What we learned: Tuesday, 12 September
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Here are today’s main headlines:
The no campaign and the Coalition have been accused of lies and misinformation regarding the Indigenous voice to parliament, with Anthony Albanese saying the campaign is “promoting fear” and Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young saying Peter Dutton and Pauline Hanson are using “Trumpian” tactics.
Coalition MP Karen Andrews says she was subjected to harassment in parliament.
Victoria will fund a $230m increase to teacher funding including paying off Hecs debts for student teachers.
Business conditions improved in August, adding to proof of economy’s resilience, according to NAB.
And a South Australian-based developer collapsed, placing 200 homes at risk.
We will see you back here for more news tomorrow.
Updated
Defence minister flags requirement for ex-defence staff to get approval from government for foreign employment
Following on from the earlier post regarding espionage, this is somewhat relevant: AAP reports that some former defence force personnel will soon need to get the green light from the government if they intend to work for a foreign military, government or government entity.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, will introduce the amendments to national security laws to parliament on Thursday.
The safeguarding Australia’s military secrets bill is in response to allegations China tried to poach Western pilots.
Marles ordered a review of the allegations and while specific recommendations remain classified, it suggested extra legislation.
The laws will require some former members of the Australian defence force and public service to obtain authorisation from the government before working for certain foreign entities or militaries.
The amendments will put in place additional penalties for those who disclose sensitive or classified national security information to foreign militaries of concern.
Updated
Home builder placed into liquidation, 200 projects at risk
A developer based in South Australia has collapsed, AAP reports:
Prospective homeowners are in for a nervous wait as the latest collapse of a major builder casts doubt over the future of 200 homes and the government’s ambitious social housing pipeline.
South Australia-based developer Qattro was placed into liquidation on Tuesday, with the company blaming supply chain and labour shortages for causing blow-outs to fixed-price construction contracts.
Qattro’s managing director Bradley Jansen said the business will focus on completing the under-construction homes.
“I am devastated to make this decision after three exceedingly difficult years of efforts trying to recover the post-Covid financial sustainability of the company,” he said.
Jansen apologised for the “significant impact” the closure will have on long-term employees, clients and contractors.
The company directly employs 35 people.
The construction industry has struggled to meet rising costs, despite surging demand for housing.
Fellow South Australian builder Felmeri Homes went into liquidation in May, halting the construction of dozens of houses, while the collapse of Sydney-based developer Toplace and Victorian builder Porter Davis plunged thousands more dwellings into uncertainty.
Updated
UK espionage saga gives a warning for Australia, Liberal senator says
An espionage scandal in the UK should serve as a “major wake-up call” for Australia, a senior opposition member has said.
Australia’s shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, called on both countries to “harden” their political systems to reduce the risk of alleged compromise, including wider use of vetting of staff members.
British MPs complained that they should have been told sooner than an aide operating at the heart of parliament had been arrested on suspicion of allegedly spying for China and breaching the UK’s Official Secrets Act.
You can read more on that story here:
Updated
Some context to those comments we just reported from Sarah Hanson-Young can be found here:
No campaign using ‘Trumpian tactics’ in voice debate: Sarah Hanson-Young
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has accused the no campaign of using “Trumpian” tactics in their opposition to the Indigenous voice to parliament.
Hanson-Young said Coalition leader Peter Dutton had united with One Nation leader Pauline Hanson to spread fear, lies and misinformation about the voice.
She told the ABC:
The Coalition of Peter Dutton and Pauline Hanson, using fear, using lies, misinformation to win the no vote, to try and do everything they can to distract from the importance of the voice … let’s just be clear about what the voice does: it is giving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders recognition in our constitution and a say over the issues that impact their lives. That’s why they have to lie about this. That’s why they have to fear monger because it’s basic and makes sense to most people.
It’s taking the turn of the Trumpian campaigning and you saw what happened there. Their division, the fear mongering, the conspiracy theories. Trump tactics and nasty Coalitions. That’s all they’ve got.
Hanson-Young said the campaigning also raised questions about “truth in political advertising and how political campaigns engage”.
Updated
Reports of letters sent to Victorian landowners with false treaty claims
The First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria says fake letters purportedly from the member of the organisation have been sent to landowners in the state with claims that a treaty would result in Aboriginal people “coming after your backyard”.
Assembly member, Wotjobaluk man and representative of the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwajali, Jadwaa, Wergaia, Jupagulk clans, Dylan Clarke, said he was horrified by the discovery that the letters had been sent to people in the state’s north-west.
The letter has been referred to police. Clarke said:
We’re trying to have constructive conversations in the community and someone is going to extraordinary lengths to poison the goodwill and scare people about all the positive things we can achieve together on the journey to treaty.
It’s terribly sad and extremely frustrating.
The assembly said the fake letter featured its letterhead and had an “upbeat tone” but “underlying themes … designed to create unfounded fear about the reacquisition of land”. Clarke said:
Treaty is about finding better ways to work together and making sure Aboriginal knowledge and culture can be respected and shared and used to care for country and help our communities thrive.
But the lies in this letter are designed to depict us as something to be afraid of. It’s real ‘coming after your backyard’ bullshit.
Updated
Sophie Scamps urges further protection for koala habitats
Independent MP Dr Sophie Scamps says more should be done to protect koalas on a national level, after the NSW government announced it would stop logging in designated “hubs”.
Guardian Australia revealed on Tuesday that logging in high value koala habitat on the NSW mid-north coast would cease immediately while the state government consults experts about plans to establish a great koala national park.
Scamps said in a statement that the announcement was “a small step in the right direction”. She added:
NSW taxpayers should not continue to fund the destruction of our native forests and NSW should follow the examples set by Victoria and WA and end native forest logging for good.
It’s important to recognise that as we end native forest logging, we must also fund the transition to a sustainable plantation based industry.
Scamps said the Albanese government also needed to show “leadership”. She said it should amend the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act) to remove exemptions for Regional Forestry Agreements (RFAs) to ensure the environmental impact of logging projects must be assessed by the environment minister.
Today’s announcement is hugely welcome – but it’s just one step governments around the nation must take to protect our native forests, and iconic species such as the koala.
Updated
Thank you for your service, Amy Remeikis. On with the news!
Updated
The parliament is continuing – Peter Dutton is holding his suspension of standing order motion debate now, which Tony Burke is allowing to continue as a nod to allowing debate (but the government will not support the substantive motion, which we have detailed below).
Nino Bucci is going to take you through the rest of the afternoon and I will be back early tomorrow morning with more politics live – again, as always – please take care of you.
Updated
Kerrynne Liddle: ‘unfortunate’ timing on referendum
Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle is doing double duty – on both Sky News and the ABC, talking about the referendum (in case it is not clear, Liddle is opposed)
Liddle is asked on the ABC whether she agrees that people will be divided by the referendum and says:
I think this has been brutal for many people. Some of those people are the most vulnerable in our communities. Going to a referendum, not just with the divisive proposition, but to do it in the way it’s occurred without a constitutional convention, without things like real conversations with people in remote areas.
That’s where I hear most people saying ‘we don’t know what you’re talking about’. We hear people in the city still don’t know what you’re talking about. I think it’s unfortunate that he made the decision to go to referendum when he did.
Updated
Chronic pain protest in Canberra planned tomorrow
On Wednesday, chronic pain sufferers will gather on the parliament lawns asking for better multidisciplinary pain management at the GP level so they can receive the treatment they need to better manage their pain. They want the government to make a commitment to fund additional allied health visits.
Painaustralia’s chief executive, Giulia Jones, said the common misconception is that chronic pain is a condition mostly of the elderly.
In fact, 68% of people living with chronic pain are of working age and of the 3.4 million Australians with this condition, more than half, 1.8 million are women,” she said.
A most typical person with chronic pain is a woman in the peak of her working years, trying to keep up with earning needs, relationships, caring responsibilities, and family’s needs. Meanwhile, they are invisible, no one talks about them or thinks about them, and even worse when they seek help, they are often belittled or are not given the treatment and care they need.
So tomorrow we are going to put women with chronic pain on the map. We are asking the federal government to respond with a doubling of the allied health visits from 5 to 10 funded through GP management plans for chronic conditions and we need Australia to have a public conversation about pain.
One in five people live in chronic pain, so chances are if you don’t have a condition to manage, someone around you in your life does. And it is not just about medications – psychological support is also a big part of the treatment picture.
The group will gather from 8am and have set up a campaign website www.walkmypain.com.au.
Updated
Greens to introduce federal bill to ban logging in native forests
The Greens plan on introducing a private members bill to ban native forest logging in Australia.
That has been on the Greens agenda for some time, but it also comes after the Labor conference watered down a motion supporting a ban on native forestry, to one which committed to a review of logging.
The Nationals are absolutely gagging for a fight with the government on this, and have been calling on the federal Labor party to condemn Victorian Labor for its announcement is is banning native forestry level.
But Labor’s approach has been to lay low on this issue as a whole, which means it most likely will not be supporting the Greens legislation – which the Greens know.
But not supporting the legislation is an action all in itself and allows the Greens to point out that Labor have not supported a bid to end native forestry logging when given the chance.
Updated
Minerals Council backs crossbench proposal to split IR bill
The Minerals Council has endorsed the crossbench push to split the industrial relations bill.
The council’s chief executive, Tania Constable, said:
We commend crossbench senators for proposing this smart approach and for calling out the Albanese government’s cynical decision to lump some sensible policy changes in the same bill as some of the most radical and contentious industrial relations changes we have ever seen.
Updated
International student intake double that of last year, ABS data shows
International student arrivals have doubled compared with last year as universities ready for semester two intakes, the latest data shows.
The data, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday, found 131,640 international students arrived in Australia in July, an increase of 60,420 compared with July 2022.
Provisional estimates indicated a further 50,630 students arrived last month.
Universities Australia chief executive, Catriona Jackson, said the doubling was a “testament to the quality” of Australia’s education system. But she added it was still below pre-pandemic rates.
While we’re encouraged by the progress made in the recovery of international education, there’s still work to be done with student arrivals sitting 8.5% lower than pre-Covid levels recorded in July 2019 … we must do all we can to build on its recovery.
The Institute of Public Affairs has sounded the alarm over rent increases in light of migration levels. It said the international student intake between January and July this year was a record 258,880 – 25% higher than a previous record set in 2018.
Updated
Serco breached international law by not moving refugee from Villawood after assaults, Human Rights Commission finds
The Human Rights Commission has found the home affairs department and contractor Serco breached international law by continuing to detain a refugee at Villawood detention centre after he was assaulted on two occasions.
A judgment published by the commission on Tuesday found the refugee, who has not been named, was returned to the same dorm and compound where he was assaulted by fellow detainees after being treated in hospital.
It also found the federal government “failed to undertake any assessment of the risk of further assaults on him after those assaults”.
The commission has also criticised the home affairs department for “failing to conduct their own investigation of the assaults when the Australian federal police decided not to investigate them, and the significant delay in taking steps to transfer [the refugee] to a different compound”.
It found the refugee’s treatment was a breach of article 10(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which provides a right for people to be treated with humanity and respect for their inherent dignity.
