make up 1.5m of the passengers, with 1.1m international passengers.
In anticipation of the huge numbers of travellers, the airport is warning domestic passengers with only hand luggage to arrive one hour before their flight, and those checking in luggage to arrive two hours beforehand. International passengers should arrive three hours before departure.
As part of the Sydney Airport’s long term goal of a future where passengers wait no longer than 10 minutes at the baggage carousel, the airport will spend $250,000 a month on incentives for ground handlers to deliver bags faster. While it is an airline’s duty to contract ground handlers, the airport is hoping that by starting its own incentive program, the performance of baggage handlers – who are traditionally on relatively low wages and poor condition – will improve.
On Thursday, Sydney Airport’s freshly minted CEO, Scott Charlton – who previously headed tolling giant Transurban – said “we are delighted to have so many people taking off to see loved ones and explore this great country”:
International travel is booming and almost back to pre-pandemic levels. While it’s great to see many Australians heading away on an overseas holiday, we’re also excited to welcome an influx of overseas visitors who are choosing to enjoy a summer getaway in Sydney.
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Bill Shorten says ‘no radical change’ slated for NDIS
Let’s check in with the national press club address. Bill Shorten is in the question and answer stage and is doing his best to allay the fears and concerns of people who are on the NDIS worried about their future on the scheme.
Q: The review proposes foundational supports over the next five years to be brought up to a level where people on the scheme could eventually be transitions to those supports.
Automatic access will also be removed if the government does adopt the recommendations. How confident are you that the gap won’t just get bigger? And what’s your guarantee to people who might be worried they’ll be kicked off the lifeboat as you put it and into a sea of developing or yet-to-be-developed financial supports?
Shorten:
I can understand why people are anxious because there’s muscle memory in the disability world. I think about 60% of Australians have some exposure to disability and perhaps 40% don’t have that exposure.
Families have fought hard.
They fight hard every day to be included.
As soon as you use the word ‘change’ people go, ‘righto, someone is coming after the bare things I’ve got’.
That’s so far from the motivation of this.
We recognise that this scheme is working imperfectly.
That is not an exceptional proposition. Everyone would agree it’s not working perfectly. We want to make it a more human experience. We want to make sure that some of the people currently extracting some of the $36bn last year and the $41bn next year, that those people extracting it for themselves, that it gets back to use more productively for outcomes for participants.
I can understand when you talk about change, people don’t want to go back to the way it was.
There is no radical change in this document at all.
Updated
Aukus breakthrough in US Congress
There has been movement in the US Congress on a deal to send submarines to Australia. There are still steps, but there is legislation before Congress now, which is one of the first hurdles.
Scoop: The US will be allowed to transfer Virginia-class attack submarines to Australia one year after the defense authorization bill is enacted--a compromise solving one of the hold ups for the massive bill.
— Roxana Tiron (@rtiron) December 6, 2023
A spokesperson for the deputy prime minister said:
Australia welcomes the continued progress of legislation through the US Congress and acknowledges the ongoing work of Congress and Biden Administration.
Ultimately the passage of this legislation remains a matter for Congress, but the bipartisan support for Aukus provides us with an enormous sense of confidence.
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RBA names Sarah Hunter as new chief economist
The Reserve Bank has picked Sarah Hunter as its new chief economist, casting only as far as treasury to fill the role.
Hunter was head of macroeconomic conditions at treasury, a role she held for only 11 months, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Before that, Hunter had a similarly brief stint as a partner at KPMG, where she worked for 13 months. Her prior experience was 16-plus years at Oxford Economics, which posted her to Sydney in mid-2016.
Her PhD in economics came from the University of Oxford where she also lectured for a year.
The RBA governor, Michele Bullock, said Hunter would “bring a unique and diverse perspective to the Bank and the leadership team”. (The bank didn’t say, but we guess she is not quite 40 given her Gmail tag.)
We did spot Hunter last month at Bullock’s first big speech since becoming governor in mid-September – perhaps making a good impression with her now new boss.
In any case, Hunter’s appointment follows that of Andrew Hauser as deputy RBA governor, poaching him from the Bank of England.
The RBA is in the midst of renewal in the wake of the review into the central bank.
Still, we can’t help wondering if the RBA might have looked a bit further and brought in someone with, say, deeper experience in Asia given that’s where the great bulk of our exports head.
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Australia and PNG to ‘prioritise consultations with each other’ over PNG security
Under the agreement signed in Canberra today, Australia and Papua New Guinea “shall prioritise consultations with each other” about PNG’s security needs, including police equipment.
The agreement says Australia and PNG will strengthen cooperation in a range of areas including defence, police, law and justice, cybersecurity, climate change, and violence against women and children.
The agreement also says the two countries should hold talks to consider how to respond “in the event of a security-related development that threatens the sovereignty, peace or stability of either Party, or the Pacific region”.
