What we learned: Thursday 15 August
This is where we’ll wrap up the blog for today – but first, a quick recap:
Liberal senator Jane Hume said no “supporters of terrorist organisations” should come to Australia.
Peter Dutton confirmed he did not consult shadow cabinet before announcing his position on Palestinian visa holders. He then moved a suspension motion over the issue in parliament.
Victorian authorities lifted some anti-bird flu restrictions.
The NSW opposition leader, Mark Speakman, said the Liberals’ state director must resign immediately following a catastrophic administration error that has thrown the party’s local government election campaign into disarray.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young confronted David Littleproud over Gaza in parliament hall.
July job figures were almost triple predictions but the jobless rate continues to tick up.
Tanya Plibersek said Zali Steggall was subjected to “unparliamentary behaviour” from Liberals and Nationals in parliament. Dutton accused Steggall of holding “extreme views”.
The PM said national security was too important for “divisive politics”.
The Albanese government announced it would guarantee Rex bookings throughout its administration process.
Penny Wong said the Coalition and Greens had “voted to protect [John] Setka” after a CFMEU bill motion was defeated in Senate.
NSW introduced legislation to overhaul its controversial environmental offset scheme.
Have a lovely evening.
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Perth teen charged over cannabis lollies that led to hospitalisations
A 16-year-old has been charged for allegedly manufacturing and selling cannabis lollies, which has led to the two students being hospitalised.
Perth detectives charged the teenager with a number of drug charges in relation to the manufacture and sale of three lollies to a school student on Tuesday 13 August.
WA police said:
The lollies were then ingested by the student and another female student both aged 16 years.
The two students required hospitalisation.
The school alerted police on Wednesday and a subsequent search of the boy’s home was executed later that day.
He was bailed and is due to appear in the Perth children’s court on 5 September.
Police said there are no further public health concerns and the matter is believed to be contained at this time.
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Three-year-old dies in WA car rollover
A three-year-old girl has died after in a car rollover in WA’s Pilbara region.
WA police said in a statement that officers are investigating the crash which occurred last night:
About 10:50pm, a maroon-coloured Holden Captiva travelling on an access road near Great Northern Highway, has left the road and rolled.
A three-year-old female passenger sustained critical injuries and sadly died at the scene.
Five other adults in the vehicle, including three females and two males, received minor injuries.
An investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash are ongoing.
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Two dead after boat capsizes off Kangaroo Island in SA
Two men have died after a boat capsized in waters off Kangaroo Island yesterday afternoon.
South Australian police were alerted after a boat was located upturned off the coast of Cassini.
They estimate the incident occurred just after 4.15pm. Emergency services, with the assistance of the local coastguard and PolAir, quickly located the overturned vessel. In a statement SA police said:
Sadly, two bodies were subsequently located in the water near the boat.
The two men, both aged 65-years-old and both from Kingscote were recovered by emergency personnel.
The Water Operations Unit attended the scene this morning, attempting to recover the vessel as investigations into the deaths continue.
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More on the bill to reform NSW biodiversity offsets
The legislation to reform the New South Wales offsets scheme aims to ensure developers focus first on avoiding impacts to nature and that offsets become a genuine measure of last resort.
Sharpe said:
Offsets must be a genuine last resort. While this requirement is currently in law it is too often ignored.
The bill also introduces steps to transition the scheme from one that is currently required to deliver no net loss to one that delivers net gains over time.
The government is proposing new registers to improve transparency and public scrutiny of the scheme. Another measure would limit the circumstances in which developers are able to transfer their offset obligations to the Biodiversity Conservation Trust by paying into a fund the trust manages.
The bill will be examined by an inquiry before returning to the parliament for debate.
Sharpe and the NSW Greens’ environment spokesperson, Sue Higginson, credited the role Guardian Australia’s reporting played in triggering inquiries and bringing reform to the parliament.
Higginson said the scheme had been “so broken for so long” and “we know that there are so many people out there that have been waiting … for reform around the biodiversity offset system”.
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NSW introduces legislation to overhaul environmental offset scheme
The New South Wales environment minister, Penny Sharpe, has introduced legislation for a long-promised overhaul of the state’s biodiversity offset scheme.
The bill, which has been referred to a parliamentary committee for inquiry, follows years of reporting and investigation by Guardian Australia which triggered multiple reviews of the scheme:
Sharpe said these inquiries, including a parliamentary inquiry she sat on while in opposition, found the scheme “wanting” and that major reform was needed.
She told the parliament on Thursday the bill would be a “significant step forward to fixing the biodiversity offsets scheme and setting nature in New South Wales on a path to recovery”.
It also comes after a recent review of the state’s conservation laws called for significant changes to protect and recover the state’s threatened species and ecosystems.
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Thanks Amy and good evening everyone!
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Natasha May will take you through the evening while I go and stare at a wall.
Once the parliament is through this afternoon, it will rise until Monday morning when the second week of the sitting will resume.
I’ll be back with you then for whatever the week throws up – thank you to everyone who read along with us this week, and for your comments and messages. I am working my way through them.
Until then, please – take care of you. And those around you. A bit more kindness seems to be needed at the moment.
Dutton’s Palestinian visa rhetoric ‘triggering’ for refugees, independent MP Dai Le says
The independent member for Fowler, Dai Le, has also spoken about the need for compassion when it comes to granting visas to people fleeting war zones. Le has said she thinks the current debate, which has been pushed by Peter Dutton, would be “triggering” to refugees. As a child, Le and her family left Vietnam during the war and arrived in Australia as refugees.
I’m thinking, gosh, what if there are families like mine, exactly the same position, but then another country ... is saying ‘they’re all terrorists’?
That would mean that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to be where I am today.
Le said she believed the “debate” over security checks could be better framed:
I don’t know if anyone in the House of Representatives has lived through having to pack their things, or any small belongings they have, not knowing what’s happening, not knowing why there are bombs on both sides ... and therefore can shape our narrative differently.
Shape it in a way that is about putting the safety and prosperity of this nation at the forefront, while at the same time having a heart to understand that we need to play a role in settling some of those who are fleeing war.
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‘Where is the outrage’ on murdered and missing Indigenous women and children, Greens senator asks
The committee investigating murdered and missing Indigenous children and women has handed down its report.
The Greens senator Dorinda Cox wants to know “where is the outrage?” Cox says the recommendations in the report do not go far enough to address the issue.
We heard and know that our women and children are disappearing and dying at unacceptable alarming rates. This is an issue that should be above politics. Yet these recommendations fall below expectations and do not reflect the evidence heard.
I have been very clear with the committee and the minister for Indigenous affairs that these report recommendations will not close the gap, including target 13, and that more First Nations women and children will die or ‘disappear’. Yet they chose to not adopt our recommendations. This is absolutely devastating and shameful.
I refuse to accept that First Nations women and children’s lives do not matter and that their deaths and the violence continues to be predictable and preventable and that when given an opportunity to create accountability, cultural safety and capture data on the magnitude of this issue through these recommendations, this committee refused to do so.
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Government has change of heart on gambling meeting NDAs
After controversy last week about demands that stakeholders attending consultations on the proposed gambling ad restrictions sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), it seems the government has had a change of heart.
An official in the communications department has informed stakeholders:
Please note that the department and the minister’s office will be meeting with some other select stakeholders this week for a high-level discussion on wagering advertising reform.
These discussions are happening outside the deed of confidentiality process, meaning that no confidential commonwealth information nor any commercially sensitive information will be disclosed … The main purpose of the discussion will be to outline the government’s current policy thinking and for stakeholders to be able to provide their views on information that has been publicly reported.
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The Senate was having a very Senate time of it, as Mike Bowers captured:
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It was a bit of a Milton Dick festival today – his older brother (and deputy premier of Queensland), Cameron, was a special guest in the speaker’s gallery today.
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Ahead of question time, the speaker, Milton Dick, worked out some angst by playing an actual violin. Not the one that we are sure plays in his head when some of the points of orders are raised in QT:
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The Reid MP, Sally Sitou, is sharing some of the abuse she has received on social media in response to the speech she gave a little earlier in the house:
If you think Peter Dutton's political rhetoric does not have consequences, think again.
— Sally Sitou MP (@SallySitou) August 15, 2024
Exhibit A 👇 pic.twitter.com/ZkVn2SrxhB
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Tasmania’s salmon industry should be cut to save Maugean skate, scientists advise government
You may remember the Maugean skate news from yesterday – the first live hatchling was born in captivity. Which was heralded as great news for saving the species, which is only found in one Tasmanian harbour.
The reason that the captive birth was so exciting is because the wild population in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour is under threat from the salmon industry.
Adam Morton has some news about recommendations to the government on that point:
Scientists advising the Australian government on how to save the threatened Maugean skate from extinction have recommended the salmon industry be either scaled back dramatically or removed from Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour after finding fish farms are the greatest threat to its survival.
The advice is included in a report by the government’s threatened species scientific committee that says the skate – an ancient ray-like species found only in the harbour in the state’s west – should be considered critically endangered.
The committee estimated there were between 40 and 120 adult skates remaining in the wild, numbers it described as “extremely low”, and that this was projected to fall by 25% in the next generation. The population was cut roughly in half over the past decade.
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For the first time, Anthony Albanese also referenced the personal story of a Palestinian refugee. This came after Zali Steggall shared the story of a family in her electorate earlier today in the motion Peter Dutton moved on the topic of Palestinian visas:
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Labor MPs hit back at Dutton’s proposed Palestine visa ban with family stories of asylum
Question time was dominated by the Coalition again asking questions around the security checks for Palestinians who have come to Australia since 7 October.