The commission’s judgment contains this statement from the refugee, made in 2018 with a statutory declaration:
When I came back from hospital, I asked the Serco officers to move me to another compound because I did not feel safe. The Serco manager told me that ‘you do not have any other option’. They kept me in the same Blaxland compound and when I protested, they said that it is not up to me to choose the place where I am detained. I was so worried I did not go to sleep at night …
The department told the Human Rights Commission that while it valued its work responding to complaints, it disagreed with its findings:
In relation to the decision of the department or Serco to continue to detain [the refugee] in the Blaxland compound until he was moved to another compound, the department notes the findings of the president however considers that steps were taken in consideration of [the refugee’s] basic needs for safety and security.
The commission made seven recommendations for change that were noted, rather than accepted.
Updated
‘At no time did I say that’: Burney
Question time ended, by the way.
Linda Burney makes a personal explanation to address the words which were attributed to her by Peter Dutton in his question, but which she did not say:
The leader of the opposition claimed I made the following statement: that the parliament can override the provisions of the constitution.
At no time did I say that. The leader of the opposition’s statement is untrue. And I suspect he knew that when he was saying it.
Updated
What did Dutton’s motion get wrong about ‘limiting’ the referendum’s proposed amendments?
Moving on to the next part of that motion, Peter Dutton accuses the prime minister of:
An unwillingness to consult in relation to the words of the constitutional amendments or to consider limiting the amendments to the issue of constitutional recognition and the arrogant assumption that the Australian people will be ready to vote in support of the voice when they have not been given the details of how will operate and how will be structured.
As Josh Butler pointed out, many members of the Coalition voted for the referendum legislation, which included the question. The referendum question cannot be amended without further legislation. That means that it cannot be “split” to only be held on constitutional recognition. The parliament would have to pass a whole new legislation and then wait to hold a new referendum – as is set out in the constitution.
There is no legal way for Anthony Albanese to say, “Hey guys, soz, have to change the refo question, no cap. Sorry for the delulu but we are only doing it on connie rec now, so just answer that.”
For the question to be changed, the referendum would have to be cancelled, the parliament asked to consult on a new question, the legislation introduced, debated, passed and then a new date for the referendum called no earlier than two months and no later than six months from when that legislation was passed.
People have been given details of how the voice will operate and how it will be structured. The legislation is up to the parliament. The model cannot be part of the constitution, because then if a parliament ever wanted to change it, they would have to hold a whole new referendum every single time they needed or wanted to make an adjustment to the model. That’s why the referendum is asking if you want the voice enshrined in the parliament – just a yes or no. And then the model itself, is up to the parliament to shape through legislation.
And the prime minister’s actions are dividing the country in an unprecedented and reckless way.
In that case, every single election divides the country.
Updated
What did Dutton’s motion get wrong about the voice’s consequences and scope?
Just on the motion that Peter Dutton wanted to have debated, there are a few furphies in there as well.
That this house expresses its grave concern at this prime minister was a comprehensive mishandling of the voice referendum including a failure to explain to the Australian people how the member for the voice will be appointed or elected, what the consequences will be for government decision-making processes and what the scope of issues will be on which the voice will have the power to make representations.
That is for the parliament to decide, if the referendum is successful. The referendum is only on the question of whether the voice should be in the constitution. There is information freely available on how the voice members would be elected – they would be nominated and chosen by Indigenous people, from the regions, rural areas and urban areas. It would include gender parity.
On the consequences for government on decision-making processes – there won’t be any. The government cannot be dictated to by the voice. It can choose to ignore the advice from the voice. There is no consequences for the government on decision-making processes, because the parliament is what makes the decisions, not the voice (and often not the government, unless it has a rare majority in the senate)
What scope of issues the voice will have the power to make representations on?
We know that, too – it is legislation which will have an impact on First Nations people. And given the seriousness of the Closing the Gap issues, the voice would not be worrying itself with Aukus submarines, or parking tickets. And even in the fantasy world where it did, the government and the parliament could just ignore it.
Updated
Parliament will have power to shape how voice works – including Coalition MPs
A reminder: the third part of the constitutional amendment (there’s only three parts, it’s pretty slim and compact) states very specifically that parliament will have the power to deal with all the matters around the voice.
So the Coalition’s questions about how the voice would work, and its scope, would be dealt with by – again – the parliament. Of which Coalition MPs play an important role. And of whom Peter Dutton is the leader.
So the same people asking about how the voice would work, are the same people responsible for answering those very questions if the referendum is successful.
The third part of the amendment states: “the Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures”.
Also remember that most of the Coalition voted for the constitutional amendment when it went through the House of Reps in May. Including Dutton.
We just checked the Hansard records again. It passed 121-25. Dutton, the deputy Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, the shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor and many other Coalition colleagues voted for it.
Updated
Transcription of PM’s interview with Neil Mitchell
Sarah Basford Canales has gone through the interview Phil Thompson was referring to, and transcribed it for you:
Anthony Albanese:
I think that some people in the no campaign, and I include Peter Dutton in this, are saying things that they know are not true.
Neil Mitchell:
Peter Dutton is lying about the referendum?
Albanese:
Peter knows full well that a voice will not have a say in where the submarines from Aukus will go. He knows full well that they’re not going to have the impact that they say they were [inaudible] … he knows he authorised this week. They know the Uluru statement from the heart is one page, is one page, not hundreds of pages.
Mitchell:
But what are the other 25 pages … what are they?
Albanese:
What they are is a record of meetings, some of them, they’re records of the big lead up that happened, in the lead up to, ironically, the lead up to the Uluru statement from the heart.
Mitchell:
Do you agree with most of what is said in those 25 pages?
Albanese:
I haven’t read it.
Mitchell:
You haven’t read it?
Albanese:
There’s 120 pages – why would I? I know what, I know what the conclusion is. The Uluru statement from the heart is one page. That’s the conclusion … they know, for example, those pages have been on the website for years, put there under the former Coalition government.
It’s an example of … see, I respect people can look at the same thing and come to different conclusions, yes or no. There are legitimate reasons why people would do that. But I do wish that people would debate what’s real … rather than what they know is not real.
Updated
Paul Karp reports that Paul Fletcher is now thumbing through the procedure book, while in a huddle with Peter Dutton, Sussan Ley and David Littleproud.
So it looks as if they are trying to see if there is a standing order or procedural motion they can use to stop Tony Burke from shunting their motions until after QT, or if there is something they can do to force some sort of suspension debate.
Updated
Burke moves to shift Dutton’s debate to post-question time
Tony Burke, who knows standing orders and how to wield them, once again uses the same trick he did last week – and moves that the debate on the suspension of standing orders be moved until after the MPI (the matter of public importance).
This is a nice little checkmate – it allows for the debate, so the government can’t be accused of gagging the motion or not allowing debate, but it takes it out of QT which is the time when most eyeballs (at least of the media) are on the chamber, because it is one of the only times that all of the MPs are in the chamber.
So it makes for better pictures, and more drama. Yelling things into a pretty empty chamber in the afternoon just doesn’t have the same impact.
Updated
Dutton accuses PM of ‘arrogant assumption’ that Australia will support voice
Peter Dutton is now trying to suspend standing orders to debate a motion:
This house expresses its grave concern at this prime minister’s comprehensive mishandling of the voice referendum including a failure to explain to the Australian people how the members of the voice will be appointed or elected, what the consequences will be for government decision-making processes and what the scope of issues will be on which the voice will have the power to make representations.
An unwillingness to consult in relation to the words of the constitutional amendments or to consider limiting the amendments to the issue of constitutional recognition.
The arrogant assumption that the Australian people will be ready to vote in support of the voice when they have not been given the details of how it will operate and how it will be structured and the prime minister’s actions dividing the country in an unprecedented and reckless way.
Updated
PM continues to slam ‘nonsense’ claims of 26-page Uluru statement
Anthony Albanese continues:
A former chief of staff indeed to a Liberal prime minister, Chris Kenny. He’s made a very clear statement. He says this about the nonsense about the Uluru statement: ‘The claim is false. The documents they refer to are background papers and meeting summaries from consultations leading up to Uluru.
‘They’ve been public all along, including five years during the Coalition government. And no one has signed up to them. The … claim is a confection [aimed] at sustaining a scare campaign, but incredibly some persist with it.’
That is what Chris Kenny had to say about this nonsense.
There they are, telling their campaigners to promote fear rather than hope. Promote division rather than unity. Promote the entrenching of values rather than the better future. Promote ignoring rather than listening. Promote exclusion rather than recognition.
The Uluru statement from the heart is a great statement of around 440 words.
The constitutional recognition referendum question is very clear as well. Recognition and then there shall be a voice that may make representations on matters infecting Indigenous people and if that is the primacy of the parliament.
Updated
No campaign using ‘deliberate strategy of promoting fear’: PM
Anthony Albanese says:
I have read the Uluru statement from the heart in full.
It’s on the wall of my office and here it is … And the nonsense opposite, Mr Speaker, is an example where the leader of the opposition stood at this dispatch box and attempted to verbal the minister for Indigenous affairs by putting words in her mouth she did not say.
It’s called Hansard, Mr Speaker.
The leader of the opposition seems to be unaware of it.
And on page one of the Herald and the Age today reported the no campaign’s strategy, a deliberate strategy of promoting fear, fear over fact. ‘No callers urged to use fear over fact’.
And that is what we are seeing. That is what we are seeing.
The no campaigners out there, saying this: ‘When reason and emotion collide, emotion always wins’. That’s one of the quotes that are there.
They are very consciously over there with the advance campaign, the advance campaign out there made up of former Liberal party people and some others from very strange groups. But there are people who have backgrounds on this in the Liberal party.
Updated
LNP MP asks whether Albanese has read Uluru statement from the heart ‘in full’
LNP MP Phil Thompson then asks Anthony Albanese:
In an interview with Neil Mitchell three weeks ago, the prime minister confessed he had not read the Uluru statement from the heart in full. The prime minister said, ‘why would I?’
Has the prime minister now read the statement from the heart in full? Does the prime minister accept his failure to read the statement in full has contributed to his failure to convince Australians to vote yes in the referendum?
Again, this was not related to the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which is ONE page.
The question Neil Mitchell was asking related to the “26 pages” conspiracy theory. The other 25 pages are part of the work which led to the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
The statement itself is one page. It is about 440 words. The statement which was presented as the Uluru statement from the heart is one page.
There are hundreds of pages related to the work leading up to that one page, but they are not the statement. It’s like if your work creates a one-page policy document and then someone says: it’s not one page, because the minutes where we discussed that policy run to 26 pages, so you can’t say the policy document is one page.
Updated
A reminder of the proposed amendment to the constitution
Just for absolute clarity though, here is the proposed amendment to the constitution.
The full proposed addition to the constitution:
Chapter IX Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
129 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice
In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia:
there shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice;
the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;
the Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.
Updated
‘You know it is not true’: Tony Burke calls for Dutton to withdraw question
Peter Dutton raises a point of order:
The contempt that this government shows for millions of Australians …
It is not a point of order, so Mark Dreyfus continues unleashing on the opposition:
As I was saying, this leader of the opposition is the leader of a misinformation and disinformation campaign. He knows it. He has misled the people of Australia repeatedly throughout this campaign. And he should be ashamed of himself.