“In the event of an external armed attack on either Party, the Parties shall consult for the purpose of deciding what measures should be taken, jointly or separately, in relation to the attack,” the deal says.
The agreement does not prevent PNG from cooperating with other countries on security assistance, but there is a provision in the deal that says the two countries shall coordinate on “the involvement and contribution of third parties”.
Updated
Anyway, as Sussan Ley was delivering that cardboard cutout to the gallery, this was happening in the PM’s courtyard.
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Your tax dollars at work.
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Bill Shorten has begun his National Press Club address. We will bring you the key points and Sarah Basford Canales is all across it.
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So this has happened.
Anthony Albanese held a press conference in Canberra today.
Dear Press Gallery,
— Sussan Ley (@sussanley) December 7, 2023
Happy last sitting day!
I’ve noticed that @AlboMP doesn’t turn up to face your questions anymore.
So I got you this as an early Christmas present!
I hope the PM comes out of hiding and stops trying to stage manage you in 2024.
Sussan pic.twitter.com/O0NHlaX4vo
Peter Dutton held a press conference in Canberra on 16 October. And then he held another one on 15 November.
Dutton, like Anthony Albanese, has held press conferences elsewhere and both do interviews where they choose to.
Of course they should both be fronting up to speak to the media in Canberra more often. But the key issue there is – both. But Ley is relying on the media picking up her point and it becoming part of the narrative.
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Individual cigarettes to carry health warnings as part of new tobacco laws
Landmark tobacco laws have passed parliament today, which health groups say will reassert Australia as a world leader in tobacco control and protect future generations from health harm.
The federal government’s public health (tobacco and other products) bill 2023 will see warnings on cigarette sticks themselves, refresh graphic health warnings, which have been the same for over a decade, restrict the use of flavours and advertising of e-cigarettes, and ban online advertising.
Adj Prof Terry Slevin, the CEO of the Public Health Association of Australia, said the new legislation, coupled with vaping regulations which take effect from January, “will save tens of thousands of lives, and reassert the country as a world-leader in tobacco control”.
The Heart Foundation welcomed the move. It said smoking and vaping both present major heart health risks to people living in Australia, as smoking makes people four times more likely to die of a heart attack or stroke, and three times more likely to die from sudden cardiac death.
Recent research also shows that e-cigarette use can lead to the uptake of tobacco smoking and increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, further demonstrating how much of a gamechanger these laws are for the fight against smoking and nicotine.
The VicHealth CEO, Dr Sandro Demaio said the updated legislation is critical to protect future generations of Australians from the harms of tobacco and nicotine:
Big tobacco continues to find ways to undermine public health through increasingly sneaky marketing tactics.
The legislation highlights the urgency required to protect young people from the promotion and advertising of e-cigarettes, which are specifically designed to appeal to young people and threaten to unravel decades of hard work in tobacco control.
Updated
Anthony Albanese announces that he will welcome James Marape back to Australia on 8 Feb as a guest of government and the PNG prime minister will make an address to a joint sitting of parliament on that date.
He’s the first to be afforded than honour since Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo, in 2020.
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PM on security arrangements with PNG
Anthony Albanese speaks a little more on the security arrangement which is being announced between Australia and PNG today:
It will make it easier for Australia to help PNG address it internal security needs and for Australia and Papua New Guinea to support each other’s security and the region stability.
What that means is an agreement when it comes to policing and domestic security for PNG, with Australia to provide a new package of support for policing infrastructure and training for the Royal PNG constabulary.
There will also be support for judiciary correctional services and help with combating gender based violence.
Australia will also help support PNG in establishing a police recruiting and investigations training centre “build a larger, more capable police force and provide training to other Pacific police forces”.
Updated
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the visiting PM of Papua New Guinea, James Marape, have just begun a press conference in Canberra. The big announcement is the signing of a bilateral security agreement between the two countries. Albanese says:
It is a great honour to host my very good friend prime minister Marape here today.
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Cash links IR changes to indefinite detention decision
Michaelia Cash has responded to the closing the loopholes IR news as you would expect.
Cash has linked the bill, which was introduced in September, to the indefinite detention decision, which was handed down in November. (Stay with us here):
Labor does not have the right priorities, this is a desperate ploy by an embattled government to distract Australians from the rolling train wreck that is the released detainees crisis.
In the middle of a cost of living crisis, the government’s new labour hire laws will substantially increase the burden and costs imposed on businesses using legitimate labour hire arrangements to meet demand surges or remedy staff shortages. These costs will be ultimately passed on to consumers.
These laws are incompatible with a modern labour market that must be flexible, dynamic and rewarding for workers.
This will be a devastating blow to the country’s mining and resources sector which is the engine room of our economy.
Updated
Anthony Albanese will hold a press conference with the prime minister of Papua New Guinea, James Marape, in about 20 minutes. The pair are expected to announce a new security agreement.