But this is what was happening before the chamber was dominated by the same question in different forms:
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Wong says Coalition and Greens ‘voted to protect Mr Setka’ as CFMEU bill motion defeated in Senate
Labor has been seeking Coalition support for a bill to appoint administrators to the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU). Just after 3pm, the government moved a guillotine motion to vote on the bill at 4pm.
The Coalition has been arguing to toughen the bill up, and just demonstrated they are willing to vote against a guillotine to achieve it.
This unleashed a pretty wild debate, with Labor leader in the Senate, Penny Wong, accusing the Coalition over the despatch box of being “part of a CFMEU protection racket” and saying “[Victorian construction secretary] John Setka would be applauding, he would be loving it”.
Independent Jacqui Lambie attacked the Coalition for going after the whole union movement during their time in government, and setting up an ineffective building industry regulator (the ABCC). She then turned on the Greens, calling their position against the bill “shonky”.
The shadow workplace relations minister, Michaelia Cash, demanded union donations be stopped and noted more than $6m has been donated by the CFMEU to Labor since Anthony Albanese became leader. Liberal James McGrath demanded they pay it back.
The motion was defeated, with 23 ayes and 41 noes.
Wong accused the Greens and Coalition of being an “unholy alliance” who had “voted to protect Mr Setka”. She noted that employer groups wanted the bill to pass and accused Cash of wanting “a fight not a fix”.
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Question time ends
Anthony Albanese has called time. But a long line of MPs have grievances they want to bring to Milton Dick’s attention.
Mark Butler wants to ask whether Peter Dutton can just stand up and read from something without saying where it came from after the prime minister has given an answer.
Sussan Ley wants Milton Dick to check the tapes and see if Zali Steggall misled the house when she said that she believed Josh Burns stood to take the call ahead of Peter Dutton (when Dutton jumped up to move a motion to suspend standing orders).
Peter Dutton says he was misrepresented by the prime minister over the Mike Burgess quote (Dutton had accused Albanese of misquoting the Asio director, Albanese said he just shortened it).
The LNP MP for Flynn, Col Boyce, says he was misrepresented when someone said he hadn’t visited a facility that he had visited. There were photos.
Sigh.
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Anthony Albanese finishes his answer with 19 seconds on the clock:
It’s important to have context and the context is this bloke [Peter Dutton] has 20 years of form.
Anthony Albanese continues:
But of course, we’ve seen the form in this before. The criticism of Malcolm Fraser for making what [Peter Dutton] called a ‘mistake’ of bringing Lebanese refugees to Australia in response to the 1976 civil war.
The claim that Victorians were scared to go out due to African gang violence, and the incorrectly blaming the death of a teenager on such gangs in a bid to score a point.
The cruel war against the Biloela family, comparing their children to ‘anchor babies’.
The catching of a senior member of the then government on a hot mic making jokes about Pacific nations facing rising sea levels.
The comments suggesting that the now defence minister [Richard Marles] was ‘the choice of China’ during the last election campaign.
Paul Fletcher has a point of order – Albanese says he doesn’t want to end his questions as “I want to hear what he has to say”.
Fletcher wants to talk about the relevance of the answer, and complains that Albanese is comparing and contrasting, which makes Mark Butler very happy.
The manager of opposition business continues to raise this point of order. He’s something of a serial offender on this.
(That is an inside joke, because Fletcher is always claiming someone is a “serial offender” about things during question time, and that I actually understood that reference proves that I need to go touch some grass.)
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The LNP MP for Fadden, Cameron Caldwell, asks Anthony Albanese:
Prime minister, the department of home affairs told Senate estimates on 28 May that as of 31 March 2024, 39 visitor visas from individuals from the terrorist-controlled Gaza war zone were cancelled, but 12 of those cancellation decisions were later revoked.
Prime minister, as of today, how many visas from individuals from the Gaza war zone have been cancelled since 7 October? And were any of the visas cancelled following additional security checks?
Albanese:
We, of course, take the same advice from the same security agencies, even the same security personnel as the former government did.
We have confidence in our security and law enforcement agencies to do their job, and one of the things that they do is do it on an ongoing basis.
We don’t discuss all of the methods that our agencies use to determine if someone is a national security risk, for obvious reasons.
We encourage the director-general of Asio to directly engage, so as to depoliticise these issues.
That’s why the director-general of Asio goes onto TV. Not because it’s something that is in his wishlist of wanting to tick off, but because it’s the right thing to do, because it is consistent with his view about the need to lower the temperature in this country.
And if those opposite think that the circumstances are that we don’t need to lower the temperature, then they can continue down this cul de sac.
They can continue down there. But I’ve got to say that we want to ensure the security of our nation is prioritised, not a news grab, not a headline.
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Opposition MP suggests up to 75% of Gaza population ‘support listed terrorist organisation Hamas’
Jenny Ware has the next question and it is on – you guessed it, security arrangements.
Prime minister, it is reported that between 40 to 75% of people in the Gaza war zone support listed terrorist organisation Hamas. Is it the government’s policy that sympathy for Hamas is not grounds for visa refusal or cancellation?
One of the reports Ware is referring to is from the Times of Israel. About 50% of the population of Gaza are children. It is unclear who is polling the population of Gaza, and how, given the level of displacement and the difficulty of movement.
Anthony Albanese:
I just say to the member for Hughes, I hope you have better pollsters than people who come to you and say it’s somewhere between 40 and 75.
That is an extraordinary question to ask. I’m not sure, in seriousness, how you poll Gaza at the moment.
Do you have a TV? Have a look at what has happened to Gaza. The idea that there is polling going on in Gaza at the moment – just really – in order to make a point, in order to ask a question here.
I mean, we have issues in this country of dealing with the global impact of inflation, cost of living pressures, housing, education. We had a report this week about Naplan and about students falling behind …
Peter Dutton jumps up to ask a question on relevance which leads to a bit of a back and forth about the “relevance” of polling the war-torn population of Gaza, given the Israeli blockade, which includes limiting movement.
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It is Dan Tehan time again. Woohoo.
The Albanese government, primarily under minister Giles, has issued more than 2,900 visas to individuals from the Gaza war zone since the October 7th atrocity. Were all the individuals referred to Asio for security checks, or was it only where criteria are hit?
(Of those 2,900 visas issued, only about 1,300 people made it to Australia before Israel closed the Rafah border crossing for Palestinians.)
Anthony Albanese:
I refer to my previous answers where I have indicated that what we do is we have in place appropriate arrangements to ensure our national security and to keep people safe.
That is what we do. That is what the Asio director-general has expressed his confidence in the system. That is something that he did not just in the media conference that we held, but on [7.30] and on the Insiders program.
We work regularly and closely with our security agencies. We take their advice, and if those opposite don’t have confidence in the security agencies or in the director-general, they should say so.
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Responding to One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts, the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, is telling the Senate that the government will not ban foreign ownership of residential homes in Australia, and that the figures show less than 1% of homes are foreign owned.
Gallagher says there are strong rules around foreign ownership and it has benefited the economy.
It would help if some of our housing programs, which are currently stalled in the Senate, were given the approval by this Senate, because then we could build more supply – which is the actual issue.
Roberts says the government should “put Australians in Australian houses first”.
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Catherine King continues:
if the guarantee is triggered, affected customers will receive a refund directly from their credit card, merchant or travel booking provider, backed by the government guarantee. Any drawdown of the guarantee is required to be repaid by the administrators.
The guarantee applies to any Rex regional flight bookings made after Rex entered voluntary administration from 9:31pm on Tuesday 30 July 2024.
This guarantee is about assuring customers and communities that they can and should continue booking regional flights with Rex, flights that allow them to stay connected with their family, their friends, their healthcare and other services, while also helping to maintain regional aviation in Australia.
It’s a message very clearly to regional Australia: we know how important reliable air services are to you.
We are not going to allow your communities to be left behind. And to say to members of the public, this guarantee does mean you can continue to book on Rex flights and should do so during the period of voluntary administration. And that guarantee allows some confidence about that.
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Albanese government guarantees Rex bookings throughout administration process
Catherine King answers a dixer on the future of Rex airlines very carefully:
The Australian government is guaranteeing regional flight bookings for Rex customers for tickets purchased after the administration period began.
That means that travellers can book regional flights on Rex throughout the voluntary administration process with confidence that they will either fly or get their money back.
This is not a commonwealth injection of funds into Rex or the administrators. It is a guarantee for bookings made after the airline entered into voluntary administration. The guarantee will only be triggered if a service is cancelled and where no alternate service has been delivered and no refund.
(Continued in next post)
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Andrew Wilkie asks the prime minister:
A succession of federal governments, LNP and Labor, have a shameful history of paying lip service to the recommendations of royal commissions.
Just look at the critical reaction to your government’s response to the disability royal commission. And we’re still waiting for a government, any government, to act on the Aboriginal deaths in custody royal commission. So with the veterans royal commission about to drop, will you commit to urgently implement all its recommendations?
Anthony Albanese:
Of course, we haven’t seen the recommendations of the royal commission, so it’s a bit hard to comment specifically on them. But we of course, in terms of the spirit of the royal commission that we supported being established, we will give proper consideration to all of them, as I’m sure will other members of this parliament.
Veteran suicide is indeed a national tragedy, and we are taking the royal commission into defence and veteran suicide extremely seriously, which is why we’ve been prepared to provide it with additional resources so that they could hear from more veterans.