Tony Burke then raises a point of order himself, asking for a withdrawal from the leader of the opposition, because he has had a look at Linda Burney’s answer and she didn’t say what he said she said.
The statement I’m asking to have withdrawn is the claim in the previous question from the leader of the opposition [that] the minister for Indigenous Australians had said the parliament can override the provisions of the constitution.
I have gone through the live minutes. That was not said. To completely misrepresent in this house a member immediately in that way, when you know it is not true, you know you have said something that’s not …
There is then a big back and forth over that.
Dutton:
It’s very clear this was abuse of the standing orders and it was an opportunity – Mr Speaker, you ask the people in the dispatch box to be heard in quiet.
Forget the confected outrage. It’s unbecoming even from you [note: this is to Tony Burke].
Mr Speaker … I have watched this leader of the house with confected outrage on many occasions. Hard to imagine a more egregious example of it than today.
The proper process to be followed here, if there is any substance to what the minister is putting to you, is that the question [is] to you as speaker [at] the end of question time. That is consistent with your ruling to us last week.
Milton Dick says the time to deal with it is at the end of question time and the chamber moves on.
Updated
Dreyfus claims Dutton ‘leader of misinformation and disinformation campaign’
Mark Dreyfus all but launches from his seat:
I’m more than happy to add to the answer that’s been given very competently by the minister for Indigenous Australians.
This question from the leader of the opposition shows entirely, on full display, his role as the leader of the misinformation and disinformation campaign, that is symptomatic of the no campaign.
He knows that the constitutional provision is extremely clear.
He knows that the legal nonsense that he has repeated for month after month has been dismissed by the former chief justice of the high court of Australia, Robert French, by the leading constitutional lawyer, Bret Walker, who said of that sort of question that it was too silly for words.
And that is what we have heard repeatedly from this leader of the opposition who will stop at nothing in his campaign of disinformation and misinformation.
What have you got to say for yourself?
Updated
Burney says voice amendments ‘extraordinarily clear’ after Dutton’s question
Peter Dutton then asks:
I refer to the ministers previous answer. Can the minister confirm her advice in her previous answer that the parliament can override the provisions of the constitution?
(Sorry for the delay – just had to go retrieve my eardrums to make sure I heard that right, because Linda Burney, who the question had been asked, did not say anything like that in her answer.)
Burney said:
The third part of the proposed constitutional amendments is extremely clear about our collective role in this place in relation to the referendum. It says, the parliament shall, subject to this constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice, including – and I say this very clearly, to those of you that are taking notice –the voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.
So Burney did not say that parliaments can override the provisions of the constitution.
There is a back and forth over whether Burney should answer the question, or whether it should go to Mark Dreyfus as the attorney general, or whether it is asking for legal opinion.
Burney answers:
It relates to the constitutional recognition and the Uluru statement from the heart.
My previous answer went to what the amendments are to the constitution and they are very clear.
Firstly, there shall be a body to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice may make representations to the parliament and the executive government of the commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
And the parliament, subject to this constitution shall – listen to what I’ve got to say – … have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice, including composition, functions, powers and procedures.
[It is] extraordinarily clear, and you have a role to play, and I will ask the attorney general, who this should have been addressed to, to conclude the answer.
Updated
Plibersek namechecks SA Liberal senators over comments on water
Tanya Plibersek takes a dixer so she can give a shout-out to the two SA Liberal senators quoted in the Australian newspaper today (James Stevens and Andrew McLachlan):
We have seen another outbreak of good sense today. From the member for Sturt, I thank him for this, who told the Australian newspaper that we should be delivering the 450 gigalitres of environmental water, including through voluntary water purchase.
Also from Senator McLachlan, the Liberal senator for South Australia, he said, and I quote, it is imperative that we prioritise the welfare of the natural world by securing this water.
I want to thank both of those members for their contribution because protecting this river system should be a priority for all political parties. This legislation has something for everyone.
Updated
Burney: No advocates seem to ‘miraculously’ forget that parliament will make laws about voice
Paul Fletcher asks Linda Burney:
The minister for education today said it was rubbish and a lie that some of the people who helped to design the voice are seeking reparations through treaty. Voice architect Megan Davis has written that treaties are about reparations for past injustices … [and] a voice to parliament is the first step in treaty making.
Who is right? The minister for education or one of your members of the First Nations referendum working group?
(Note: the voice and treaty are different.)
Linda Burney:
[Under the voice] parliaments get advice directly from the First Nations people. It will result in better outcomes. That is what the referendum is about.
All the things that you raise and others have raised is just an attempt to play politics. This is above politics. It is about making sure that our founding documents, the big lawbook of this country, reflects the truth about something that we should be all proud of.
We live in a nation that is older than any other. We live in a nation where we should be proud of the human history of this country. I make this point very clearly. The voice will be about things that affect First Nations people. Health, education, jobs and housing.
I also make this point. It seems to be miraculously forgotten by those that advocate no.
The third part of the proposed constitutional amendments is extremely clear about our collective role in this place in relation to the referendum. It says: the parliament shall, subject to this constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice, including – and I say this very clearly, to those of you that are taking notice – the voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.
How that is forgotten is just beyond me. All you have to do is read the question and then read the three parts to the amendments and you will realise what our responsibilities are.
Updated
Albanese invokes Menzies quote in attacking Liberals: ‘No room in Australia for a party of reaction’
On a dixer about the housing Australia future fund and whether or not anyone is standing in the way (a parliamentary way of setting up a question to allow the minister to spend three minutes taking swings at the opposition), Anthony Albanese brings up this quote from Robert Menzies, the father of the modern Liberal party:
I refer them to the statements of Robert Menzies. When the Liberal party was formed in 1944, he said this: ‘For too many questions we have found our role to be simply that of the man who says no.’
Remind you of anyone? Then he went on to say there is no room in Australia for a party of reaction. There is no useful place for a policy of negation.
Those opposite say no to absolutely everything. Does not matter whether there is a mandate or how broad the support free policy, just no, no, no, just the one sounds coming out of this leader of the opposition.
Updated
Services Australia culture being rebuilt after robodebt inquiry: Shorten
Wentworth independent MP Allegra Spender asks Bill Shorten:
Constituents from Wentworth and across the country are becoming increasingly frustrated at the wait times, calls not being answered, hang-ups and inaccessabilities of Services Australia.
The agency’s failure to provide support promised by law has pushed people into extreme financial hardship. Will you make a commitment to the House to improve the agency’s performance before the end of the year with clear goals and reporting metrics?
Shorten says:
I would like to acknowledge the inconvenience and the frustration caused to Australians, not only in your electorate, but across Australia, by delays in telephone services in Services Australia.
I’d like to explain why some of this is happening and I’d like to talk about what Services Australia are doing and some of the improvements we’ve made.
First of all, demand is up. There’s no question about that. Between last financial year and the year before, the number of people seeking childcare subsidy increased 36%.
The number of commonwealth seniors seeking a health card increased 85%. And indeed after the Covid debts, which were paused, they were unpaused.
And also with a more generous treatment under this government of paid parental leave and childcare subsidy, it led to more benefits. It’s true not just on the demand side, but between 2017 and 2020, the number of people working in Services Australia was reduced by 3,500 people.
They commissioned IT projects which have significantly failed. But let’s have a thought for the people working at Services Australia. Let’s think about the people who work on the frontline here.
Yesterday the entity [took] 27,000 phone calls. Last year they entered 55 million phone calls. Working on answering phones. There are 6,500 people working in the service centres. Last year they saw 10 million people. There are 3,000 people processing payments. Right now, every day, there is 270 people just processing parental leave claims.
There [were] 1.1 billion online transactions with Services Australia last year. There [were] half a billion customer interactions.
Last year Services Australia distributed $1.4 billion promptly to 1.2 million people who suffered natural disasters.
I just remind people here that Services Australia staff experience 9,000 abusive incidents of which 1,200 are most serious. What we have been doing as we have the robodebt royal commission [is] rebuilding the culture of Services Australia.
Updated
‘Why are you getting rid of him?’: Chalmers heckled over Shayne Neumann
Before that, Jim Chalmers took a dixer from Shayne Neumann and thanked his Queensland colleague, saying there was “no harder working local member than the member for Blair”.
Paul Karp, in the chamber, hears someone say “then why are you getting rid of him?”
That’s in reference to a tricky situation for Queensland Labor MPs. In order to meet the gender parity quotas, two of the male MPs are going to have to make way for women. Given Jim Chalmers is treasurer, the Senate is its own seperate beast and Milton Dick is the speaker, that leaves Graham Perrett and Shayne Neumann.
There is still some time to work it all out and nothing has been decided yet, but rumblings are starting to rumble in Queensland Labor about renewal.
Updated
Gender parity one of the principles of the voice, Burney says
LNP MP Michelle Landry asks Linda Burney:
Can the minister confirm whether members of the voice will be elected and appointed, and how will the government’s agenda of gender parity be achieved?
Burney:
Can I thank the member for her question. And I thank the member because it relates to the constitutional recognition and the Uluru statement from the heart.
It is very clear, and if people had taken the time to look at the principles that outline what the voice will be about, one of them is gender parity … which is very important and has been a very consistent theme.
As Julian Leeser will be able to tell you in the inquiry that he and Patrick Dodson undertook, the important thing about the voice is this: it is absolutely about listening. It is about the establishment of an advisory committee that will provide advice to this parliament. To this parliament.
And it is also going to be made up of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and as the principles say, it will represent local communities, it will be chosen by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. And it is very clear on those principles.
Updated
Linda Burney calls on referendum campaigners ‘to act respectfully’
After some back and forth over whether or not the question was in order, Linda Burney says:
I want to say this very clearly. I call on everyone involved in this referendum to act respectfully and with care for their fellow Australians. We are a great country. We are enhanced by listening to a diversity of views and opinions.
Fundamentally the voice is all about the act of listening. Listening to some of the most disadvantaged Australians, First Nations people, listening to remote communities so we can help close the gap and improve lives.
Because we know that listening leads to better results. Of course there is no room for racism of any kind in this country. We are a diverse country ...
This is one of our greatest strengths. Whether your family arrived here 60,000 years ago, six years ago, we’re all part of this country’s story. I encourage all Australians to vote yes on October 14 because it is time to listen, it is time for recognition.
Updated
Question time begins
Sussan Ley is first up:
Moments before question time, the Australian and the Bunbury Herald reported Professor Marcia Langton has accused no voters of opposing the referendum because of ‘base racism or sheer stupidity’. Will the minister for Indigenous Australians condemn Professor Langton’s comments?
That seems related to this story in the Australian on comments that were reported in the Bunbury Herald on Tuesday. While the headlines mention no “voters”, the comments, as reported were:
‘Every time the no cases raise their arguments, if you start pulling it apart you get down to base racism – I’m sorry to say that’s where it lands – or sheer stupidity,’ Professor Langton said.
‘If you look at any reputable fact-checker, every one of them says the No case is substantially false. They are lying to you.’