Updated
Paul Karp has written up the deals made to pass the same-job, same-pay legislation:
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First Nations languages push
Primary schools will be offered educators to teach Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages as part of a $14m federal government program to strengthen First Nations culture.
The program, developed in partnership with First Languages Australia, will fund a local language plan and offer up to 60 First Nations language educators in primary schools across the nation.
The initiative is one of the 19 recommendations of Closing the Gap, to address declining rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages spoken.
According to the Department of Social Services, of the original number of more than 250 known Australian Indigenous languages, only 123 are spoken, 14 are considered strongly spoken and 110 are critically endangered.
The target recommends by 2031, there is a “sustained increase” in the number and strength of First Nations languages.
Assistant minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy said the program would benefit all students:
It’s important to know that Indigenous languages, from the oldest continuing cultures on earth, will be taught in classrooms around the country.
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Taylor borrows from Fraser’s playbook
Just going through some of the press releases I didn’t get to yesterday, and one of them is a transcript from Angus Taylor’s press conference on the GDP figures.
In there he uses the phrase “fight[ing] inflation first” twice:
There is a better way, having the right priorities – a priority to fight inflation first, a priority for sustainable fiscal balance built into the budget, a priority to grow the economy faster than spending.
And:
And of course, making sure that you’ve got a Reserve Bank that is fit for purpose, not making your first appointment somebody who has no credentials when it comes to fighting inflation first. We can do that. We can do that. But this government has the wrong priorities and is making bad decisions.
That phrasing is not an accident – it is a call back to the Fraser government.
When Malcolm Fraser came to power in the stagflation era, he said his government would focus on “fighting inflation first”. It was said again, and again, and again. And now we have the shadow treasurer 50 years later borrowing from the same handbook.
Just an interesting little callback.
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Logging halted after endangered greater glider sighting
The New South Wales Forestry Corporation has voluntarily stopped operations in an area of forest in northern NSW, according to conservation groups.
The Nature Conservation Council of NSW says the forestry agency paused work on Wednesday after local conservationists observed an endangered greater glider in an area where logging operations were occurring.
After spotting the glider, members of the Bellingen Activist Network blockaded the area of forest. The NCC’s chief executive Jacqui Mumford said:
This is evidence of the importance of citizen scientists and direct action in protecting our precious forests.
It comes after the NSW Environment Protection Authority issued the forestry agency with two stop work orders due to potential impacts on greater glider habitat.
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Lidia Thorpe releases statement backing IR changes
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has also released a statement on the closing loopholes legislation (the first of what is now two bills) and says she is “glad that we can progress some of the very important parts of the closing loopholes legislation this year as we cannot waste time in protecting workers’ lives”:
I have been working constructively with Minister Burke on this piece of legislation over several months and am pleased to support its passing today.
My thoughts are with all those who have lost loved ones due to unsafe workplaces and the lack of care by businesses out to make a quick buck. I hope this bill can bring them some peace in knowing that hopefully others will not have to go through the same hell as they did.
I am fully supportive of this bill as it provides for safer workplaces, strengthens the rights of workers and delegates rights and tackles workplace discrimination.
We need strong unions to uphold workers rights and counter the huge influence of big business on our governments and people’s lives.Strengthening workers’ rights and creating workplaces that are safe and free from discrimination is in the best interest of everyone, even employers.
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If you didn’t see it last night, here is Mark Dreyfus on ABC’s 7.30 speaking about the laws and answering questions that do need to be answered (and have been asked by some journalists, previously).
Tonight Federal Parliament is rushing through new laws that could allow for some of the people released from indefinite immigration detention last month to be re-detained. @latingle interviews Attorney-General @MarkDreyfusKCMP. #abc730 pic.twitter.com/MNKX9YBnUp
— ABC News (@abcnews) December 6, 2023
Updated
So how was Sussan Ley challenged on any of those points related to the laws?
Q: Have you received any sort of briefing or information on who was actually in the cohort of nearly 150 people released and what they’ve done?
Sussan Ley:
I asked the immigration minister weeks ago who these individuals are, what crimes they have committed. He told me he would give me the information and he’s provided nothing.
The opposition has asked for information in our amendments, we’ve demanded transparency. People have a right to know who these individuals are, what crimes they’ve committed, and where they are. Communities have a right to feel safe.
Under the law cases are confidential. Sussan Ley spoke about some of the boundaries around migration law in an earlier interview, as she defended the then-minister Peter Dutton allowing the plantiff who kicked off this decision to reapply for a visa. Which happened, because that’s the law. And there are still rules. Which Ley knows.
Q: It will be up to the courts to decide if someone is redetained. Do you trust that the courts are going to get it right?
Ley:
I don’t trust this government. I don’t trust the immigration minister, I don’t trust the home affairs minister and I certainly don’t trust the attorney general after his arrogance yesterday and his refusal to apologise for the mess that this government has created and the effect that it is having on communities who now wonder whether perpetrators are in their midst. They can’t be protected from a government that isn’t prepared to step up, do its job and put community safety first.