It’s why we responded very quickly to the royal commission’s interim report, and why we’ve now taken action on each of the recommendations of that report. Every one of them, we have taken actions on.
He goes on to speak about the lack of funding in veterans’ affairs under the previous government and to pay tribute to Australia’s veterans.
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Anthony Albanese continues:
We know that our security agencies do their job in a diligent way. The honourable member would know, as a former at least shadow attorney-general, that the, I don’t know if he served on the national security committee, but he would know about the arrangements that we have in place for security with other agencies.
If you want me to go down the track of talking about the arrangements we have with our Five Eyes partners, with other governments, that is an extraordinary question for him to expect, frankly.
What we do is we make sure our priority is to keep Australians safe. I have confidence in our security agencies. I would hope the member does as well.
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Julian Leeser asks Anthony Albanese:
Of the 2,900 people issued with visitor visas from the terrorist controlled* Gaza war zone, how many applicants have had their biometric data checked against Israeli government records on known Hamas members or sympathisers or those known or suspected to have participated in 7 October terrorist attacks?
*44% of voters in Gaza voted for Hamas in 2006. There has not been an election since.
Albanese:
I am asked a question about Australia, I’m asked a question as well about Israel’s database as well, which I certainly don’t think I’m in a position to answer.
I also, it’s a fact that one of the things we don’t do, as I said to previous questions, go through all the detail of our security arrangements and the member would understand why that’s the case.
I don’t think Israel does that either, by the way, just as a matter of fact.
… Let’s be very clear about what has occurred here. The leader of the opposition went to welcome Olympians home, did an interview and once again, made up a policy.
It didn’t go to shadow cabinet, didn’t go to the caucus, no process whatsoever. Just like so many other issues that have occurred. And then the worst thing about that is the leader of the opposition should know better.
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While we are talking about the “24 hour” visa approvals and “one hour” visa approval, it might be worth checking with what was actually said in Senate estimates in February.
This is an exchange between the shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, and Michael Willard, acting deputy secretary of immigration.
Paterson:
There’s been some controversy about this in the media, and the minister for foreign affairs, among others, has reassured the public that no processes were expedited, no corners were cut – all the usual processes were followed. But there was also a media report by the ABC on 9 December, entitled ‘Australians turn to WhatsApp group for help to get family members out of Gaza’, in which some individuals claimed their visitor visas for relatives were approved within one hour. Does that sound right to you? Is it possible that a visitor visa was approved in a single hour?
Willard:
It is possible. I’d make this point in terms of the way we assess a visitor visa: we draw on a vast range of information that we hold, and we apply that information to the circumstances presented in a visitor visa application. There could be circumstances where someone, for example, has a strong travel record, is well known to us and has a routine that we’re familiar with, where the visitor visa could be granted in that time frame.
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The independent MP Andrew Gee asks:
The Nguyen family in Bathurst are a much loved and are highly respected in our local community. They run the Anam Vietnamese restaurant which is a Bathurst institution … through no fault of their own they’ve had their visas knocked back and over 19,000 people have signed a position to have them stay in Australia. Minister, their case is now on your desk. Will you support this family in their quest to stay in Bathurst and Australia?
Tony Burke:
I have some familiarity with the case. I don’t know all the details of it as I understand it the through no fault of their own the person who was sponsoring them lost the right to sponsor.
And there is a challenge there.
What I’d encourage the member even today straight after question time directly to me with a representation …
Certainly the issues as you’ve raised appear, and as I understand the case from what I’ve seen initially, is something where the individuals concerned don’t appear, at this stage with the information I have, don’t appear to be at fault in terms of the circumstances that have arisen. That doesn’t mean, if there may be specific rules that simply can’t be bent, it might be the case. But with all representation we will get departmental advice.
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Peter Dutton then attempts to suspend standing orders to move his motion, but Tony Burke wanders up to the despatch box and moves that the motion be heard after the matter of public importance debate (which is later this afternoon and will be too late for most of the 6pm news bulletins. Which is the point of moving it.)
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Returning to question time, this is who the prime minister was referring to.
Anthony Albanese:
I’m talking about a real human being who is now here.
What she went on to say – and that is what this is about, real human beings, with real children and real families and real trauma and real tragedy.
And the impact that that has had, whether it be the innocent lives that have been lost in Israel or the innocent lives that have been lost in Gaza, that has had a traumatic effect on everyone who is related to them here and on the communities, whether they be the Israeli community or the Palestinian community. And that is one of the reasons why we have been asked by those people who run our national security to lower the temperature, to think about what we do as political leaders.
And the former deputy prime minister knows that I have the most respect for him. I was with him in his community, including with migrants just a few weeks ago in Cowra, he was speaking with me about the migration, including people from, formerly from Afghanistan who have settled there in central western New South Wales, who are good citizens.
He runs out of time.
Peter Dutton then attempts to seize the call to move a motion to suspend standing orders and there is a big procedural back and forth over whether he can actually have the call. It ends with Milton Dick ruling no, and the questions move on.
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Sydney Metro train line gains final safety approvals
(Stepping out of politics for a moment)
The new section of the Sydney Metro train line running from Chatswood through the city centre to Sydenham could open to the public within days after it gained final safety approvals from the regulator.
The Sydney Metro City section had been scheduled to open on Sunday 4 August, but this was postponed after final safety approvals were not received in the days leading up to its opening, amid reports a firefighter conducting safety drills received an electric shock that raised authorities’ alarm.
However, on Thursday afternoon, the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator said the Sydney Metro City section had gained final approvals. It said:
ONRSR has completed its assessment of the evidence in support of the operational safety case for Sydney Metro City Section and granted the necessary approvals. A commencement date for passenger services is a matter for the NSW Government via its relevant agencies.
The New South Wales government has not yet announced an opening date, but the premier, Chris Minns, has suggested it could be within a matter of days.
For more on the Sydney Metro City:
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Michael McCormack is up with the next question:
Of the more than 2,900 people issued visas from the terrorist-controlled Gaza war zone, primarily let in by the former immigration minister, the Member for Scullin [Andrew Giles], have all of them been subjected to a biometric test and an in-person interview?
The opposition has been using the term “terrorist controlled Gaza war zone”. Hamas was elected after a split vote in 2006. There has not been another election since.
Anthony Albanese:
On biometric testing, that is something that the director-general of Asio addressed as well on his Insiders interview on Sunday. What we have done is to make sure that we work with our security agencies to keep Australians safe. That’s what we do.
This morning, one of those people, Dr Mona Kaskeen again, I listened to her on RN this morning. She is a Palestinian neurosurgeon who fled Gaza, who is now in Sydney. This is what she said about how she got to come here. ‘The people who came from Gaza, they are seeking a good life for them and their children. They are very highly qualified people because many of them are doctors and engineers. They are people seeking a good life. We came here just to live in peace and to protect our family. I like Australia, I like living here, it is quiet and safe. My children feel safe here. People from Gaza, they want to live safe and protect their family, they want to live in peace.’
Dan Tehan then stands up to ask a point of order, and Milton Dick warns him that Albanese is being directly relevant and there can not be a point of order on relevance. Tehan persists.
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Over in the Senate, everyone is in their usual corner. After an opening opposition question on the economy, the Greens’ Mehreen Faruqi is noting that the prime minister graduated from Sydney University in 1984 with no student debt and is asking why Anthony Albanese’s government is now punishing students with $50,000 degrees.
Representing the education minister in the Senate, Murray Watt says the Greens didn’t like the Labor government providing relief.
“The Albanese government is very proud of the fact that we are the first government in Australia’s history to waive student debt in the way that we have announced in this year’s budget,” Watt says, reeling off the budget measures for students.
Faruqi accuses the government of “tinkering around the edges” and having “nothing to crow about”.
Minister, why won’t your government do the right thing and wipe all student debt?
Watt says the government is getting on and doing things rather than just spending time being “really, really upset” and that the Greens think “everything is never enough”.
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Peter Dutton then asks for Milton Dick’s guidance, claiming that Anthony Albanese has “misquoted” Asio boss Mike Burgess in an earlier answer in question time:
It’s been brought to my attention that the prime minister in quoting the director-general of security earlier, misquoted the director-general.
The prime minister said, and and I quote, in his quote from Mr Burgess: ‘If they issued a visa they have gone through the process, they’re referred to my organisation and Asio does its thing.’
Mr Burgess actually said on Insiders as follows: “If they’ve been issued a visa, they gone through the process, part of the process is where criteria are hit, they’re referred to my organisation and Asio does its thing.”
There is quite a different import from the prime minister’s interpretation. I would ask you to invite the prime minister to correct the record, given this is the first available opportunity for him to do that.
Anthony Albanese responds to the point of order:
The leader of the opposition has confirmed the accuracy of what I’ve said.
Albanese says he didn’t read out the entire transcript from the Insiders interview, “but if he wishes me to do so, I would do so”.
I read out three different things that the director-general of Asio said.
Dutton tries to argue that Albanese has further misled the house. Dick says that this is not the time to do this and moves the questions on, while Dutton is still protesting.
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National security too important for 'divisive politics': PM
Anthony Albanese continues:
National security is too important for the sort of divisive politics that those opposite are trying to play here.
They know that that’s the case, but they simply don’t care.
For them, everything that happens is an opportunity to try to divide Australia at a time, in spite of the director-general’s very clear warnings about the climate that we are in, the very clear warnings, and his call for responsible political leadership.
We are seeing anything but that from those opposite.
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Sussan Ley is up.