I’ve asked the no voters, what would you propose is a better option? What are we to do? Go on as we are with no change. I’ve not heard any of them come up with a solution that would work themselves.
This seems to be very similar to the “deplorables” moment during Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. Clinton’s comment was:
You can take Trump supporters and put them in two big baskets. There are what I would call the deplorables – you know, the racists and the haters – and the people who are drawn because they think somehow he’s going to restore an America that no longer exists.
But it was turned into Clinton calling all Trump supporters “deplorable” and used by the Trump campaign as an example of the elitism of Clinton.
Updated
The House of Representatives has gathered for a class photo.
All the MPs are in the chamber and turned towards photographers for a quick photo moment.
The class of the 47th parliament seems to have mostly all made it.
Updated
Karen Andrews appointed to speakers’ panel in federal parliament
Karen Andrews has been appointed to the speakers’ panel by the speaker, Milton Dick.
Sarah Basford Canales spotted this:
This morning I appointed long serving and respected Member @karenandrewsmp to the Speaker’s Panel for the 47th Parliament.
— Milton Dick (@MiltonDickMP) September 12, 2023
The Hon. Karen Andrews MP will have an important role in assisting myself and the Deputy Speaker @SharonClaydon to Chair the Parliament. pic.twitter.com/U1qiPuZIQm
What does that mean? Well, Andrews will get some time in the speaker’s chair, according to the parliament website:
The role of a member of the speaker’s panel is:
• to take the Chair of the Federation Chamber (as Deputy Speaker) when requested to do so by the Deputy Speaker, or in the absence of the Deputy Speaker, the Second Deputy Speaker; and
• to take the Chair of the House as Deputy Speaker when requested to do so by the Speaker or, more usually, by the Deputy Speaker.
Updated
Larissa Waters has been speaking on this issue for years – before the Kate Jenkins report was even ordered.
So you can understand the frustration.
Hearing MPs Karen Andrews and Kylea Tink describe their experiences of poor parliamentary behaviour from colleagues has been so disappointing.
— Larissa Waters (@larissawaters) September 12, 2023
The Greens have been calling for an enforceable Code of Conduct for years. Clearly, it's urgently needed.
https://t.co/5C2dFNSmqW
Services Australia chief quits
Bill Shorten has announced that Rebecca Skinner, the CEO of Services Australia, has resigned and will finish up on 29 September.
Skinner was appointed CEO on 16 March 2020 – just as the pandemic was hitting, and in the wake of the robodebt scandal.
Shorten said:
She took on the role as the pandemic took hold of our country. Under her leadership, the agency provided Australians with record support – financially, and by keeping their doors open throughout for those who needed help in person.
Since my time in this ministry, Ms Skinner has led the transition to the new myGov platform and development of the myGov app – important steps forward in the transformation of Australian government digital services. She also led a record emergency response for the agency, following the devastating flooding across eastern Australia, including my electorate.
Her agency’s support has also been critical in our government’s ability to deliver important cost of living measures, including increases to income support payments and pensions and expanded eligibility for family payments.
Shorten said Skinner had been “instrumental” in “transforming” Services Australia post-robodebt.
I sincerely thank Ms Skinner for her service and wish her well in her next endeavours. An acting CEO will be appointed in due course and normal processes followed to find a new CEO to continue this important work.
Updated
Dutton says Australia likely to be ‘bruised’ from voice vote
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, complained in the Coalition party room that voters will get no more detail on the voice before they vote on 14 October. He thanked colleagues for their “passionate but respectful tone” in the debate.
Dutton said that on 15 October the nation would likely be “bruised”, vowing to continue the Coalition’s quest for partisanship on constitutional recognition. (NB: this is not what the Uluru statement asked for – it was a constitutionally enshrined voice).
Dutton noted that Anthony Albanese had promised not to take up the voice debate again if the referendum failed. Dutton said that people were either “consistent in their views or not, it’s a test of character”. So sounds like we can look forward to Dutton arguing Albanese is weak if he respects the outcome of a no vote in the referendum.
Dutton paid tribute to Marise Payne for her qualities of being level-headed, practical and rational. Scott Morrison said that two women had transformed the NSW Liberal party: Bronwyn Bishop and Marise Payne. Excellent company!
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, said the voice would be the main game of the next five weeks, then the Coalition will turn to cost of living, which is voters’ number one issue.
An MP praised Jacinta Price and Kerrynne Liddle for their advocacy but warned nobody should celebrate when the voice is voted down.
Updated
Anti-corruption chief repeats warnings in opposition party room
As Katharine Murphy wrote, the Coalition party room was briefed by national anti-corruption commissioner Paul Brereton.
We understand those who had thorny questions for Brereton included Rick Wilson, Sarah Henderson, Tony Pasin and Terry Young. They raised similar concerns that the Coalition did during the bill’s passage: about frivolous referrals, who would get legal aid and the attorney general’s role in decisions, and the definition of pork-barrelling.
Brereton was apparently stern and stoic in reply, and effectively repeated warnings that he made when the Nacc opened in July that he is prepared to use his power to make public statements to call out “inappropriate” referrals designed to “weaponise the commission”.
The Coalition party room resolved to oppose Labor’s changes to the Murray Darling Basin plan in the House of Representatives. It will also seek an amendment to retain the requirement that water buybacks must have a neutral effect on basin communities, an important safeguard for farming communities.
Liberal MP James Stevens and senator Andrew McLachlan were quoted in the Australian today arguing that 450 gigalitres of environmental water should be delivered to protect the health of the river system, and we have confirmed they were the ones to speak up in the party room.
Updated
If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, this from Ariel Bogle and Nick Evershed is very good:
Updated
We have entered the lull time before QT – when MPs are in the chambers doing their jobs, or meeting with people.
Enjoy it while it lasts – QT will be rowdy.
Updated
Over in the Senate and a suspension of standing orders division is being carried out, so that the government can re-order the Senate’s business and bring the housing Australia future fund legislation back for debate.
All going well, it should be passed by tomorrow.
Updated
The view from Murph
Over in the Coalition party room, I gather MPs were briefed on their obligations now the new federal anti-corruption commission is up and running (I hear the questions to commissioner Paul Brereton were a bit … lively).
There was a debate over whether the Coalition should oppose the Albanese government’s Murray-Darling Basin plan (South Australian Liberals have different views about it), and someone mentioned to me earlier Scott Morrison read a poem to farewell Marise Payne, who is leaving politics.
(Now we’ve had a minute to do some searching, I think it may have been a speech rather than a poem – Morrison likely cited Teddy Roosevelt’s the man in the arena speech, although for clarity I believe the former prime minister changed “man” to “woman”.)
The man in the arena:
It is not the critic who counts; nor the one who points out how the strong person stumbled, or where the doer of a deed could have done better.
The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who does actually strive to do deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotion, spends oneself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at worst, if he or she fails, at least fails while daring greatly.
Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those timid spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.
Updated
Staying in Labor’s party room, Anthony Albanese praised housing minister Julie Collins on negotiations around the Housing Australia future fund bill, which finally got the Greens’ support yesterday.
The PM went on to praise his colleagues for all they’d done so far in government, including childcare and nursing reforms, and noting that they were just halfway through their first term in office. Staying on housing, Albanese noted to the room that 20 September would see the biggest increase in commonwealth rent assistance in 30 years, as well as increases to the jobseeker payment.
Albanese went on to talk about why international relationships were important, in light of his week-long summit season trip through Asia. He pointed to the resumption of live cattle trade with Indonesia and security interests and renewables investment with the Philippines as examples.
A caucus member congratulated Albanese, foreign minister Penny Wong and trade minister Don Farrell for “improving relationships around the world”, a party room spokesperson said.
Farrell then gave an update on trade deal negotiations with the European Union, saying the EU’s first offer was “not a good deal for Australia” and that he expected the next meetings in October to progress the deal.
Updated
Lambie backs splitting Labor’s industrial relations bill
Earlier this morning, senator Jacqui Lambie joined David Pocock in calling for the industrial relations bill to be split.
Lambie told reporters she wanted to see the ban on discriminating against domestic violence victims, workers comp for PTSD in first responders, small business insolvency, and silicosis measures removed. Interestingly, this excludes wage theft, which Pocock had suggested might also be done this year.
Lambie accused workplace relations minister Tony Burke of trying to use workers comp as “leverage” for the broader closing loopholes bill, but said the crossbench was “one step ahead”.
Stop mixing these in as leverage.
After Michaelia Cash told Guardian Australia she’d consider Pocock’s private members bill when it was tabled, Pocock played down the idea, saying that nothing had been drafted and quipping that I knew more about the bill than he did.
It seems like Plan A is to shame the government into splitting its own bill.
Updated
Voice no campaign ‘promoting fear’, PM tells caucus
Anthony Albanese has accused the no campaign of “promoting fear” about the Indigenous voice referendum, after the campaign’s tactics and phone call scripts for volunteers were revealed.
In the Labor party room meeting this morning, the prime minister told his caucus that “all referendums are hard”. Polling numbers have been slipping for the voice, with the no vote opening up a large lead in published polls.
But reporting in the Nine newspapers today, on scripts given to no campaign supporters by Fair Australia (the main campaign group against the voice), shows volunteers are being encouraged to phone voters and raise concerns about the voice.
The script, seen by Guardian Australia, suggests volunteers phone voters and talk about voice supporters “campaigning to abolish Australia Day and want to use the voice to push for compensation and reparations through a treaty”.
The Nine newspapers report quotes a seminar given by a no campaign director who reportedly said: “That feeling of uncertainty, of fear or doubt, that stays. That lasts for a very, very long time.”
In the party room, Albanese told his caucus: “The cynicism of the no campaign has been exposed in today’s papers as being about promoting fear.”
A party room spokesperson said the PM encouraged his caucus to “keep talking to as many people as possible” about the voice, stressing it should be “a positive engagement in the community”.
Updated
The bells are ringing for the parliament session to start – for the Senate, that means setting up the motion to have the housing Australia future fund legislation brought back to the agenda for debate.
A previous motion the Senate passed had the Haff legislation not coming back for debate until October. The government will now ask for the original bill to come back as a priority bill this week, which the Greens will support, putting it back on the agenda to be passed.
Updated
Queensland LNP says state Labor are ‘trashing democracy’ through last-minute amendments
Queensland’s opposition has sledged the Palaszczuk government for “trashing democracy” after they rammed through 58 pages of last-minute amendments through parliament last sitting week.
The Palaszczuk government was widely condemned for rushing legislation through parliament to circumvent the committee process and avoid consultation. The amendments included a move to suspend the Human Rights Act and legalise the detention of children in adult prisons and police watch houses.
On Tuesday, the LNP, along with the Greens and One Nation, voted against a successful business motion in the Queensland parliament to debate various bills this week.
The member for Glasshouse, Andrew Powell, said the party would no longer take business motions – which set the agenda of the parliamentary sitting week – at “face value”.
Tim Everton, the member for Everton, said the parliamentary process should be respected.
These types of motions... treat the parliament like a sausage machine... [The Labor party treats] this house with total contempt. This goes to the very principle of freedom of speech.