Again, it was a high court decision. And no government can overrule the high court. If this had happened under the Coalition, the result would have been the same. And if Labor indulged in the same myth-making around it, what I am writing here would be the same. Because facts still matter.
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Sussan Ley: ‘We need to know how many of these criminals will be locked up before Christmas’
Back to the indefinite detention decision and the laws which were passed last night, here is what Sussan Ley had to say at a doorstop press conference:
Well, now that the laws that we have sought from the beginning have passed the parliament, it’s clear that the next stage of this process is down to this government and this prime minister.
We need to know how many of these criminals will be locked up before Christmas. We need to know how many.
The laws have to be used to give effect to the concerns and the anxieties of people who have been victims of these perpetrators. If these tough laws are in place, how many of these criminals will be locked up before Christmas?
Now I want to hear from the prime minister. We’ve had the hapless home affairs minister, the hopeless immigration minister, we’ve had the attorney general coming out and shouting, shouting at a female journalist.
It felt as if he was shouting at the women of Australia for actually asking for a simple apology from this government for the mess they have created.
A few things here.
When Ley is talking “criminals” she is referring to people who have served their sentences, have been charged but not convicted, had charges dropped, or were there on character concerns but no charges. Australian citizens who have been found guilty of criminal acts are released into the community after their sentences have been served. Australia actually has one of the highest recidivism rates in the world – about 53% of people will be returned to prison within two years of their release. But we are not hearing about that in this “debate”.
In terms of how many people will be locked up again before Christmas, Ley knows the government cannot answer that – for legal reasons. Under the two-step process the government has put forward and the Coalition has supported, first the minister has to make the case for someone to be put in detention for preventive reasons and then a court has to agree. And any person who is put forward under this process has the right to a defence. And if the government says “we are going to lock up X amount of people before Christmas” then part of that defence will be that the government did not show discretion in these cases, but rather had a predetermined idea to lock the defendant up, based not on the law, but politics. And courts don’t tend to like that.
And the last bit – well, we know what that is. It has been part of Ley’s mission from the beginning of this term of parliament.
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Jacqui Lambie: ‘I’ve had a gutful of companies not paying people what they deserve’
Earlier in the Mural Hall, Jacqui Lambie explained why she had supported same-job, same-pay provisions this year.
The senator said:
But what I will tell you about the labour hire is, I’ve had a gutful of these big companies not paying people what they deserve.
I’ve had enough of having 12 different payments for hosties out there, when I get on a plane knowing that they’re not getting paid the money that they should be paid and are trying to get through and put bread and milk on their table. I’m sick and tired of miners doing the same damn job [when] some of them are less than $30,000 a year, doing the same job. Enough is enough. And they’ve got massive profits, these bloody little buggers and they’re not doing the right thing. Well, now you’re going to be made to do the right thing …
So we have tried to work with the government where we can to get as much through because we believe it is right before Christmas, to make sure those people, especially hosties out there who fly us around and bring us coffee on our planes … You’ll now get a bloody decent pay for you and your kids, and that is more important to me than anything right now. So that’s what needs to be done. It’s time the big boys were told, ‘You will start paying, you’ve got massive profits, start paying.’
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NDIS review recommends removing automatic access
We’re still digging through the full 328 pages of the NDIS review this morning but we’ve come across another recommendation that will garner some attention.
Right now many participants are granted automatic access to the NDIS if they have a condition outlined on an access list.
The automatic system was introduced initially to encourage people with disability to access the scheme.
The review has suggested removing that automatic access as part of its recommendations because it believes it has “led to a focus on medical diagnosis rather than function and disability-related support needs”.
It said:
[The automatic system has] also led to inequity, with some participants automatically eligible while others ae not and favouring those with means to obtain a diagnosis.”
The report’s co-authors, Prof Bruce Bonyhady and Lisa Paul, said in their opening statement the NDIS needed to return to its core principle of focusing “first and foremost on functional impairment rather than medical diagnosis”.
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Seven boss James Warburton to step down
James Warburton, the chief executive of Seven West Media, will leave the Kerry Stokes-chaired media company at the end of the financial year, the company announced on Thursday.
Warburton, a longtime media executive who previously led the Ten Network, will be replaced by Seven West’s chief financial officer Jeff Howard.
Seven West is the owner of the Seven Network and West Australian Newspapers.
It enjoyed record-breaking television audiences due to its coverage of the Women’s World Cup and roaring success of the Matildas but the event wasn’t easily monetised.
Seven West shares have long been trading at depressed levels due to the financial headwinds facing free-to-air television networks and newspapers.
Stokes said in a statement to shareholders the incoming chief executive had the “right balance of skills” to deal with an evolving media landscape:
His commercial knowledge, passion and commitment will ensure a strong performance focus at this critical time of change and innovation for the industry.