Yesterday the prime minister said he was running exactly the same process in granting visas to those in the Gaza war zone as the previous government did when accepting people from Syria and Afghanistan. As the prime minister knows, that is not what happened under our government, where people were removed to third-party countries, attended face-to-face interviews and visas took up to 12 months to process. Will the prime minister apologise for misleading the house?
Anthony Albanese:
We have confidence in our security agencies. If those opposite don’t have confidence in those security agencies they should say so. We don’t discuss the details of the methods our agencies used to determine if someone is a national security risk, which is something that those people who have been on a national security committee know is the case.
In 2017 the then minister, now leader of the opposition issued an additional 12,000 visas to Syrian and Iraqi refugees. He indeed issued a media release that said this: ‘Australia welcomed these people who can now make a fresh start and build a safe future, far from the horrors of the conflict. I encourage them to enjoy all that Australia has to offer.’
If those people want to suggest what the deputy leader of the opposition said occurred [the additional security checks], that that occurred when Kabul was being evacuated, then she must think all of us have a very short memory.
When we were in opposition we backed the government. We backed the government. We didn’t look for a way to divide the country. We didn’t look for a way to undermine national security, because we know it is simply too important to play games with.
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Albanese continues:
He [Burgess] also said this – at the press conference that was held with myself, he said this:
‘After 7 October, I warned that inflamed language could lead to inflamed community tensions. Unfortunately this is what’s playing out. This is really a matter for everyone - community leaders, politicians, the media: watch your words, watch your actions, there is a direct correlation between inflamed language, inflamed tension and violence.’
I would have thought there is no … moment more unifying in our nation than when we welcomed Olympians home yesterday morning. That was a chance for the leader of the opposition to practise that smile that we have heard so much about.
And yet he chose this moment of all moments to be divisive, a moment meant to be about champions, he made it about himself.
The scarf* stayed on, but the mask came off. He sows fear and he sows division. That is what he does, that’s what he has done his entire political career and that’s what he continues to do.
*Dutton was wearing an Australian team scarf in support of the Olympic athletes.
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Peter Dutton has the next non-government question:
During question time yesterday, the prime minister stated that people applying for visas from the terrorist-controlled Gaza war zone were undergoing Asio security assessments. Will the prime minister now confirm that this is not accurate?
Anthony Albanese:
I will refer to what the Asio director-general himself has said, ‘they have been issued a visa, they are gone through a process, they’re referred to my organisation and Asio does its thing.’ That is a direct quote.
The member for Fisher, Andrew Wallace, is kicked out of the chamber for interjecting.
Albanese:
That was a direct quote from [Mike] Burgess on the Insiders program. He went on to say ‘so, for all immigration, including when you are balancing humanitarian needs, security checks are critically important.
‘There are processes in place, and I can assure your audience that when things get referred to Asio, we deal with them effectively.’ That is what he said, but he said more than that …
(Peter Dutton interjects on relevance).
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Question time begins
Dan Tehan opens the questions today, asking whether or not every Palestinian who has been given a visa for Australia has been asked “whether or not they have sympathies for Hamas, a listed terrorist organisation?”
Tony Burke:
It is odd that people thinking they can be in charge of national security when they cannot even nominate for local government as a party. I explained yesterday the process and the involvement that Asio has in terms of process that we have, which is the same that was used under the previous government.
The last election the people of Gaza were able to hold was in 2006. Hamas won about 44% of the vote. Another 41% of people voted for Fatah. About 50% of the 2024 population in Gaza is under the age of 18 and would not have voted/or been alive when the last elections were held.
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Sally Sitou urges Dutton to ‘not stoke fear in our communities’
The MP for Reid, Sally Sitou, also gave a 90-second speech on the impact of visa policies:
My family has experienced the devastating consequences of conflict.
My mother felt the desperation of carrying her baby as she fled across the Mekong River.
They lived the uncertainty of waiting in a refugee camp.
My family has also experienced hope.
They’ve experienced the safety and refuge this country provided them.
And I have benefited from the opportunities Australia has given me.
And I’m grateful – every day I’m grateful.
My family’s story was only possible because men and women in this place turned to the better angels of their nature.
In 1977, then prime minister Malcolm Fraser developed Australia’s first comprehensive refugee policy, one year later, my family arrived in this country.
This is my direct appeal to the leader of the opposition.
Do not stoke fear in our communities.
Do not undermine the work of our security agencies, because they are doing the important work of security vetting to keep us safe.
Do not undermine public trust in these institutions.
From the daughter of migrants who had to flee conflict, this is my message to the leader of the opposition.
I am appealing to the better angel of your nature.
Be the person we need you to be, someone who aims to unite, not divide.
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Josh Burns continued:
We do not have an immigration policy based on religion or race. We have not had one for a long time and we should never go back.
Our security agencies have a process where they look at every single person who is seeking a visa.
Anyone currently fleeing Gaza is also checked by Egypt and Israel.
10 months ago on October 7, Hamas committed barbaric and unspeakable crimes against Israeli people.
Of course, anyone who supports those crimes should not be coming into this country.
But the Palestinian people of Gaza, like my family and friends in Israel, did not choose this war and we must maintain our humanity and respect human rights for all.
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‘Collectively categorising people fleeing from war is harmful’, Josh Burns says
The member for Macnamara, Josh Burns, has delivered an emotional statement in the house, saying Australia can not go back to race-based migration policies.
In 1938, the Evian conference was convened in France where delegates from 32 countries around the world gathered to discuss options for settling Jewish refugees fleeing Europe.
Australia’s delegate, Colonel White, infamously said “we have no real racial problem; we are not desirous of importing one”.
My grandmother was one of the 9,000 European Jews who made it into Australia in 1939 before the war.
She was included in that approach by Colonel White as potentially importing a racism problem into this country.
But she, of course did not, nor was she any threat.
She was a teacher, held multiple degrees and was a proud Australian.
Back then it was my community, today it is another. But our approach should be the same.
I am in full support of having a sensible conversation about our national security and our immigration policy.
But collectively categorising people fleeing from war is harmful.
(continued in next post)
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National gender pay gap is the lowest on record (but still 11.5%)
In a tiny bit of good news, new ABS data shows the national gender pay gap is the lowest on record.
In not so good news, it is still 11.5%.
It has fallen from 14.1% in May 2022 and since then the average woman’s earnings have increased by $173.80 a week.
Anthony Albanese said it’s “not a coincidence”:
It’s because the government has taken action like banning pay secrecy clauses, modernising the bargaining system, enforcing transparent gender pay gap reporting and delivering pay rises for aged care and childcare workers.
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The borders to leave Gaza, and in particular the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border, have been closed for months, meaning there are few opportunities to leave the conflict zone.
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, confirmed in question time on Wednesday that 2,922 visas have been granted to Palestinians since 7 October 2023. More than 7,100 have been rejected.
Peter Dutton earlier denied the opposition’s stance was against “people of a particular religious belief” or political persuasion.
On 2GB, Dutton reiterated the point:
There are millions and millions and millions of people who want to come and live in Australia tomorrow, and why the government’s deciding to take people from a war zone without doing the proper checks, without even a face-to-face interview, and to bring them here on a tourist visa. If that’s racist, well, you know, it’s a strange definition of it.
The Asio boss, Mike Burgess, on Sunday urged politicians “to be careful about their robust political debate” amid the turbulent times, warning it could “drive violence in our society”.
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Dutton accuses Zali Steggall of holding ‘extreme views’
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has accused Zali Steggall of holding “extreme views” after she told him to “stop being racist” in parliament this morning.
The heated debate was sparked after the opposition attempted to disrupt the House of Representatives on Thursday morning over granting of visas to Palestinians fleeing the conflict in Gaza.
Dutton said on Wednesday there should be a temporary blanket ban on visas for Palestinians seeking to enter Australia from the conflict zone “at the moment” due to an unspecified “national security risk”.
Steggall, the independent member for Warringah, rose to oppose the Coalition’s motion, describing it as “extremely concerning” and “whipping up a sense of fear”. As Dutton interjected over her, Steggall responded: “We heard you in silence. You can hear me in silence. Stop being racist!”
She withdrew the comment to assist the house.
Dutton told 2GB radio shortly after it “didn’t come as any surprise” because of Steggall’s political views.
He said:
I mean, people who know Zali Steggall know that she’s really a Green, and they hold these extreme views … we shouldn’t be bullied into accepting a migration program which is not in our country’s best interests.
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Dutton says missed deadline for Liberal candidates in number of council elections ‘disappointing’
Peter Dutton has spoken to 2GB, where he was asked about a “variety” of topics (I’m sure you can fill in the blanks) including the NSW secretariat missing the deadline to nominate Liberal candidates in a number of council elections:
Well, it’s, it’s disappointing would be the polite way to put it. And I hope that they can sort out … The mess is obviously an administrative error where they haven’t submitted the forms on time. And you’re right, that’s, it’s not acceptable. And those discussions are taking place at the moment. We want, you know, to make sure that there is a proper administrative process put in place. And they failed in that regard. And it’s very, very disappointing to see.
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Much of the house has been busy with the Future Made in Australia legislation debate, which has been going on since a little after 10am.
But the chamber will move into 90-second statements very soon (also known as the MP airing of the grievances) and, from there, it will role into question time.
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As we wait the committee report into murdered and missing Indigenous women and children, here are some figures which should shock you.
And not least because it is incomplete:
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We are in the last hour before question time. It has been QUITE the morning, so if you need a little moment to regroup after everything we have heard so far, please take it.
Politics is not an easy listen at the best of times, so take whatever break you need.