But the Labor MP Mark Bailey accused Powell of giving a “five-minute rant about everything that’s not in the motion.”
What we are proposing is the simple management of the house ... Family-friendly hours ... This motion is not about what might have happened last time.
Updated
Activists: no campaign ‘un-Australian’
Roy Ah-See of the Uluru Dialogues says the no campaign is involved in “one of the most un-Australian acts in political history”. Ah See:
The NO campaign have admitted to a strategy of lies, lies and more lies.
The Australian people are being taken for mugs by the NO campaign in a tactic that is distinctly un-Australian: they are telling their campaign workers to be dishonest to Aussies, stay anonymous and not identify themselves as belonging to the NO campaign.
And they expressly teach their volunteers to lead with fear not facts, creating doubt by throwing around issues they have ‘heard’ which are not what Australians will be voting on.
Is there any worse insult than discrediting the intelligence of our fellow citizens?
Their strategy is to incite fear and lies, while the yes campaign believes in the best of our fellow Australians.
The no campaign has no interest in running a fair and open conversation, just like they have no interest in improving the lives of First Nations Peoples and all Australians. They have no solutions or alternatives. The no campaign seeks to entrench the same old policy failures that haven’t improved the lives of Indigenous Australians for decades.
We call on all Australians to recognise the no campaign tactics for what they are: designed to deceive and mislead.
The Uluṟu Dialogues are a leading yes campaign group who are the custodians of the Uluṟu statement from the heart, based at the University of NSW, Sydney.
Updated
Victims of Brazil’s worst environmental disaster are in the parliament today, asking Australian politicians for help in their legal battle with mining giant, BHP.
You can read about some of the battle here:
The claimants, including representatives of Krenak indigenous communities, are fighting to get compensation for the devastation caused by the Mariana dam disaster in November 2015. The £5bn lawsuit is against the Anglo-Australian mining company BHP.
When the Fundão tailings dam burst, it released 40m cubic metres of toxic mining waste, killing 19 people and affecting the lives of hundreds of thousands more. The brown, polluted sludge spilled down the River Doce in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, flowing for 400 miles (670km) into the Atlantic Ocean. Thousands were made homeless and livelihoods centred on the river were destroyed.
BHP have denied liability.
Representatives of the Krenak indigenous people, and their lawyer, Tom Goodhead, will spend the next few days meeting with whoever they can to try and draw attention to their case.
The group will then head to Melbourne later in the week to meet with unions and superannuation funds and NGOs over the issue.
The UK high court is expected to start hearing the case surrounding the $6bn lawsuit early next year.
Updated
Business conditions improved in August, adding to proof of economy’s resilience
We saw business investment in the June quarter helping to keep GDP growth in positive territory (if you ignore the 2.4% rise in population in the past year).
NAB’s monthly business survey out this morning adds to the signs of resilience even with the 400 basis-point increase in interest rates in a little over a year and consumers saying they feel very much like they’re in a recession.
Business conditions rose 2pts in August, and remain well above average, with the sub-groups of trading conditions, profitability and employment all rising and most industries. Capacity utilisation also rose back above 85% which might interest (so to speak) the Reserve Bank, as will signs that costs and price growth remain elevated. Confidence was steady at 2pts.
Labour-cost growth, though, eased from the spike seen in July but was still running at 3.2% in quarterly terms, and another factor that will feature highly when the RBA considers whether its key interest rate needs to be hoisted again: NAB’s chief economist, Alan Oster:
There was a notable rise in the employment index which is well above the long-run average, suggesting labour demand has remained strong into the second half of the year.
Today’s numbers would seem to support the view that Australia’s economy might not slow that much more and unemployment might not climb far above the near-50 year lows that we’ve seen over the past year or so. A soft landing, in other words.
Updated
Memorial to be held over Hunter Valley bus crash
A public memorial service will be held next month to remember the 10 lives lost in the Hunter Valley bus crash earlier this year.
The event will be held on 21 October at the Singleton showgrounds and is being put on by the state government alongside the Cessnock and Singleton councils.
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, said:
This memorial service will allow us to come together to grieve, support one another and pay tribute to those affected by this unimaginable tragedy.
It also provides an opportunity to recognise the courage and resilience of the frontline emergency service workers who attended the scene and treated patients in our hospitals.
Updated
Greens to take rent caps to next election, party room confirms
The Greens party room has met this morning, discussing next steps in the party’s campaign for renters rights.
As the housing spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather, has made clear, while the housing Australia future fund bill will pass this week the Greens will continue to use future housing bills to push for a freeze or cap on rents.
That includes the Help to Buy shared equity scheme, which Anthony Albanese announced at Labor conference will be up and running next year. That could get very interesting because it would pit the 10,000 prospective home buyers every year who stand to benefit against the one third of Australians who rent.
The Greens want Labor to take action on rents before the election, but intend to campaign on the issue if they don’t targeting MPs and seats including Josh Burns in Macnamara and Justine Elliott in Richmond.
The housing Australia future fund bill will be unfrozen in the Senate by a motion shortly after noon, with second reading speeches this evening, and is expected to pass by question time on Wednesday.
The party room also heard about the parliamentary schedule for the rest of the year, which includes the Murray Darling, Infrastructure Australia, and industrial relations bills – but not the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act changes. At best, the Greens are expecting an exposure draft of that bill, not its introduction to parliament.
Updated
Amy’s analysis: what does sending out Jason Clare mean for Labor’s view on the no campaign tactics?
It is worth noting that the government sent out Jason Clare to speak on the Nine newspapers story this morning.
Clare is thought of as the government’s best communicator. He earned that title during the election campaign when Anthony Albanese had Covid and he stepped up as the daily scene setter for Labor.
That he has been sent out this morning, to talk about the no campaign tactics – and is using very straight language to do so, is telling.
Updated
Jason Clare: voice recognition ‘a chance to make history’
And for people who may have received the misinformation (or as Jason Clare called them, “lies”) about the voice being reparations, Clare said:
It is rubbish. And Aussies know that it’s rubbish. It was rubbish in the 1990s, it was rubbish 15 years ago, it’s rubbish now.
I go back to the point I made a moment ago. Aussies are smart, they’re fair and they’re practical. Aussies know when someone’s lying to them. And they can see this for what it is, which is a flat-out lie.
They’re also fair. They want to make sure, that Indigenous Australians have been there for 60,000 years, are recognised in our constitution. It’s not fair that that isn’t the case at the moment. It’s just a fact that Indigenous Australians have been here for 60,000 years. We don’t even recognise that in our Constitution. And it puts us apart from other countries that were colonies. We can fix that in a couple of weeks’ time.
Not every generation of Australians get a chance to make history. In a couple of weeks’ time, this generation of Australians gets a chance to put our history in our Constitution. And not just that, do something practical and real that will help people that are doing it tough.
Updated
Jason Clare on no voice campaign tactics: ‘BS’
Here is what Jason Clare had to say a little earlier on the reported no campaign tactics:
The lie that the voice is about compensation. The voice is an advisory committee. The voice is about listening. The voice is about making sure we make better decisions and get better results.
I think Australians are smart. I think they’ll see through this BS. The same people who told us during Mabo that you would lose your backyard, that your Hills Hoist would get ripped up and taken out, are the same people saying this. That was BS, and so is this.
The same thing happened during the apology. Remember when Kevin Rudd made the apology to the stolen generations and Peter Dutton said that it would cost Australia $10bn? That was BS. And so is this.
Updated
Greens party room meeting concludes
The Greens are the first to finish their party room meeting, so we will bring you the details of that briefing as soon as we can.
Updated
Queensland to hold review into failures in preventing abuse of teenage brothers
The Queensland government will hold an independent review after two boys with autism were found severely malnourished, naked and locked in a squalid room.
A report published by the disability royal commission last week found the state of Queensland should have done more to prevent the severe neglect and abuse of the teenage brothers, known by the pseudonyms Kaleb and Jonathon.
The premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said the government accepted “in full or in principle” all five recommendations of the report. The review will look into all agencies and departments that had contact with the family and will be conducted by the Queensland ombudsman.
I think all Queenslanders were horrified by reports of the mistreatment of these boys. Minister Crawford has apologised, and today I echo that apology. We are sorry.
This should never have happened, and we are working to make sure it never happens again.
Palaszczuk said the government will also consider all recommendations from the commission’s final report, which is due next month.
Updated
Annastacia Palaszczuk dismisses questions over Queensland Labor leadership
The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, is batting away questions about fractures in the Labor caucus during a combative question time.
Palaszczuk returned from leave on Monday after spending two weeks holidaying in Italy. During her absence, speculation swirled about Palaszczuk’s leadership amid her sinking popularity in the polls.
The opposition leader, David Crisafulli, asked the premier on Tuesday what actions she will take to ensure “stability” in the government, following an avalanche of media reports about internal discontent.
In her response, Palaszczuk sought to remind Queenslanders about the various LNP leaders over the years, including Campbell Newman. She then pointed out that as Labor leader, she’d won the party three successive elections.
Over the past eight years we have been firmly focused on the people of Queensland.
Updated
Open letter signed by unions, journalists, lawyers and others calls for end to prosecution of whistleblowers
An open letter published in the Nine newspapers this morning calls for an end to the prosecution of whistleblowers and for urgent reform of whistleblower protections.
The letter, signed by more than 70 organisations and individuals, urges the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, to use his power to intervene and discontinue proceedings against former tax official Richard Boyle and former military lawyer David McBride.
It is signed by unions, leading journalists, lawyers, former whistleblowers and retired judges.
The Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom chair, Peter Greste, one of the signatories, said:
The media is the whistle of last resort – you cannot have press freedom without protection for sources. David McBride and Richard Boyle both contributed to transparency and accountability around grave wrongdoing. If the prosecutions go ahead, it will have a devastating chilling effect on others thinking of blowing the whistle.
The government has previously said its powers to intervene in court cases should only be used in rare and exceptional circumstances. It has already passed the first tranche of its whistleblower reforms and has flagged further change, including a discussion paper on the establishment of a whistleblowing authority.
Updated
McKenzie says idea Qantas did not pressure PM on Qatar Airways decision ‘beggars belief’
Bridget McKenzie also spoke about the production of document orders for which the government (largely) missed the deadline for.
The Senate had ordered the prime minister, treasurer and trade minister to produce the briefings and documents they had on the Qatar Airways decision – only Jim Chalmers did it by deadline.
McKenzie said she will not be letting it drop, but won’t be going to the national integrity commission just yet:
Well, I haven’t referred this to the NACC yet. I’m a traditionalist, so I’ll be going through the traditional public disclosure processes we have, such as order of production documents, freedom of information processes and requesting ministers to come to the Senate.
It’s not just the opposition that called for these documents to be presented, the Senate did, and they did it on behalf of Australians. Because Australians can’t make sense of this decision.
I’ve seen some recent polling today that said they [Australians] want more competition in their international air system. This will put downward pressure on prices, it will also give them greater choice of destination, which is what Australians want to see and they can’t understand why the government made this decision.
It shouldn’t be hard.