Howard is scheduled to take over the top role on or before 30 June 2024. Warburton has been chief executive since mid-2019.
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Superannuation theft to be criminalised, ‘right to disconnect’ to be debated next year
And back to the IR bill – the Greens have given their support to pass the bill after Tony Burke agreed to criminalise superannuation theft (something Paul Karp has been all over from its infancy) and to continue to pursue a “right to disconnect” when the rest of the legislation goes before the parliament in the new year.
The right to disconnect is something that you may have heard the French have done – basically it means employees would not have to answer work emails or phone calls outside their work hours. A lot of free labour is done by employees outside of work time by answering these missives (as well as completing the work being asked for outside of work hours) and the Greens believe employees should be able to disconnect without fear of losing their job.
That’s something that will be debated in 2024.
Read more:
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Some participants to be phased out under proposed three-layered NDIS system
Just staying on the NDIS review, among the proposed changes is a rethink of how the disability support system looks. The report proposes a three-layered system with targeted individual support for those most in need delivered through the NDIS.
The middle layer would be foundational supports provided outside the scheme and would cover Australians with disabilities needing less intensive support, such as cooking and financial assistance.
Early intervention and support systems for children with developmental problems would also be targeted through this layer.
The third layer is mainstream services and community supports delivered through existing services, such as schools.
Prof Bruce Bonyhady, one of the scheme’s key architects, and former bureaucrat Lisa Paul said the NDIS needed to return to its core principle – centring “first and foremost on functional impairment rather than medical diagnosis”.
The report said:
There is too much focus on diagnosis and not enough on support needs. There is no consistent approach to identifying developmental concerns early, or helping families find evidence-based supports that work for them.
Those already on the scheme, who will no longer be considered part of the proposed system’s top layer as it transitions over a five-year period, would be gradually phased out of the NDIS and directed toward foundational supports.
We recognise that change for participants can be very difficult. We have recommended a guide to transition to ensure participants are given time to understand and have a say in changes before they are affected by them.
Changes to access and budget setting processes for children and young people should only be implemented once widespread foundational supports are in place.
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Final sitting under way
In the Senate, Penny Wong is moving the motion to split the closing loopholes bill into two bills and bring on the vote for the first bill today. That will be agreed to, because the government has the votes it needs to pass the bill.
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Labour hire, wage theft, PTSD and other IR changes to be legislated today
And the happiest person in the building today is Tony Burke, who gets to legislate a big chunk of his agenda before the parliamentary year is out.
Here is what is going through in IR today (as per Burke’s statement):
Stop companies underpaying workers through the use of labour hire
Criminalise intentional wage theft
Introduce a new criminal offence of industrial manslaughter
Better support first responders with PTSD
Better protect workers subjected to family and domestic violence from discrimination at work
Expand the functions of the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency to include silica
And close the loophole in which large businesses claim small business exemptions during insolvency to avoid redundancy payments
Under the deal, the government has agreed to boost funding for the small business advisory service in the Fair Work Ombudsman, as Jacqui Lambie wanted, and undertake an independent review of the Comcare scheme.
David Pocock and Lambie also won new guidelines on independent medical assessments for workers making claims under Comcare.
And the big one for both Lambie and Pocock has been agreed to – the government will reverse the onus of proof for first responders with PTSD, so they won’t have to jump through so many hoops to prove they have the stress disorder before accessing the help they need. That will cover the AFP, ambulance officers, paramedics, emergency services communications operators, firefighters and border force.
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The recommendations
As Sarah reported, the review had several recommendations – here is how Bill Shorten describes them:
Legislation: The Review recommended a range of legislative reforms to return the scheme to its original intent and improve the experience of participants. This included legislation to improve eligibility and access, as well as an early intervention pathway for children.
Foundational supports: The Review recommended disability specific supports that would be available to people with disability and, where appropriate, their families and carers. The Review said these supports should be available to all Australians with disability, whether they are on the NDIS or not. Foundational supports would interconnect with existing mainstream services like childcare and schools.
Early childhood intervention: The Review said there is not enough support for children in everyday settings, where they live, play and learn. It recommends children with disability and developmental concerns or delays are identified early, and get the support they need. This could include earlier checks and screening to pick up developmental concerns and provide support.
New approaches to psychosocial disability and mental health: The Review recommended a new, dedicated approach for people with psychosocial disability that better meets their episodic needs and is focused on personal recovery. It recommended that access to mental health services should be improved and there should be a strengthened interface between mental health systems and the NDIS.
Service navigation: The Review recommended the introduction of navigators to help people with disability, find and access all services available to them across mainstream services, community supports, foundational supports and the NDIS.
Fairer housing and living support: The Review recommended consistency should be introduced to housing and living support budgets to make it fairer for NDIS participants. The Review recommended a more flexible and innovative approach to housing supports to help people access solutions that suit them better.
Registration: The Review recommended all providers should be enrolled or registered, with the level of regulatory requirement being determined by the risk and complexity of the different supports they provide.