Government to release national report on missing and murdered First Nations women and children
This afternoon, the federal government will release its landmark national report on Missing and murdered First Nations women and children.
The Djirra chief executive and Change the Record co-chair, Antoinette Braybrook, said it is a “defining moment” for the nation.
Djirra has called for:
* Accurate and up-to-date data on the rate of violence against our women and children.
* Urgent investment in Djirra and other specialist frontline family violence prevention and legal services.
* Police must immediately and thoroughly investigate every report of violence against an Aboriginal woman or child – every time.
Braybrook said:
Truth is uncomfortable. It can be painful. But it must be spoken, written down and heard. And governments must act upon it.
You cannot un-hear us now.
We will always remember what the government does now. We are watching, and we will continue to demand change. This MUST NOT be another report that sits on a shelf gathering dust.
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Tanya Plibersek says Dutton wants to ‘frighten and divide’ Australians
On Peter Dutton’s tactics specifically, Tanya Plibersek had this to say:
The sad fact is that engendering fear in the Australian community is a tactic and a tool that is not beyond Peter Dutton.
I think it’s very clear that he wants to frighten Australians into believing that he is somehow a tough man that can keep them safe. It’s all about the politics and it’s a terrible thing to seek to frighten and divide Australians for such reasons.
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Tanya Plibersek said she thinks some of the “difficulties” in Gaza has led to the high refusal rate of visas.
But I would also say that the best thing that we can do as a nation is do our bit as part of the international community to urge immediate ceasefire, as we’ve been doing for nine months, to insist on hostage returns and greater humanitarian aid so people can stay safely at home. Most people who flee their homeland as refugees don’t want to flee.
They want to be safe at home. And so, yes, we need to make sure that as we issue any visas to Australia, that Australians are kept safe, that proper checks are done.
But the other thing that we are doing, as the government is putting every effort into supporting ceasefire, because it is only when Israelis and Palestinians can live safely side by side that we will see peace, real peace, in the Middle East.
Plibersek says Australia has ‘a very high’ visa refusal rate
On the question of whether the security checks have been changed in this instance, Plibersek said:
The Asio checks that have always applied have applied to every visa that’s been issued. So, people coming in and checked against a list that’s updated every 24 hours to make sure that they’re not on any watch list.
And truly, about 70% of the visas have been rejected because we can’t be certain of some of the information. There is a very high refusal rate. There is no guaranteed entry into Australia. About 3,000 visas have been granted. About 7,000 have been rejected.
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Tanya Plibersek says security checks the same as when Dutton the minister responsible
On the issue of security checks, Plibersek said:
All of the processes that we go through are the same processes that existed when Peter Dutton was the minister responsible.
So, if he’s saying that the rules are wrong, they are his rules. If he’s saying that the Asio director is not competent to decide whether people are safe to come to Australia, it’s the Asio director that was in that position when Peter Dutton was the minister. The same person we reappointed.
He never objected to the reappointment. So, the same rules, the same people making the assessments.
What’s changed? What’s changed, in Peter Dutton’s view?
These are the same rules that applied to people coming from Afghanistan, they are the same rules that apply to people coming from Ukraine.
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Tanya Plibersek continued:
There is a humanitarian catastrophe happening in Gaza. We have, as Australians, enormous sympathy for what Israel experienced with the Hamas attack.
We’ve got enormous sympathy for the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where most of 40,000 people are now estimated to have died. Sixteen-thousand of those who have died are children. Most Australians want to see ceasefire, hostage return, humanitarian assistance. In some cases, some people will apply to come to Australia.
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Plibersek says Zali Steggall subjected to ‘unparliamentary behaviour’ from Liberals and Nationals
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has told Sky News why she and other Labor colleagues went and sat with Zali Steggall during the Palestinian visa motion Peter Dutton was attempting to move:
It was because she was just being shouted at so much by the Liberals and Nationals. We could barely hear her. There was just a wall of noise being directed at her and she was standing there alone speaking.
I mean, if you’re talking about unparliamentary behaviour, the wall of noise and interjection she was facing from the Liberals and Nationals was really extraordinary. And I don’t think anybody should face that sort of behaviour in a workplace.
Asked if the “wall of noise” was because of Steggall’s “stop being racist” comment, Plibersek said:
It was actually so loud and constant that it was pretty hard to pick out individual comments or even who was making them. It was really a wall of noise. But can we go, I think, to the substantive issue here? I think what Peter Dutton was doing in the parliament was once again seeking to win votes by frightening and dividing Australians.
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Alex Dyson to run against Dan Tehan in Wannon
Broadcaster Alex Dyson has officially announced he will be running as an independent candidate against Dan Tehan in the seat of Wannon in the coming election.
Dyson has spent the past two elections building up name recognition and familiarity in his home electorate and last year made a bit of a splash with his “potholes of Wannon” campaign, which highlighted the bad state of road infrastructure by turning potholes into things like eskies and plant boxes.
He doubled his vote from 2019 to 2022.
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WA records lowest jobless rate with Victoria’s the highest
Just back to the job figures for a moment, other points of note from include a record participation rate – at 67.1% – indicating more people are looking for work. With the 58,200 extra jobs, it looks like people are finding them too.
Kate Lamb, the ABS’s labour stats chief, says, “the labour market remains quite tight”, and she’s not wrong.
As of June, the government was claiming 930,000 jobs created since it came to office, so we’d be about 990,000 up by now.
Across the nation, Western Australia’s’s 3.7% jobless rate was the lowest, while Victoria’s 4.6% rate was the highest. Most regions reported an uptick in that unemployment measure, with NSW edging 0.1 percentage points higher to 4%, while Queensland – where elections loom in October – rose from 3.9% to 4.3% for the month.
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Tammy Tyrrell says Labor slower than a tortoise on mental health action
Independent Tasmanian senator Tammy Tyrrell said she recently asked for a response to a select committee report on mental health and received “no response”.
Given the health ministers’ meeting tomorrow, Tyrrell wants to see some action:
Labor’s record on mental health is terrible. They haven’t responded to the Mental Health and Suicide Prevention select committee report or the Better Access Evaluation report from 2022. I asked about both of these at Senate estimates and got crickets. If this was a race between Labor and a tortoise, the tortoise would win.
Tasmanians are waiting six months to see a psychologist. They’re not getting any help while they’re waiting. Recommendations collecting dust on a shelf don’t do anything to help people at their most vulnerable.
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To read more about the job figures today, Peter Hannam has you covered here:
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Aussie dollar rises on jobs figures
While the headline of a higher unemployment rate – 4.2% is the most since January 2022 – will gain attention, the jobs machine that is the Australian economy - so far - is the number of note.
Markets have interpreted the data likewise, nudging the Australian dollar higher towards the 66 US cent mark, while stocks pared their gains for the day. (Higher interest rates make it more attractive to hold the Aussie dollar while also denting corporate profits – all things being equal.)
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July job figures almost triple predictions but jobless rate ticks up
The economy added more than 58,000 jobs in July, even as the jobless rate clicked up to 4.2%.
The job gains were almost triple what economists had tipped.
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Monique Ryan welcomes Hecs indexation changes
Kooyong independent MP Monique Ryan has welcomed the changes to how Hecs will be indexed – the government is moving it from being linked to CPI, to the wage price index. Ryan, who hosted a petition on the issue which 288,000 people signed, said “when hundreds of thousands of Australians stand up and demand change, the government has no choice but to listen to them”:
Younger Australians in particular are facing not just insurmountable HECS debts, but a housing crisis. They are also bearing the brunt of the rising cost of living.
The major parties need to do a whole lot more to address the rising cost of housing, energy, and education.
We’ll keep pushing them – this is just the start.
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Jacqui Lambie to announce NSW Senate candidates tomorrow
The Tasmanian-based Jacqui Lambie has announced she will be naming the Jacqui Lambie Network’s NSW Senate candidate tomorrow.
Lambie is working on taking the JLN national and the next federal election is one of the first tests for that.
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Markets put even odds on rate cut in September
The RBA, for what it’s worth, has said it’s been mildly surprised by how strong the labour market has been despite its 13 interest rate rises since May 2022. Then again, job ads have been dwindling – though remaining well above pre-Covid levels – so it’s possible we’ll get a month of weak demand for new staff.
If we do, then calls for an early interest rate cut will likely increase. As things stand, markets are ignoring governor Michele Bullock‘s comments that the central bank is unlikely to cut its cash rate this year – they reckon it’s a 50-50 chance when the board next meets on 23-24 September.
Stay tuned for the numbers when they drop at 11.30am Aest.
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Labour market figures for July due in
We’ll shortly receive the ABS labour market data for July, a set of figures no doubt of keen interest for those looking for work – or worried about their jobs – and also the Reserve Bank.
As always, there may be complexity with the jobs numbers that might take a few minutes to decipher. For one thing, the ABS sometimes revises the previous month’s jobless rate, making it tricky to say the rate “rose” or “fell” or was “unchanged”.
Economists, anyway, expect the July unemployment rate to come in at 4.1% – the level the ABS reported last month’s to have been. They also expect the economy to have added 20,000 new jobs, or well down on the 50,000-plus added in June. (Given the swelling population, we need about 30,000-plus extra jobs generated each month to keep the jobless rate steady.)
And there are complications, such as how many of the jobs lost or added were full-time, the number of hours worked and whether more or fewer people were looking for work last month.