Qantas has been a muscular lobbyist, long before Alan Joyce arrived. I’ve had the opportunity to speak to four different transport ministers from the last 20 years during the last few weeks to ask about their experiences when they were faced with similar decisions, and they all spoke about a very muscular Qantas being very forward-leaning, leaving them in no doubt of their desire to be protected from additional competition.
Now, some ministers have made the decision to open up the competitive landscape, others didn’t, but the culture of Qantas doesn’t change, no matter who the CEO is. That’s the evidence that I’ve been able to uncover, so for the prime minister to say that Qantas never gave him a call or his office, beggars belief.
Updated
Fact-checking Bridget McKenzie’s claims on the voice
That continues:
Q: Sorry, he’s a cabinet minister, he’s a member of the executive of the government and he is saying that it’s not going to happen...
McKenzie:
He doesn’t know, but he doesn’t know because the government’s own talking points say that it will be up to parliament, and they won’t be controlling the voice ...
They can’t tell us how it’s going to be elected either, so for him to be so confident that it won’t be seeking reparations at some time in the future is foolish because he doesn’t know.
A quick fact check on these comments:
The voice does not have any veto power. It can not create legislation. It can not force the government to take its advice and recommendations or act in any way. It is an advisory body, which will advise the government on legislation which will impact Indigenous people.
The Coalition supports a voice to parliament being legislated. If the referendum was successful, then legislation would be created, by the parliament, which the opposition would have input in, which would dictate how the voice would operate.
Legislating a voice to parliament would do exactly the same thing as the voice referendum – the only difference is, if another government came along and didn’t like the voice, it could move to scrap the legislation which created it, and the voice would disappear.
If the referendum passes, the parliament could still change the legislation around it at any time, but the voice would always have to exist in some form.
It makes no sense to support legislating a voice, but then claim that enshrining the voice in the constitution would mean it would have all these additional powers once it is legislated. That is not how it works. Having it in the constitution means it can not be scrubbed away by political mood swings.
The parliament will dictate how it is legislated, and just like every other advisory body or committee which gives recommendations to the parliament on legislation, the parliament decides what it accepts and doesn’t. ALWAYS. Even the “powerful” intelligence and security committee which makes bipartisan recommendations on security and intelligence legislation can, and has, had its advice ignored by governments.
Updated
Bridget McKenzie defends no campaign against ‘lie’ accusation
Nationals senate leader Bridget McKenzie has responded to Jason Clare’s comments following the Nine newspapers story reporting on a recording of no campaigners being encouraged to use fear to get people to vote no at the voice referendum.
Clare said it was a strategy of the no campaign to “flat out lie” and called on the opposition to condemn the tactics.
McKenzie says:
Well, I’ve always been a very respectful participant in this debate, and we’ve been having the conversation about recognition of our first Australians and it’s in our constitution for most of my time in parliament.
I’m a firm believer in reconciliation and recognition, but I am also a very respectful no to changing our constitution to enshrine a voice.
Minister Clare standing up here today claiming he knows what the voice will and won’t call for, how the voice will and won’t behave and insert itself into our political system is rich, because I was in the Senate till nearly 4:00 AM asking ministers those direct questions and they refused to answer them. So, you can’t have it both ways.
I think we do need to have a respectful conversation. I don’t think we should be playing to the worst in people. When you come to decide a referendum question but that cuts both ways.
Q: But that’s different to the no campaign telling volunteers to say the reparations will be paid, a cabinet minister just said in this corridor they’re not paying reparations. The no campaign is telling volunteers to raise fears about reparations. So, is the no campaign lying?
McKenzie:
I answered the question.
Minister Clare doesn’t know what the voice will do and how it will behave and insert itself into our democracy.
Updated
Victorian education funding detailed, including remote positions, teacher retention and employment-based degrees
Victoria’s education minister, Natalie Hutchins, is now going through the other parts of the package. They include:
$27m of incentives for teachers to take up rural, remote and otherwise “hard-to-staff” positions in government schools.
$95.7m to expand another government initiative to support and retain teachers – developing graduate teachers in government schools during their first year.
Some $13.9m to support a trial of employment-based degrees for undergraduates
Daniel Andrews says the Australian Education Union’s recent campaign highlighting severe shortages in the public system did not prompt this announcement:
No one needed to protest at parliament. No one needed to put ads in the paper. Every day that we’ve been in office we have invested in state schools. It’s just a fact. It’s just a fact. It’s not a political point. We’re not here asking for credit. It’s our job. It’s what we do. We’re a Labor government.
Andrews says the scholarships will amount to about $18,000 for undergraduates and $9,000 for postgraduates. Students can do with it what they wish, he says:
That’s money in your pocket. That’s the best place for it. It helps with cost of living, you can use it to pay your Hecs debt. It gets paid to you - you can use it for whatever you choose to use it, whether it’s about that next step or to simply get through those years of study.
Updated
Victoria to fund $230m increase to teacher funding including paying off Hecs debts for student teachers
Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, is announcing a $230m funding package to increase the teaching workforce, which includes paying off the Hecs debt for students studying to become secondary school teachers.
Speaking at a press conference in Point Cook, in Melbourne’s west, he said $93.2m will go towards new scholarships to support all students who enrol in secondary school teaching degrees in 2024 and 2025:
We think it is exactly the right common sense practical support, to say to people who enrol to become a teacher, to become an educator change lives, change lives, that’s what our educators do.
We can make a teaching degree and teaching in state schools even more attractive and more than a job, a career, calling and mission in your life. This is practical support. Half of the money is paid during your undergraduate, and the other half is played at the conclusion of … two years of school service.
Andrews said he expected the package – similar to their announcement to provide scholarships for nursing students – would support about 4,000 future teachers each year.
Updated
Melbourne University students rally against institutional racism following resignation of Dr Eddie Cubbillo
Students at Melbourne University are gathering today to say no to racism at the institution’s Melbourne Law School following the resignation of leading academic Dr Eddie Cubbillo.
Cubbillo, a Larrakia, Wadjigan and Central Arrernte man, resigned from one of his roles heading Indigenous programs at the MLS last week after public complaints over institutional racism at the faculty. Three First Nations colleagues also resigned this year.
Today’s solidarity rally outside the MLS is expected to be attended by more than 100 students publicly standing with Cubillo.
Keshi Moore, an Indigenous student representative at the MLS, said Cubillo’s resignation raised “profound concerns” amongst the student body.
The potential loss of Dr Cubillo from MLS all together would directly impact the experiences of both current Indigenous law students and those considering enrolment in the future.
She said it was “imperative” the school expanded its dedication to diversity beyond the confines of the admission process.
While there is a notable effort to entice Indigenous students to enrol at the school, it is equally crucial that we receive the essential structural support required for our retention. To ensure our success and meaningful inclusion, academic, financial and cultural support must be extended to us throughout our tenure at the institution.
Updated
Queensland parliament will hold an inquiry into the provision and regulation of supported accommodation across the state “to improve the lives of vulnerable Queenslanders”.
Housing minister, Meaghan Scanlon, said there are 46 “level 3 residential services in Queensland”, which provide housing for more than 1,500 people living with a disability, serious mental health concerns or drug and alcohol issues.
Scanlon said these services are not run by government “and often house very marginalised members of our community.”
It is not lost on me that if my own brother did not have my mum or me, he may very well have had to rely on one of these services.”
Scanlon said the Palaszczuk government will soon refer this inquiry to the
Community Support and Services Committee. The inquiry will help inform a review of the Residential Services (Accreditation) Act.
Pat Conroy urges aid sector to vote yes
The minister for international development, Pat Conroy, has urged the aid sector to spread the word in Australia about voting yes in the 14 October referendum.
In a keynote address to the Development Policy Forum at the ANU this morning, Conroy said:
I would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm the Albanese Government’s commitment to implementing the Uluru statement from the heart in full. I will speak a little more about our new policy in a moment, but I want to quickly ask you to think about the principles we have embedded in the policy of:
respectful listening,
acting on partner priorities and
working in genuine partnership with governments and communities across our region.
I see some incredibly strong parallels between what we are seeking to do through the referendum and what we are seeking to do with our partners across the region.
I think it’s a fair assumption to make that you all have a deep-seated interest in international development because you are driven by principles of justice, equity and decency.
And so in this spirit, I encourage you to reach out across your networks of friends and family and talk with everyone you know about why it will be so important to vote yes on 14 October.
Updated
Government calls for feedback over skilled visa assessments
The government has released a consultation paper asking for feedback from stakeholder on standards for skilled migration assessing authorities. In short – how can the government better assess what skills Australia is short on, to better determine who needs to be given access to skilled visas.
If that’s your bag, you’ll find it here
Updated
GPs call for increased collaboration in NDIS for better-targeted support
The peak body for general practitioners in Australia says greater involvement of GPs in NDIS planning could improve the efficiency of the scheme and allow participants to receive better-targeted support.
In their submission to the independent review of the NDIS, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has called for increased collaboration between GPs, other health professionals and the disability sector to prevent inappropriate support and duplicated services for patients.
The college’s president, Dr Nicole Higgins, said if GPs are better utilised, they can also help make the NDIS more efficient:
For example, greater involvement of GPs at the planning stage would mean better targeted supports faster, because GPs have in-depth knowledge of their patients, what works, and what doesn’t work for them.”
RACGP say for this to happen, the government needs to ensure GPs are appropriately paid to care for patients with disability and help them apply.
Updated
Shorten: NDIS funding review to ensure it is ‘evidence-based support’
That leads to this exchange:
Q: But when services are going to be cut, I mean that obviously means someone’s going to lose, right? The service is going to be cut somewhere because it’s costing too much.
Shorten: I didn’t say services would be cut.
Q: So, no services at all are going to be cut to rein in spending.
Shorten: Well, again, I think that the scheme can be run better, I think –
Q: But what does that mean?
Shorten:
There’s waste in the scheme ... First of all, I think that the scheme’s got some design problems. People have annual plans when in fact, if you’re blind or in a wheelchair for life, you shouldn’t have such short-term plans. So that’ll take some of the cost out of the scheme.
I think there are some service providers who are overservicing or overcharging.
I’m confident that we can find a way of supporting people with disability. But the NDIS shouldn’t be the only life raft in the ocean. So, I actually think if the scheme is run with attention to detail, with investment in the capability of the people who work in it, with attention to the prices that are being charged, making sure that what is being charged actually delivers outcomes as opposed to just wasting people’s time, I’ve got no doubt we can moderate the trajectory of growth.
The scheme will grow each year, but I think we can achieve a targeted growth of 8%, not some of the current growth rates. This scheme was neglected, really, for nine years, hasn’t been properly managed. It takes a while to turn it around.
And I’d just say to participants on the scheme and their families, I get the scheme is changing lives. I think your kids are worth supporting. I just want to make sure they’re getting the effective evidence-based support and not just any old thing and not being overcharged.
Updated
Bill Shorten says ‘we will get this right’ re NDIS funding review
There is a review of the NDIS and some disability advocates are worried that it will end with people with autism having their services cut. On Sky News, Bill Shorten (the NDIS minister) was asked if they had a reason to be alarmed and said:
No, the review is still under way. The scheme is supported. The NDIS is here to stay. We just want to make sure that every dollar is getting through to the participants for whom it was designed.