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Shorten statement
Bill Shorten has released a statement on the review, now that the embargo has lifted. The key takeaways, the “original intent of the Scheme to support people with permanent and significant disability, within a broader ecosystem of supports” will be restored, additional “foundational supports” will be established so not everyone needs to use the NDIS and the government will give its full response to the review in 2024.
There is going to be more discussions with the disability community over the near future “as we work together to make the positive changes needed for people with disability”.
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NDIS review recommends dozens of changes
A landmark review into the NDIS scheme has found the critical lifeboat supporting more than 600,000 Australians with disabilities needs to be fixed to ensure its future sustainability for decades to come.
As has been foreshadowed for some weeks, it is looking to governments to offer and fund more mainstream services for Australians with disabilities outside of the NDIS, describing the scheme as just “one part” of a greater system that has been lacking. The review found:
Our view is that you can’t fix the NDIS without fixing everything around it.
We want to create a new system of support, including accessible and inclusive mainstream services, a new system of foundational supports as well as the NDIS.
The much-anticipated report recommended 26 changes alongside 139 detailed actions to fix the NDIS and how Australians with disabilities access support more broadly.
A summary of the main recommendations includes:
– Creating a system of foundational supports for those with disabilities who can’t access the scheme, or might not need to, either through peer support or community and personal assistance.
– The introduction of navigators to help Australians with disabilities find the information they need, and to direct them to services that best suit them.
– A new approach to Australians with psychosocial disabilities, focused on episodic treatment and personal recovery.
– Changing the rules to ensure every NDIS provider is enrolled or registered.
– Ensuring a more consistent and fair approach to to housing and living options
– Better market regulation as well as incentives for providers to deliver quality supports to participants.
Later today NDIS minister Bill Shorten will speak at the National Press Club and we’ll hear from leaders from disability advocacy groups.
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Tony Burke says same-job, same-pay laws will be passed by Senate
A jubilant Tony Burke is holding his press conference. He confirms what Paul Karp reported a little earlier – same-job, same-pay will be passed by the Senate.
He says the existing bill will be divided into two bills – closing the loopholes and closing the loopholes 2 with the measures not passed today to be debated in the new year.
He says the Greens are going to make their own announcement, and independent Victorian senator Lidia Thorpe has also been constructive in negotiations and has authorised Burke to say she will be supporting the first bill in the Senate today.
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Australia announces sanctions on Russians involved in poisoning
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has announced Australia has imposed “Magnitsky-style targeted financial sanctions and travel bans” on three Federal Security Service agents involved in the poisoning of prominent Russian opposition figure and pro-democracy activist Vladimir Kara-Murza.
Australia has also imposed targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on ten individuals, including a Russian deputy minister, who are linked to the politically motivated arrest, trial and sentencing of Mr Kara-Murza.
A long-time critic of President Putin’s repressive regime, Mr Kara-Murza was subjected to two near-fatal poisoning attempts in 2015 and 2017. He was later sentenced to 25 years in prison under Russia’s draconian laws which prohibit criticism of the Russian Armed Forces.
Those responsible for Russia’s appalling crackdown on civil society, human rights defenders, independent journalists, opposition figures and minority groups must be held to account.
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Paul Karp has some more detail – the government will be splitting the bill. Same-job, same-pay will remain, along with the first responders elements. There will be an inquiry into Comcare. But the controversial gig economy elements will be kicked into next year along with some of the other parts which the crossbench wanted more time to examine.
But same-job, same-pay – that will get through.
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Possible deal struck on IR with Lambie and Pocock
I don’t have many details, but yes, there has been a deal struck when it comes to industrial relations. Which means that Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock must have won some concessions from the government over what they wanted, which included accelerating changes including banning discrimination against employees experiencing family and domestic violence and improving access to workers’ compensation for first responders with post-traumatic stress disorder in the ACT.
Tony Burke will make the announcement in just over 10 minutes but it seems there is some news – at least when it comes to this IR bill.
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The employment and workplace relations minister, Tony Burke, has called a snap press conference for 8.30am. So something is afoot. Have we got a deal on the IR omnibus bill? We’ll find out very soon.
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More from Sussan Ley on detention laws
In respect to that last question from Hamish Macdonald, Sussan Ley says:
The details of how people are allowed to apply for protections under our Migration Act are varied and they are sometimes outside the scope of government.
So I think it’s important that we note that. Because migration law is not just about what happens within the system that we control, but the system we don’t control.
Pushed again, Ley says:
I was not the immigration minister and I don’t have the details of that case in front of me and I think you need to appreciate that.
What I do know is that 148 potential criminals have been let out on Labor’s watch. Now these are people who are unlawful non-citizens, that this is not a decision we would have taken.