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Hanson-Young confronts David Littleproud
The video team have done up the footage of Sarah Hanson-Young’s drive-by comment on David Littleproud a little earlier this morning in the press gallery:
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Watt gives rundown on CFMEU law negotiations
Murray Watt’s first job as workplace minister is to get the CFMEU administration through the parliament. The government wanted it through the Senate today, but the Coalition want amendments (making the administration for a minimum of three years, rather than a maximum for example) and the Greens aren’t fans.
So it is proving a bit difficult.
Here was Watt this morning on ABC radio:
We’ve told the opposition that we don’t support that. The reality is that there are different levels of severity of allegations across different branches, and they need to be treated separately.
What we have said is that the administration would go for a period of three years in total, but also with the power for the administrator to release particular branches from administration, essentially, if they get a clean bill of health once someone’s had a good look at them.
But the issue is that if we make every single branch stay in for three years, that will divert resources away from the problem areas towards divisions and branches which have been found to be fine.
Administration is a costly exercise. We want to make sure that those resources are focused where the biggest need is.
Having said that, under our scheme, every branch, every State and territory branch of the construction division will go into administration at the outset, and then it would be up to the administrator to work out where the most significant problems are, rather than spreading their resources thinly across all of them for three years when it may not be necessary in all cases.
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Clare: Dutton ‘not fit to run a bath, let alone Australia’
Jason Clare also responded to Peter Dutton’s comments again:
Now, just remember what yesterday was all about. Yesterday was the day that our Olympic champions came home. It should have been about them, and he made it about him.
This was a day where the whole country should have been able to come together to cheer on and thank our gold medallists, our silver medallists, our bronze medallists, everybody who put on the green and gold, and he made it about him.
That shows you something about what lies in the heart of Peter Dutton. A prerequisite to be prime minister needs to be a desire to want to bring the country together at times like that, and every day. And what was exposed yesterday was a calculation by Peter Dutton that he could use that as an opportunity to try and divide the country at a time where we should be together.
Every instinct in this bloke’s body, every calculation, is about how we can divide the country. It shows this bloke’s not fit to run a bath, let alone Australia.
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Hecs indexation changes likely to pass with crossbench and Greens support
Jason Clare says he is unsure whether the Coalition will support the bill, but believes there will be enough support from the Greens and the crossbench for it to pass the parliament.
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Laws linking Hecs interest to wage price index instead of CPI to be introduced
The education minister, Jason Clare, will be introducing the legislation that will link Hecs interest to the wage price index rather than CPI.
Clare:
Last year when there was a big spike in inflation and a big spike in Hecs indexation that hit a lot of Australian students and a lot of Australians with student debt really hard. They felt it. They thought it was unfair and so did we.
So, we’ve responded. We announced in the budget that we would wipe more than $3bn of student debt for more than 3 million Australians. And this is the legislation that will do the job.
What it will do is mean that the indexation rates from last year based on CPI will be replaced with the Wage Price Index.
It means that somebody with a student debt of, say, $26,000 will see their student debt drop by about $1,200 and somebody with a student debt of, say, $45,000 will see their student debt drop by about $2,000.
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Report on social media delayed until November after cabinet reshuffle
Labor MP Sharon Claydon has taken over as the chair of the joint select committee on social media after Kate Thwaites was appointed an assistant minister in the July reshuffle.
The committee is looking at contentious topics including age verification and Meta’s decision to abandon deals under the news media bargaining code.
The committee was due to submit an interim report today, but has instead tabled a short statement from the chair. Claydon said that “due to changes in the office holders of the committee, the committee was unable to complete a substantive interim report” and will now work towards an interim report in “coming weeks” and a final report in November.
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Three years on, government yet to respond on mental health and suicide prevention report
Ahead of the special meeting of health and mental health ministers tomorrow, a peak body for psychologists said the federal government has a poor track record on mental health investment.
The Australian Association of Psychologists’ executive director, Tegan Carrison, said the organisation had been waiting almost three years for the official government response to the Mental Health and Suicide Prevention select committee report since it was delivered in November 2021.
Government responses to select committees should occur within three months and to date, no response has been provided. We’re incredibly frustrated to see the time and money invested by all parties – whose united goal is to make meaningful change in the provision of equitable and accessible mental health services – going to waste.
The Select Committee’s final report provided recommended solutions to ease the mental health crisis and to take meaningful action on suicide prevention. The fact this report is now gathering dust and our mental health crisis continues to deteriorate is beyond alarming.
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Watt: Dutton not fit to be PM
Murray Watt continued:
Only on the weekend we saw the director general of Asio effectively warning politicians that we need to be careful in what we say and what we do around social cohesion.
And within three days, we’ve seen Peter Dutton go and thumb his nose at the DG of Asio and try to score a cheap political point rather than actually listening to that advice about trying to tone down our language and keep the community together.
These are the kind of things that Peter Dutton is prepared to do. He’s prepared to put Australians safety at risk and our social cohesion at risk, just to score a cheap political point. And that demonstrates he is not fit to be prime minister.
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Murray Watt: Dutton comments ‘a vote of no confidence in our security agencies’
Workplace minister Murray Watt also spoke about Peter Dutton’s tactics this morning:
We’ve seen Peter Dutton and the Coalition effectively put a vote of no confidence in our security agencies over the last couple of days. The processes and policies that are used by our security agencies to vet visas are exactly the same as they were when Peter Dutton was the Minister.
Why were those processes OK when he was the minister and not OK now? It’s just cheap politics from Peter Dutton.
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NSW Liberal leader calls for state director to resign
The New South Wales opposition leader, Mark Speakman, has said the Liberals’ state director must resign immediately following a catastrophic administration error that has thrown the party’s local government election campaign into disarray.
The Liberal party missed its 12pm deadline yesterday to lodge the necessary paperwork to nominate candidates for next month’s local government elections, meaning there will be no Liberal candidates in as many as 12 councils across greater Sydney.
Speakman held a press conference at parliament this morning, where he laid the blame for the “monumental stuff-up” squarely at the feet of the state director, Richard Shields. Speakman said:
Our party administration has let the candidates, the party members and the general public down. This is a debacle. There’s no other way to describe it.
Unfortunately, in these circumstances, the state director has to fall on his sword. He is the CEO who runs the organisation. He is the CEO who is responsible. He has to fall on his sword.
Yesterday, I gave Richard Shields the opportunity to come here today to explain to MPs what had happened. He has declined that opportunity.
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Victorian authorities lift some anti-bird flu restrictions
It has been seven weeks since the last new detection of avian influenza in Victoria, prompting authorities to lift some of the restrictions that have been imposed on poultry farmers in western Victoria for the past three months.
An outbreak of a high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) strain, identified as H7N3, was first detected at an egg and chicken meat farm near Meredith on 22 May. The H7N9 strain was then detected at a related farm in Terang, 130km away. Over the next month the H7N3 strain spread to six other properties in Meredith, which is a major region for free range egg production.
In a statement today, Victoria’s acting chief veterinary officer, Salle Salmon, said there had been no new detections since 24 June so restrictions had been eased. The restricted area around the Terang property has been reduced and the requirement for poultry living within the control areas around the Meredith and Terang properties – but not the smaller restriction zones – to be kept enclosed has been lifted.
Salmon said the cooperation of farmers had been “critical” to getting to the point of easing restrictions.
Every text replied to, phone call answered, dead bird report, and live bird testing has, and will, help us get to the next step of lifting restrictions further.
Affected properties are continuing to be supported during ongoing decontamination, and egg and litter disposal activities to ensure their properties are free from the disease.
Maps of the updated restricted and control areas can be found on Agriculture Victoria’s website.
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Mike Bowers on the scene as Steggall delivers emotional speech
After the government moved to suspend Peter Dutton’s motion, our own Mike Bowers caught teal independents Zoe Daniel, Kate Chaney, Sophie Scamps, Kylea Tink and Helen Haines moving to support Zoe Steggall. Steggall had stood up to argue against Dutton’s motion and things became quite heated.
Government MPs, led by Tanya Plibersek, also came to sit around Steggall as she delivered her speech.
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Here is Zali Steggall speaking on Peter Dutton’s suspension of standing orders motion:
And this is the story of the family Steggall was speaking on:
Hanson-Young: ‘There isn’t a an opportunity to whip up fear that Peter Dutton lets go lightly’
Sarah Hanson-Young also spoke on Peter Dutton’s comments saying he believes there should be a ban on Palestinians entering Australia in that same interview:
What I think this shows is he is so unfit to be Prime Minister because there isn’t … a low bar that he won’t go under. So low he’ll use the persecution of children to try and win [himself] the top job in government.
There isn’t a an opportunity to whip up fear that Peter Dutton lets go lightly.
He hasn’t shown any compassion for the people suffering in Gaza. I haven’t heard him utter a word of concern for the slaughter of tens of thousands of children and the tens of thousands more that are starving in Gaza, but he wants to whip up fear.
And it’s not just dog-whistling politics. He’s blowing the fog horn.
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Hanson-Young accuses Labor of caving to gambling companies and big tech
Sarah Hanson-Young also had some things to say about the government’s reticence in phasing in a blanket gambling ad ban.
Hanson-Young told ABC radio:
What they’re doing is scraping around for any excuse to justify the fact that they’ve caved in to the gambling lobby … all of the experts right around the country and indeed across the world argue that if you want to minimize the harm of gambling, you have to stop gambling advertising. You can’t do it in a half-baked way. You can’t be half-pregnant with this. You actually have to implement the ban on advertising and hold it firm.
… free-to-air television is, of course, under stress. They’ve been under stress ever since they started losing advertising revenue to the online space and the big streamers. But frankly, we should not be accepting that families who are struggling with a member who is addicted to gambling, or young children who are vulnerable to these insidious gambling ads should be paying the price.