Nearly half the people on the scheme of 600,000 participants are kids. Early intervention has been proven to work, so we’ll be investing in early intervention and the review is going to look at the best way to deliver services.
Given the states and territories don’t have those systems in place yet, Shorten is pressed on his answer and says:
I think we do need to have more support outside the NDIS for early intervention strategies, but I’m confident the review will provide directions.
But there’ll be a long runway and what we want to do is make sure kids are getting help … that’s where I’m coming from.
If a child has got a diagnosis of a developmental or learning delay, we want to support them. We want to find the best way to support them.
I was the junior minister when we first introduced helping children with autism package about 13 years ago and this scheme is changing lives.
It’s an investment … I would say to some of the people who are worried that somehow, it’s all going to be tipped on its head, don’t [be].
This is a review which has … had thousands of submissions. I and the reviewers have met literally tens of thousands of people on the scheme.
We’ll get this right and it’ll be done, co-designed with people with disability.
Updated
Labor responds to Pocock push to split IR bill
The workplace relations minister, Tony Burke, has responded to the David Pocock push to split the industrial relations bill. Burke’s spokesman said:
At no stage has the government supported any of these measures being delayed.
This is a stinging rebuke to the Coalition and the crossbench (except the Greens), who effectively voted to delay the closing loopholes bill by setting a reporting date of 1 February for the Senate inquiry.
Pocock is now complaining that first responders will have to wait for provisions improving access to workers’ compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder in the Australian Capital Territory.
Your fault for delaying the whole bill until 2024, seems to be Burke’s response.
Updated
Birmingham on internal party procedures on harassment
That continued:
Q: And what about internal party procedures? Do they go far enough as they are, or is it time for a rethink?
Birmingham:
Look, I first and foremost, urge people across the parliament to use appropriate processes.
If there are issues that people need to discuss with the leadership within their own parties or otherwise, of course, they should feel free to do that as well.
But we acted on the recommendations of the Jenkins review to put in place the new structures to provide precisely for the type of complaints mechanism to address situations that may arise from time to time.
Again – yes, there is somewhere people can make complaints, but there is nowhere they can go for any action to occur on those complaints, as yet.
Updated
Birmingham says this is the first he has heard of Karen Andrews’ allegations of misconduct against her
Simon Birmingham tried to hold a doorstop (quick press conference) on the Qatar Airway decision, but it mostly focussed on Karen Andrews’ allegations of harassment within the parliament.
Q: Karen Andrews has raised some allegations of serious and sustained misconduct by a colleague of hers and yours. But in the lower house, is this the first time you’ve heard of those allegations?
Birmingham:
Literally. But look, as the former finance minister who put in place the initial reforms from the Jenkins review establishing the parliamentary Workplace support service, I urge anybody in this circumstance to use that service that has been established to provide for an independent, impartial, credible and confidential process for any improper actions to occur.
This workplace, like any other workplace, should be one of respect of safety, and it does now have proper processes in place to deal with any issues.
Q: Are you confident that those processes go far enough? She says that a male colleague of hers repeatedly breathed down her neck during question time.
Birmingham:
Well, those processes are there, and they are there that I would encourage any member in any circumstance, any staff member in this building or any other to utilise those processes that haven’t been in place all that long.
They are important reforms that were put in place following the Jenkins Review and they provide for mechanisms that ought to be utilised.
Updated
Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock to join forces to split IR bill
We understand that Jacqui Lambie and first responders, including the Australian Federal Police Association, will join David Pocock at a press conference this morning calling to split the industrial relations bill.
We reported this morning that Pocock is considering moving a private senator’s bill to move forward with provisions improving access to workers’ compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder in the ACT as a priority.
He’s already won support from employer groups. including the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Acci), AiGroup, the Minerals Council and Master Builders.
The shadow employment minister, Michaelia Cash, told Guardian Australia:
Labor should never have included provisions to support first responders and strengthen protections against discrimination in this omnibus bill in the first instance. This was a deliberate and cynical ploy to put pressure on the crossbench to agree to Labor’s timetable to ram the bill through the Senate with little to no scrutiny this year.”
AFPA’s president, Alex Caruana, said:
We believe that the bill should be split. Presumptive legislation [that PTSD is presumed to have been caused by service as a first responder] is a health and welfare matter.
AFP members have been disadvantaged by not having presumptive legislation for too long compared to their state and territory colleagues.
Caruana said while the closing loopholes bill is debated “AFP members and other emergency services workers are already mentally and physically suffering due to not having presumptive legislation”.
Updated
Parliament workplace support system comes online, with investigation and enforcement body pending
For those wondering, the parliament has part of a HR system in place now, with the parliamentary workplace support service (PWSS) able to offer support to people who are facing harassment, or have complaints.
But it does not have an investigative body, or any way of enforcing penalties. That is coming in the next lot of legislation, which will include the implementation of the independent parliamentary standards commission (IPSC).
So when politicians talk about the setting the standard report recommendations being implemented, it’s correct – they are. But the body which will bring about the action that most people want is yet to be legislated.
Part of the problem is that it will be dealing with MPs who are elected to the parliament by voters, and the only way they can be sacked is if they a) go against the constitution or b) get voted out. Katy Gallagher, the minister for women, said:
[The IPSC is] really going to be the body that looks at complaints about [the] conduct of politicians, which is tricky to legislate around and tricky to enforce, frankly. Because once you’re elected to the parliament, the people of Australia had their say.
So that’s going to be tricky. But it’s an important part of implementing [the Jenkins report].
Updated
No voice campaign accused of peddling fear after secret recording revealed
AAP reports the campaign opposing the Indigenous voice has been accused of peddling lies to scare Australians to vote down constitutional change.
It follows a secret recording obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age showing no campaign organisers directing volunteers to use fear to dissuade voters from supporting the voice.
The education minister, Jason Clare, called on the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, to condemn the tactics being used:
It’s now a deliberate strategy of the no campaign to flat-out lie.
You fight the lie with facts, and I think that people are good and honest and fair.
The governor general, David Hurley, on Monday issued the writ compelling the Australian Electoral Commission to hold the vote on 14 October. People have seven days to enrol or update their details to vote in the poll.
Under changes made by the government, Australians can use their Medicare card or citizenship certificate to sign up or alter details.
Postal vote applications opened on Monday, and will close on 11 October.
Updated
Murray Watts calls for Qantas to repay billions in jobkeeper payments
Queensland senator Murray Watt believes Qantas should consider repaying almost a billion dollars it received in jobkeeper payments as a way to restore its trust with Australian taxpayers.
Speaking on ABC’s QandA on Monday night, Watt was asked if Qantas should pay back the money it received during the jobkeeper program.
Watt said:
I think once they can get the money together, they should be thinking about doing that. Because it was a big investment from taxpayers and taxpayers aren’t seeing that being repaid in terms of the services.”
Host Patricia Karvelas asked Watt about the airline’s deteriorated reputation following recent controversies, and if “the new CEO (Vanessa Hudson) wants to show that she’s trying to repair that relationship, is paying back jobkeeper one way to do that?”.
Watt said:
I think it probably is.”
Qantas received about $2.7bn in government subsidies throughout the pandemic. About $900m of this was in jobkeeper payments.
Updated
Greens continue calls for national approach on rent freeze
Max Chandler-Mather says the Greens will continue their calls for Anthony Albanese to try and coordinate a national rent freeze through convincing state leaders at the national cabinet, saying any such policy would be most effective if enacted nationally.
The Greens’ housing spokesperson was on a media blitz this morning, and made a pitstop for a quick doorstop press conference in the Parliament House corridors between broadcast appearances which Amy has been bringing to you.
We asked if the Greens still wanted the federal government to use national cabinet to pressure premiers to bring in rent controls – with housing and rents being a state/territory responsibility. Chandler-Mather said national cabinet would have to be involved somehow:
The prime minister and the federal government are the most powerful government in the land and they’ve proven multiple times in the last 12 months that when they put money on the table and put pressure on the states and territories, they can coordinate price controls through national cabinet.
It happened with energy bills, they were able to get reform secured on planning, there’s no reason they couldn’t use that power to secure a freeze and cap on rent freezes.
The Greens have previously called for national cabinet to examine the idea, but were rebuffed. National cabinet has been looking at broader issues around a national set of renters’ rights and rental standards.
Updated
Collins says homes target for housing fund is ‘achievable’
On the Nine network, the housing minister, Julie Collins, was asked how the government was going to add another 200,000 or so homes a year given the industry was already facing delays and struggles building the 165,000 homes a year already in train.
Collins:
We’re obviously working and talking to the construction sector. They say the million homes is achievable. What we’re doing is incentivising states and territories to change, and do some planning and zoning reforms to make sure that we can build additional homes over that million homes.
We obviously are working with states and territories, but we’re also investing importantly into social housing, which is community and public housing for Australians that need the most.
The important thing about this $10bn fund is it’s for people who are currently on social housing waiting lists right across the country. People who are at risk of homelessness right across the country. This has always been about people that need homes for us.
Updated
Coalition calls for government response over Iran inquiry report
Liberal senators Simon Birmingham and Claire Chandler (who is the assistant shadow foreign affairs minister) have released a statement ahead of the one year anniversary of the death of Mahsa Jina Amini, which sparked the Women, Life Freedom movement in Iran.
Birmingham and Chandler say over the last year, they have “sat with and listened to thousands of Iranian-Australians and heard their concerns, fears and ideas for action”:
The violence and oppression of women, girls, protesters and critics of the Islamic Republic regime are horrific. Accounts of Australians being intimidated, targeted and harassed in our country by agents of the regime are unacceptable and deeply troubling.
The Coalition has fought consistently to bring these accounts to the parliament and the government. We fought for the removal of the regime from the UN Committee on the Status of Women, established a Senate inquiry in October last year which received more than 1,000 submissions, and have consistently urged the government to respond to the recommendations of that inquiry.
Now they want the government to respond to that report, saying it has been more than seven months since the inquiry was finalised.
Chandler said:
As the committee report highlighted, Australia has not only a moral imperative to play our part in holding the regime accountable for human rights abuses, but a practical necessity to protect Australians against the threats of the regime and to reduce the international influence of the world’s top purveyor of state-sponsored terrorism.
Despite its abhorrent behaviour, the IRI regime is expanding its global diplomatic influence, providing weaponry to Russia, continuing to gain positions of influence at the UN, and continuing to profit from hostage diplomacy and breaching sanctions. Australia must step up efforts to hold the regime accountable and this is precisely what the Committee’s recommendations were carefully designed to do.
Updated
Greens say people who doubt rent caps ‘work for the real estate and the property industry’
The Green’s Max Chandler-Mather is very busy this morning – he is now on ABC News Breakfast (TV) talking about the deal the Greens made with the government to get the housing Australia future fund legislation passed.
Asked why the Greens say they will continue to fight for rent freezes and caps when “from urban planners to economists …they say it wouldn’t work”, MCM says:
Everyone is not saying that. Germany … is just right now pursuing a plan to freeze rent increases for three years and cap rents there after.