What happened there is that Ley was using the high court decision to blame Labor for “letting them out”. (A reminder: Australian citizens who are convicted of crimes are released every single day once they have completed their custodial sentences.) But when asked why Peter Dutton (who was minister at the time) allowed the plaintiff who started this case that was ultimately successful in the high court to reapply for a visa, despite previous crimes, Ley points to the visa laws and how it was not always the government decision.
In much of the reporting of the fallout from the high court decision, there have been a lot of unchallenged assertions made by members of the opposition, without any context or investigating of the actual circumstances of a case. The government had made mistakes here, no doubt. But some of the main arguments – that Labor “let people out it didn’t need to” have to be challenged.
The high court made a ruling that found that indefinite detention was unconstitutional. The government can not overrule the high court. If the government did not comply with the high court ruling, it would have opened itself up to being sued, pretty much immediately, by each of the people who had similar circumstances to the plaintiff who brought the case. It was not a matter of a government getting to decide whether or not it would “take that decision”. It was a ruling from the high court.
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We locked up NZYQ, Labor let him out, Ley says
The ABC’s Hamish Macdonald asks Sussan Ley why NZYQ was allowed to reapply for a visa (which happened under the Coalition).
Ley:
We locked him up, Hamish, Labor let him out. [It was a high court decision the government could not overturn.]
Macdonald:
Now, why did you let him reapply for a visa?
Ley:
Well, there are reasons why people in this country can reapply. They have freedoms under our laws, which I have often reflected on in the past seem quite unreasonable for unlawful non-citizens.
But the most important point is that we locked him up and Labor has let him out.
Macdonald:
Let’s just be clear about this. Is it your view that he should not have been allowed to reapply for a visa?
Ley:
Well, it’s my view that he shouldn’t have been let out by this Labor government.
Macdonald:
That’s not my question, respectfully.
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Sussan Ley criticises Mark Dreyfus’ heated response
The deputy Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, is now speaking to ABC radio RN Breakfast about the laws passed overnight.
So far, Ley is holding to the line that the “government” released the people in indefinite detention. Which is not true. The high court decision led to the release.
Ley is not corrected on this point. She goes on:
You saw the attorney general come out yesterday shouting at a female journalist. And I felt like he was shouting at the women of Australia to say, “How dare you expect me to apologise?”
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Four layers of ‘community protection’ included in new citizenship cessation laws
And at 11pm, Andrew Giles and Clare O’Neil sent out a joint press release hailing the passage of the citizenship cessation laws through the parliament:
In total, four layers of protection have been established to keep Australians safe:
1. Preventative detention;
2. Community safety supervision orders;
3. Electronic monitoring devices and curfews;
4. Stringent visa conditions.
These four layers of protection will work together to ensure community safety and keep Australians safe.
The Community Safety Supervision Order provides new powers to protect the community through targeted restrictions like curfews, monitoring and reporting obligations, tailored to the individual.
In addition, the Australian Government is providing $255 million for measures including Operation AEGIS – the joint Australian Federal Police & Australian Border Force operation established by the Department of Home Affairs.
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MPs don casual wear for late-night sitting
Given the late sitting (the house has been doing “family friendly” hours for most of the year, which has made sittings past 8pm or 8.30pm rare) there were a few more casual looks on the benches than we are used to.
Dan Tehan was Dan Tehaning, meaning Tony Burke had to Tony Burke:
And then, after a couple of hours, the bill was passed in the house and the house adjourned.
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PM’s press gallery end-of-year event subdued
Hansard isn’t published for proceedings past 8pm (understandably, its staff are among the hardest working people in the building and deserve sleep!) but Mike Bowers tells me the debate got quite fiery. The conditions were set for it to be a bit of a tinderbox, even though the Coalition was voting for the legislation.
In the end, the house sat until about 11pm.
The prime minister’s end-of-year event with the press gallery was held earlier in the evening (every prime minister, regardless of political stripe, holds one – your correspondent didn’t attend) and we are told that it was a bit subdued (they are usually pretty staid affairs held in a marque in the grounds of The Lodge and have a strict end time).
The opposition’s end-of-year event was held last week, as were events for the crossbench and the Greens.
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Long day for MPs as detention legislation debate followed Peta Murphy condolence motion
Once the condolence motion was completed, the house had a short adjournment before returning to debate the preventive detention legislation.
It was a late start as you can see from when the minister for immigration Andrew Giles entered the chamber as proceedings began (that’s 9.30pm).
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MPs stay late in the evening for Peta Murphy condolence motion
The condolence motion for Labor MP Peta Murphy ran for 10 hours and 55 minutes yesterday. Member for Moreton,Graham Perrett was the last MP to speak on the motion. Mike Bowers was there.
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Media lock-up begins before release of NDIS review
The lock-up for the NDIS review is under way – and turns out it is not a lock-up. My mistake. An embargoed copy of the review has been sent to reporters. Sarah Basford Canales has one and will report on the review’s findings as soon as she can – the embargo lifts at 9am.