There are better ways to support public interest journalism in this country. We should be taxing these social media companies properly and investing in public interest journalism and stopping gambling advertising.
We can do all those things, but you’d have to have the guts to do it. And what I’m what I’m seeing the discussions that are coming out of the government right now is that they’ve caved into big tech. They’ve caved in to Google when it comes to online advertising of gambling, and they’ve caved in to the gambling lobby.
Cave, cave, cave.
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Labor MP Melissa Horne says ‘nothing short of disgraceful’ if full gambling ad ban not adopted
The Victorian minister for casino regulation (among other things), Melissa Horne, has weighed in on the side of those calling for a complete ban on gambling advertising, warning the Albanese government not to go ahead with only a partial ban.
Horne told reporters in Melbourne:
Look for full disclosure, Peta Murphy was one of my oldest, dearest friends, and the work that she did on those gaming reforms was absolutely so important. And it is nothing short of disgraceful if the federal government does not adopt each and every one of those recommendations.
We know, and I know as the gaming minister, that the biggest irritant, particularly for parents, is that normalisation of gambling for young people, and gaming companies are absolutely predatory with this, and they’re starting to normalise it with young [people], with children.
This is completely unacceptable, but I really call on the federal government to be able to implement each and every one of those recommendations …
The federal government is yet to determine exactly what they will be doing. But I think, without a doubt, it is so important that a blanket ban is put in place across online gaming platforms.”
Federal backbench MPs including Mike Freelander, Jodie Belyea and Louise Miller-Frost are pushing internally for a total ban, not just caps on the number of ads in general TV programming.
The current proposal has not been formally adopted by cabinet or the Labor caucus, it’s just an option that the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, and her department have explored with stakeholders including media companies, sports codes and gambling companies.
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Hanson-Young calls Dutton rhetoric ‘Trumpian’ and ‘despicable’
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young did a quick doorstop in the press gallery this morning where she took aim at Peter Dutton:
Peter Dutton is the leader of the nasty party. It’s Trumpian. It’s despicable, and it needs to be called out.
Nationals leader David Littleproud was also in the press gallery doing a doorstop, and was defending Dutton, saying the Liberal leader had “laid out a pathway more so than many of Palestine’s own neighbours would” (there is no evidence of a pathway from the Coalition).
Hanson-Young was walking down the hallway at the same time and passed Littleproud as he stood at the microphone speaking to journalists, asking him:
Why don’t you say something about the children who are being slaughtered?
Littleproud did not respond.
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Steggall opposes Dutton rhetoric on Palestinian visa holders: ‘we are better than this’
Zali Steggall says her community rallied around Mohammed and helped him in getting his family out of Gaza before Israel closed the Rafah border crossing, and had supported the family since.
And I met with them only a few weeks ago in my office in manly and they’re beautiful children.
They deserve the opportunity to grow up, to go to school, to have an education, and so to suggest that families like the Mohammad’s family are not deserving of being able to escape a war zone, to seek safety for their children, is offensive and it goes against what it is to be Australian which is to to be there for people in need and to offer safety and security to people that deserve it.
So I am offended by the rhetoric from the leader of the opposition, the nature of this suspension of standing orders and the continued attempts to divide the Australian society around these lines and issues.
We are better than this.
We’ve just seen the Olympic Games, where we’ve got the idea that sport is bringing people together, and you are doing everything you can to separate and divide our communities. We are [a] multinational … multicultural country.
The government moves to suspend the debate. Members of the government went and sat with Steggall so she was not alone on the benches.
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Zali Steggall tells Dutton ‘stop being racist’ before withdrawing comment
Independent MP Zali Steggall is giving an emotional speech in response to Peter Dutton’s motion on Palestinian visas.
I met a man called Mohammed at the North Sydney Life Saving club. He had come to Australia under a visa approved by the Morrison government under the same systems.
He came to participate in a Surf Life Saving skills program. He wanted to give the children of Gaza an opportunity to learn water safety, to not drown, to have something positive to have on weekends.
They loved that program. They attended. Unfortunately, after the events of October, horrendous events of October, that program, of course, ended … many people that participated in that program, many of the children have died.
These are normal families. These are families that we are seeking to paint that somehow they are all terrorists, that they should all be mistrusted and … that they are not worthy of humanitarian aid.
Peter Dutton interjects and Staggall responds:
We heard you in silence. You can hear me in silence. Stop being racist!
Steggal is asked to withdraw that final comment.
I do have a clarification, is a description of language being racist [a] non-parliamentary remark?
But she withdraws “to assist the House”.
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Dutton moves suspension motion over Palestinian visas
Peter Dutton has interrupted the House proceedings with a motion to suspend standing orders to debate his Palestinian visa argument.
Here is the line he is going with this morning:
This is not against people of a particular religious belief. This is not against people of a particular political persuasion. This is about keeping our country safe. And Anthony Albanese has failed the Australian public, and he should stand condemned.
Dan Tehan is seconding the motion.
The motion reads:
That this House:
(1) notes that the Albanese Government has so far granted almost 3,000 visitor visas to individuals from the Gaza warzone;
(2) notes that in question time yesterday, the Prime Minister claimed that his government has done this under ‘exactly the same arrangements as previous offshore refugee and humanitarian visa grants’;
(3) notes that this is not true;
(4) notes that for the Syrian refugee intake, rigorous security checks were conducted prior to arrival in Australia at a number of key visa processing points, this included the collection and checking of biometric data against Australia’s security agencies and those of our international partners, these checks were supplemented by interview with Australian departmental officers, where claims and identity were assessed;
(5) notes that these measures have not been undertaken under the Albanese government’s change of policy to grant visitor visas, including to people who have expressed sympathy for the Hamas terrorist organisation; and
(6) therefore requires the Prime Minister immediately attend the chamber and explain why he misled this House.
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Save the Children says use of tourist visas for refugees not unprecedented
As we reported yesterday, Save the Children also made the point that it was not “unprecedented” for people leaving a war to be granted a temporary visitor visa in Australia.
Under the former Coalition government, Australia offered humanitarian visas to Ukrainian nationals after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and to Afghan nationals after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021.
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Is Dutton correct to say refugees arriving on tourist visas is 'unprecedented'?
Peter Dutton has said this morning that Palestinians who left the war in Gaza for Australia on a tourist visa is “unprecedented”.
The home affairs website says this has been occurring for Ukrainians leaving the war in Ukraine.
The Australian government remains committed to supporting Ukrainians and their family members who are temporarily in Australia as a result of the war in Ukraine.
The Department of Home Affairs is progressing visa applications from Ukrainian nationals as a priority, particularly for those with a connection to Australia.
Since 24 February 2022 the department has granted over 11,500 visas to Ukrainian nationals in Ukraine and thousands more to Ukrainian nationals elsewhere. Nearly 11,400 Ukraine national visa holders have since arrived in Australia.
Those visas are visitor visas under the tourist stream:
If you are a Ukrainian national with a relative in Australia and you apply for a Visitor visa, you can make an application under the Tourist stream and provide details of your Australian relative. You do not need to make an application under the Sponsored Family Visitor stream.
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Bragg argues Gaza is ‘not a normal war zone’ because of Hamas rule
Q: So when you say we’ve got to be very careful, do you support that claim that the Gazans have to stop coming to Australia for now. He didn’t say indefinitely, he said for now. So do you support him on that point?
Bragg:
The point he’s made here is in reference to 3,000 visas being issued in 24 hours in a territory which is controlled by Hamas, which is not a nation-state. It is a terrorist organisation. So, I think many people in the community are very worried about the pace of these visas being issued, in this way. And so that’s why Pete is saying, we’ve got to be very careful here.
Q: Yeah, but do you support that?
Bragg:
Yeah, I do. I think it’s important to be very careful that we reflect upon this fact that it’s not a normal war zone. I mean, Hamas is running Gaza, so it’s not like a foreign country running a piece of territory.
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Bragg says Gaza ‘not a normal war zone’
On Peter Dutton’s comments calling for a blanket ban on Palestinians from Gaza coming to Australia, Andrew Bragg said:
I think there’s been some blurring of the lines here. We run a non-discriminatory migration program, and that is the system that everyone agrees with. At the moment, that is not a normal war zone in Gaza. It is run by a terrorist organisation. And so what Peter is saying is we’ve got to be extremely careful when we consider what might happen with people who have been in that particular war zone, controlled by a terrorist organisation.
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Why did the NSW Liberals miss the nomination deadlines on local elections?
The big chat within the NSW Liberal party is how on earth the party missed the nominations deadline for next month’s local government elections for so many candidates.
The state director, Richard Shields, blamed resourcing issues:
Unfortunately we were unable to nominate in all of the local government areas that were put forward by the state executive.
But it means that many potential candidates, and incumbents, won’t be on the local government ballots in September. Senator Andrew Bragg was asked about it on Sky News this morning:
Well, this is a very disappointing outcome for many people who want to vote Liberal at council elections and bitterly disappointing for the many Councillors and prospective Councillors across New South Wales. So this is a serious matter. I understand there’ll now be an investigation by the division, and I have confidence that the president will do everything he can to have a quick investigation which can yield some recommendations as to what happened here.
Does he think Shields should resign?
Let’s see what the investigation comes back with. My sense is that this doesn’t need to be a fast [sic] process. It shouldn’t be too hard to see what exactly has happened here.