There are countries around the world that cap rent increases. Australia is relatively unique in locking in rent increases.
You’re right, [those] who they don’t think they work, work for the real estate industry and the property industry. They make less money [under this system].
We need to pursue a housing system that works for the vast majority of people in this country, including the one-third of this country who rents.
Germany did try a rent cap in Berlin a few years ago – it was defeated in court, but it seems they are gearing up for another go.
Updated
Dutton: ‘I don’t have any concerns’ over reported behaviour towards Kylea Tink
Last week, when Peter Dutton was asked about independent MP Kylea Tink’s statement to the house raising intimidating and aggressive behaviour towards her from an unnamed opposition MP (Tink has declined to name the MP involved, as she wants the focus to be on the behaviour as a whole, which she says is a symptom of the culture, not individual MPs), he said he had spoken to the person involved and didn’t believe there was an issue.
I don’t have any concerns in relation to the tone or what was said as it’s been explained to me.
I’ve satisfied myself in relation to the matter.
Dutton also said the chamber behaviour was not as bad as it once was.
The chamber as it operates now … is much more civilised than how it operated in Keating’s day, or how I’ve seen exchanges between Kim Beazley and John Howard over the years.
Beazley and Howard left parliament in 2007. Keating left in 1996. So parliamentary standards are better than they were 27 and 16 years ago, according to Dutton.
Updated
Key event
Julie Collins on alleged harrassment of Karen Andrews: ‘should not happen in any workplace’
Labor’s housing minister, Julie Collins, is asked about those comments and says:
That is appalling. I was not aware of it and I am very sorry that that has happened. It shouldn’t happen to anybody in any Australian workplace. And the Australian parliament should be setting the [standard].
We need better from everybody that works in that building. And that’s why we’re so determined to improve the conditions for the people that work in the parliament house. But we shouldn’t have that type of behaviour. That is just appalling.
Will Labor be following it up in parliament today?
Well, obviously, we’re all about lifting the standards. We had the Kate Jenkins inquiry. We’re implementing the recommendations. There’s currently legislation in the parliament to try to deal with some of the issues in terms of trying to make the workplace safer. This is just extraordinary and it should not happen in any workplace, let alone parliament house.
Updated
Karen Andrews says she was subject to harassment in parliament
The former home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, is the guest on Annabel Crabb’s Kitchen Cabinet this evening, and has spoken of some of the behaviour she was subjected to during question time. She did not name the MPs involved, but the ABC reports she said:
I’d just be sitting there minding my own business and I would have the back of my neck breathed on …
And if I asked a question, it would be ‘that was a great question, thrusting and probing’.
But do you know what the issue is? Well, there would be people that would say, ‘Can’t you take a joke? Can she not take a joke?’ I mean, really ... and sometimes I do call it out, but sometimes I just go, ‘I can’t be in every fight.’”
Andrews also speaks about the isolation she felt when trying to raise the incidents within the party and that in hindsight, she believes Josh Frydenberg should have challenged Scott Morrison for leadership of the party.
Andrews also says that politics was the first career she had where being a woman meant she was treated differently:
But I went to politics and it’s the first time I’ve ever felt I had to fight for things simply because I was a woman.
It’s depressing. That is depressing. So I don’t know, to be honest, that it’s going to change in my lifetime. And that is really sad.
Updated
Labor confident housing fund can hit 30,000 new homes in first five years
Over on ABC News Breakfast (TV), the housing minister, Julie Collins, says the government is confident it can meet the 30,000 new homes target in the first five years of the fund.
As I said, we already have homes under construction today. We also, of course, understand that this is not the only thing. We also have already given and provided the states with a $2bn social housing accelerator. They are providing plans now.
That money needs to be out the door within two years. We are starting to build homes across Australia from various measures that the government has already taken.
The housing Australia future fund is an important part of that, but it is not the only thing, and it is important because it is there forever with returns going into the sector each and every year over the long term.
Updated
Greens: national response required on rents
Back to ABC radio RN Breakfast, Max Chandler Mather says the Greens are putting pressure on the federal government because they believe a national response is the best way to tackle the issue.
Our point is that these forms of regulation are best pursued at a national level coordinated by the federal government, because they’re far more likely to be successful and effective.
It also means that you can bring a lot of states and territories along who might currently be sitting on the fence. The prime minister and the federal government are the most powerful government in the land. So of course, we’re going to focus on them when we’re pushing for a national freeze and cap on renting.
Updated
Labor: supply is answer to rental crisis
Over on ABC News Breakfast (TV), Labor housing minister, Julie Collins, says the federal government’s hands are tied on rents:
Look, we’ve been very clear from the outset – we don’t have the [power], the states and territories do.
What we have done with the states and territories is we’re having some national consistency and improving renters’ rights across the country. Because we know renters are doing it tough. But we know that the answer for downward pressure is more supply of rental properties.
The first five years of the housing Australia future fund, we’re talking rental homes. Social and affordable rental homes.
I’m in Sydney this morning talking to the private sector about trying to get more superannuation funds to invest in more build-to-rent, rentals in Australia, like they already do overseas. We’re right across the housing spectrum to get more rentals and homes on the ground.
Updated
Rent freeze to be part of Greens platform at next election
Will this be the platform that the Greens take to the next election? It will be part of it, MCM says:
I mean, if it takes maybe going to the next election and losing hundreds of thousands, if not millions of votes to renters, because Labor refuse to come to the table on limiting the amount by which rents can can go up stopping unlimited rent increases, then so be it. That’s sort of how our democracy works.
I hope we’re able to win it before then and Labor comes to their senses … by the way, we forced national cabinet … to meet and discuss national renters rights.
We forced every premier and first minister and the prime minister to sit around the table and talk about the renters for the first time in the history of national cabinet, outside of Covid.
And …. they failed to put a cap or freeze on rent increases. That means they need to wear the responsibility for every future rent increase.
That is Labor’s responsibility and Labor’s fault.
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Greens on renters: ‘this fight has just started’
The Greens housing spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather, says the party is not taking a backwards step on keeping pressure on the federal and state governments about renters, but concedes that the Greens went as far as they could on these negotiations.
He tells Patricia Karvelas on ABC radio RN Breakfast:
You’re right, we weren’t able to convince Labor to care about the 1/3 of this country who rents – I don’t think anyone could accuse us of not fighting as hard as we possibly could.
And for us, this fight has just started … nine months ago, no one cared about renters in the media and political establishment. To be frank, there was never any national reports about it. No one really focused on [renters in] this country.
Now they are national news story. And for us, this is the platform upon which we will build our fight to go and win a freeze and cap on rent increases.
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Prepare for puppies
Bill Shorten will have Vision Australia puppies in the parliament today, which is a foolproof way to attract MPs from all stripes.
Tanya Plibersek had threatened species in the parliament last week, which brought out politicians from all sides of politics. Puppies is an even safer bet.
(Our own snapper-at-large, Mike Bowers, is on another job at that time – but we’re sure AAP will bring us the goods.)
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Nationals pursue Qatar Airways decision
The Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie has continued to press the federal government for further details on its decision to deny granting additional flights to Qatar Airways.
Several documents were due to be released to the Senate on Monday evening detailing the advice and information the treasurer, trade minister and prime minister received regarding the decision.
However, only one request came back on time, and it was from the treasurer, Jim Chalmers. It revealed just one heavily-redacted document – a question time briefing on the matter.
(Essentially, these briefs are pages given to ministers detailing a few possible questions on hot topics paired with proposed talking points.)
This briefing paper said: if asked: why has the [sic] Qatar’s request for additional services not been approved?
It listed two points, including that “the government will continue to monitor market developments and explore opportunities to build bilateral trade and investment”.
McKenzie told the Senate last night it was evidence the Treasurer wasn’t one of the relevant ministers briefed on the Qatar Airways decision. She said:
That is the only advice, correspondence or information the treasurer of this country has to provide this chamber as a result of this update. So it is clear the Treasurer wasn’t briefed on this decision.
It is clear that it is a failure of transport minister Catherine King to keep her colleagues informed and if the treasurer of this country isn’t the relevant minister to be consulted with in a decision like this, then I’m not sure who is.
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Cost of living hits hardest for people on low incomes, report finds
People on low incomes are spending up to 93% more on groceries than their counterparts as cost of living spirals bite vulnerable Australians, a new Anglicare report has found.
The Poverty Premium report analysed six key living costs that found people were being penalised if they weren’t able to buy in bulk or pay costs annually instead of monthly.
It found people on low incomes were spending 142% more on phone data, 93% more on groceries, 61% more on insurance, 45% more on credit and loans and 20% more on energy.
Transport costs were also higher, with those on low incomes forking out 23% more on public transport and 10% more on fuel for less efficient cars.
Anglicare’s executive director, Kasy Chambers, said that people on lower incomes often pay more for the same basic essentials because they’re restricted in how much they can afford to buy at once.
She said people were being caught up in debt spirals, foregoing basic essentials, missing medical appointments and avoiding getting insurance.
Our research shows that it costs more to be poor. People pay more because they can’t afford to buy in bulk or to shop around. They pay penalties if they’re forced to live further away from their work and communities. And the best credit deals are for people with high credit scores and healthy bank balances.
These extra costs are a poverty premium, punishing people who are already earning less. We’ve found that people can pay up to one and a half times more for the same service, pushing them even further behind.
Sir Terry Pratchett’s boot theory in action.
Updated
Good morning
Welcome to Tuesday, which is also party room day, meaning the morning is going to be a little bit quieter than usual. And that is saying something.
Labor is trying to be a bit quiet anyway, as the voice campaign continues to see yes trending down, the Qatar Airways decision continues to dominate the headlines and questions over government transparency continue. On the other hand, the Coalition still haven’t shifted course on its policy direction, no remains its favourite word and it had to stare down an attempt to shake the Nationals from the bare-minimum commitment to net zero emissions by 2050. Plus, cost of living increases.
So all in all, not a lot of positivity around.
The government had a win yesterday, with the Greens agreeing to support the housing Australia future fund in exchange for an extra $1bn for community and social housing (on top of the $2bn it already secured in negotiations).
The Coalition, though, said no from the outset – at first because it was inflationary, then because there wouldn’t be enough homes from it. Now it’s both, but they are also throwing in the five-year migration number into the mix.
Renters are dismayed however as there isn’t a lot for them in material gain after the negotiations. Especially since those on lower incomes are also at the mercy of price increases everywhere –they can not afford to buy in bulk, and often have to buy when they are able to travel – which can limit choices even further. So put rental increases on top of all of everything else, in a market with limited choices already, and it’s all a bit much.
The Greens have promised to keep renters’ rights on the agenda, but felt they had taken the negotiations on the Haff as far as they could. We’ll be hearing from their party’s housing spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather, on ABC radio very soon.
You have Katharine Murphy, Josh Butler, Daniel Hurst, Sarah Basford Canales and Paul Karp to guide you through the nuances of the day and policies, and of course Mike Bowers to take you there through his lens. You have me, Amy Remeikis on the blog – I am eyeing off coffee number three, so hope you are doing better than me.
Ready?
Let’s get into it.