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Good morning
Thank you to Martin for starting us off. You have Amy Remeikis with you for the rest of the day. It’s the last parliamentary sitting day of the year and at least a five-coffee day.
Ready?
Let’s get into it.
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‘Wake-up call’ for energy industry as confidence dips
Soaring energy bills have dented confidence in the market as consumers feel they are not getting value for money from gas and electricity services.
A consumer sentiment survey conducted by Energy Consumers Australia revealed market confidence was the lowest it had been since 2018.
More than 2,200 households and 500 small business owners were surveyed nationwide, with energy costs identified as a major concern.
Just 54% of households believed their electricity service provided value for money, compared with 59% a year ago and 67% in 2021.
Confidence that technological advances would help better manage energy supply and costs also fell.
The fall was particularly noticeable in the largest states, down six percentage points in NSW and seven percentage points in Victoria.
A lack of confidence in the market could spell trouble as Australia transitions from coal and gas to renewable sources, Energy Consumers Australia chief executive Brendan French warned:
Consumers do not have trust in the market, yet we need them to be engaged for the energy transition to be successful.
– AAP
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NDIS review to be published today
People involved in national disability insurance scheme have been promised a better experience and broader support, Australian Associated Press reports.
The federal government will on Thursday release the report of an independent review of the scheme by one of the architects, Prof Bruce Bonyhady, and former senior public servant Lisa Paul.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, struck an initial deal with state and territory leaders at a national cabinet meeting on Wednesday to respond to the review.
Albanese said the NDIS, which is putting pressure on government budgets as demand and costs rise, needed reform to ensure it could continue to provide “life-changing support” to people with a disability.
The prime minister and premiers agreed to work on new laws which he said would “improve the experience of participants and restore the original intent of the scheme, to support people with permanent and significant disability, with a broader ecosystem of support”.
Fronting the government’s response to the review will be the NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, who will address the press club in Canberra at lunchtime.
And in case you missed it, Ali Schnabel, a registered clinical psychologist who works with autistic women, and Clem Bastow, an autistic advocate and critical autism studies scholar, have written for us about why people in the scheme should stop being vilified.
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Australia’s economy suffering from bracket creep
As mentioned below, Grogonomics argues that we need to ditch the rose-tinted glasses and start to get our heads around the fact that Australia’s economy is not in brilliant shape. He points to how we have had three consecutive quarters of falling GDP on a per capita basis – something which last happened 40 years ago during the 1982-83 recession. All that kept the economy afloat, he writes, was government spending and population growth, while household living standards plummeted due to the removal of tax offsets and rising interest rates.
Read his whole column here:
We also have an article by our economics correspondent Peter Hannam today which looks at the same issue but points to the phenomenon of “bracket creep”, which is sucking billions out of the economy in extra taxes. At the same time, households are being hammered by higher mortgage payments making for a squeeze that is good for the economy in the sense that is cooling inflation. But bad for consumption.
Here’s Peter’s piece:
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of the day’s events in Canberra and beyond. Yes, politics is back – but for a limited time only and Amy Remeikis will be along soon to take you through the day. In the meantime, I’m Martin Farrer and these are some of our top overnight stories.
Court documents released last night have revealed that News Corp paid Bruce Lehrmann $295,000 to settle a defamation claim over its original reporting of the allegation that he raped a colleague at Parliament House, an accusation he strongly denies. It also emerged that the ABC paid Lehrmann $150,000 to settle a claim he brought against the broadcaster that it acted maliciously for showing a National Press Club speech by his accuser, Brittany Higgins, in February last year. The revelations came after another dramatic day in his defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson in which a former colleague said she resigned because she had been concerned about Lehrmann’s treatment of Higgins before the alleged rape. The defamation trial continues today and we’ll have regular updates.
The Israeli ambassador says he is “very sad” about a rise in antisemitic incidents in Australia and has urged the government to “take all necessary measures” to ensure people of different faiths feel safe. In an interview with Guardian Australia, Amir Maimon said he was “so, so upset” about the presence of pro-Palestine protesters at a Melbourne hotel where relatives and friends of Hamas-held hostages were staying last week. He also said he had assured the Australian government that Israel was “doing its utmost” to avoid civilian deaths in Gaza, where the Hamas-run ministry of health has reported more than 16,000 deaths, including thousands of children, since 7 October.
A lack of suitable jobs and a trend towards insecure work is locking hundreds of thousands of people in poverty, according to a new report that finds there are 26 jobseekers for every entry-level position in Australia. Anglicare’s annual Jobs Snapshot found that of the 26 people out of work for each entry-level position, 18 are technically “long-term” unemployed, meaning they have been out of the workforce for more than 12 months. Our economics columnist Greg Jericho would no doubt see this as evidence for his piece today which argues that Australia’s GDP is going backwards.
• This post was amended on 7 December 2023 to clarify a reference to the News Corp payment to Bruce Lehrmann. It previously incorrectly referred to “damages”.
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