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Dutton asserts security checks are not being properly conducted on refugees contrary to Asio
Q: You obviously don’t don’t really care about the Muslim vote. They’re not going to vote for you anyway. Let’s be realistic about it. But the perception of a leader who doesn’t have humanity can have wider ramifications for you.
Peter Dutton:
Well, it’s just ridiculous. So my interest here is … in making sure that our national interest is served, and that is for every Australian, regardless of somebody’s political or religious belief. I don’t believe it’s in … our country’s best interests to bring people in who haven’t been face-to-face [interviewed].
Interviews haven’t even been conducted*. We can’t verify identification**. In some cases, they’ve been brought in on a tourist visa, which again, is unprecedented. And my job is to protect all Australians. And that’s exactly what I’m doing. So I’m not discriminating on any basis.
I’m happy to see people brought in from the Middle East if they’ve been properly checked or from [the] Americas or from Asia or wherever it might be, so that that sort of line, frankly, is, you know, is beneath you or, you know, any other commentator.
We take decisions that are in our country’s best interests. That is not what Anthony Albanese has done. And that’s why I think he [should] properly [be] condemned in the latest botched public policy effort of the Albanese government
* There is no suggestion interviews haven’t been done. Tony Burke said processes were ‘different’ and face to face interviews were not possible in Gaza, not that they were not happening.
**Asio’s security checks which include identification verification have not changed. They remain the same as they were under the previous government.
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Dutton: ‘We should stop people coming in from a war zone’
Is it all refugees Peter Dutton wants to stop?
Dutton:
We should stop people coming in from a war zone. So that’s that’s what we should do. Because we don’t know if the proper checks haven’t been done. The 1% or whatever it might be who pose a threat.
You bring 3,000 people in, let’s say 99% are good. If 1%, 30 people are questionable or sympathisers with … a listed terrorist organisation, how on earth is that in our country’s best interests?
And when we check the people coming out of Syria, we did it with America because they had the biggest intelligence holdings in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Americans don’t have the security holdings and the intelligence holdings out of the Middle East like they did. The Israelis do, you know, ironically enough.
But none of those checks have been done. And I we can bring people here. We can be generous, but it needs to be done in the right way, and it just hasn’t been done.
There is no suggestion checks have not been done.
On Sunday, Mike Burgess said:
There are processes in place and I can assure your audience that when things get referred to Asio we deal with them effectively.
Of course there might be times when they didn’t get referred to us in time. Once we become aware of them, we’re able to do the assessments and deal with them effectively.
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Dutton says he trusts Asio but continues to criticise government policy on security checks
Is Peter Dutton saying that he doesn’t trust Asio any longer?
Dutton:
No, it’s quite, quite the opposite. Asio is fantastic. I appointed Mike Burgess, but Mike can only act according to the policy of the government of the day. It was not our policy in government to bring people in who were sympathisers of a listed terrorist organisation.
Burgess has repeatedly said that security checks are being out. Anyone who applies for a visa to Australia is cross referenced against the Asio watch list, which is updated every 24 hours.
The checks remain the same as they were under the previous coalition government.
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Dutton accuses PM of misleading parliament on visa holder security process
On the Nine network Peter Dutton was pushed on whether he spoke about it with his party room colleagues before making “no Palestinians should be allowed to enter Australia” Coalition policy.
I’m not talking about internal discussions. It’s a discussion not for shadow cabinet, to be honest.
It’s a discussion with the national security team, and I’ve done that and it’s in our country’s best interests.
There’s no question. Not only that, I’ve been saying this since October, so I don’t think it comes as any surprise to anyone, the government yesterday, I mean, the Prime Minister actually misled Parliament yesterday when he said that the same process applies in relation to bringing these people out of Gaza as applied when we took people from Syria.
That is just not true. 12 months after we took that decision, I was still being criticised for not bringing people here quickly enough. We didn’t process people in Syria. We took them to northern Iraq.
We did face-to-face interviews, we took biometrics tests, and we checked that with our American partners. The government has done none of that, and I’m sure the vast majority of these people are just innocent people fleeing a war zone.
But our country’s best interest is served when we know who is coming here and when we have a proper process to exclude those who are sympathisers of a listed terrorist organisation.
(Palestinians could not be processed for visas outside of Gaza as the exit was controlled by Israel. Israel shut the Rafah border in May, meaning no one is able to exit, other than for approved medical evacuation)
Updated
Dutton confirms he did not consult shadow cabinet before announcing position on Palestinian visa holders
Over on the Nine network, Peter Dutton confirmed he did not take his position to shadow cabinet before announcing it on Sky News:
It’s not an issue that goes to shadow cabinet. I know that sort of insider talk’s been going on, but I’ve got a great national security team with James Paterson and with Andrew Hastie.
We’ve had countless conversations about this topic.
I think the most important element here is what has the government done? They’ve changed the policy. So they’ve said that they will bring people into Australia who are sympathisers with the listed terrorist organisation.
Could you imagine if we were proposing to bring people in who were sympathetic to another listed terrorist organisation, like al-Qaeda or Isil or Isis? It’s completely unacceptable. And the government is trying to patch this up, but they are putting our country at risk. We can take people in a measured, responsible way. That’s not what they’ve done.
Mike Burgess, the head of Asio, said on Sunday, that rhetorical support for Hamas would not necessarily preclude a Palestinian from an Australian visa. Burgess said security agencies looked at whether support was ideological, whether there had been any financial or other support, and the type of support given. He did not say that Hamas “supporters” were being given visas to Australia.
In question time yesterday, the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, confirmed that of the total number of visas Palestinians had applied for after October 7, about 70% had been rejected.
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Hume continues lines on Palestinian visa security checks
Jane Hume is asked a third time on ABC TV Breakfast if she agreed with Peter Dutton’s original comments that no Palestinians from Gaza should be coming to Australia and said:
If we cannot do the security checks to ensure that those who are fleeing Gaza are not supporters of Hamas, then we have to take a temporary pause until we can be assured of that. We must do that to keep Australians safe.
There is no suggestion security checks are not being carried out. The Asio director general, Mike Burgess, said as recently as Sunday his agency is part of the security checks being carried out. Tony Burke says the security arrangements are the same as they were under the former Coalition government, where Dutton spent much of his ministerial time as home affairs minister.
The Palestinian side of the Rafah border was seized by Israel in May and closed. No one is able to exit Gaza, except in rare cases of medical evacuation.
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Hume says concerns are over appropriate security checks on refugee visas
Q: Do you agree that no Palestinian should be granted a visa?
Jane Hume:
Our concern is the appropriate security checks simply are unable to be done right now and the evidence that we have heard in Senate Estimates was that some of the security checks took less than an hour.
That is a real concern.
Government have confirmed that they issued visas to people fleeing Gaza, that then had to be revoked afterwards. Clearly, security checks are not being done appropriately. We want to make sure that the safeguards that are in place so we can help people that are fleeing a war zone, as we have done for decades.
We did it with Syria and after the evacuation of Kabul in Afghanistan but this is important, our first priority must be keeping Australians safe.
Q: You don’t think the national security agencies are doing their jobs properly?
Hume:
They are doing the job that they can with the tools that they have. They can only respond to government policy. We want to make sure government policy is there to ensure that the people we are taking in from Gaza, and our humanitarian effort should be there.
Mike Burgess, the head of Asio, has said that security checks are being carried out. At the time, when the Rafah border was still open, Palestinians had to be crosschecked as leaving by Israeli authorities who controlled exits for Palestinians and Egyptian authorities. Visas were granted, but were revoked when security agencies could not immediately validate how some Palestinians left Gaza.
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Hume says no ‘supporters of terrorist organisations’ should come to Australia
The ABC TV Breakfast interview with Jane Hume moves onto Peter Dutton’s comments yesterday that he doesn’t believe any Palestinian from Gaza should be allowed a visa to Australia.
The Coalition tried to move those comments into concern about security risks and whether appropriate checks had been done. There was chatter yesterday from LNP MPs that Dutton had not run his position by the party room before he announced it in a Sky News interview. No other senior Coalition shadow minister repeated it yesterday – there were pointed lines about “security checks” and “concern” but no one else would say the words “we don’t think they should be coming here”.
It’s not the first time that Dutton has said something in an interview which was then retrofitted to become Coalition policy.
Hume was pushed about whether she agreed with Dutton, that no Palestinian should be allowed into Australia and said:
I think all Australians would agree that the appropriate number of supporters of terrorist organisations to come to Australia should be zero - should be zero.
That was not what Dutton said, so Hume was pressed again.
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Hume refuses to confirm if Coalition government would remove energy subsidies
Jane Hume won’t say whether or not a Coalition government would remove the energy bill subsidies.
The Reserve Bank governor made it clear while the subsidies would be welcome by households, they aren’t helping to get inflation down. A lot of economists have said this is simply smoke and mirrors and a political trick because while headline inflation comes down, temporarily, it ticks straight back up again.
It is delaying the problem, as long as the problem of tackling inflation is delayed, interest rates will stay higher for longer.
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July jobs figures due in today
The ABS will release the July job figures later this morning.
A Roy Morgan poll earlier in the week found real unemployment had ticked up, but Roy Morgan use a different calculation to the ABS.
The job figures feed into how the RBA sees inflation and the economy ticking over, so that’s one of the reasons so many eyes are on them. The other is because it is obvious that the economy is slowing – and that is not good news for employment.
The shadow finance minister, Jane Hume, was out early this morning suddenly very concerned about real wage growth (this brings a wry smile, as real wages did not grow under the Coalition for almost a decade)
We saw wage data come out on Tuesday which confirmed what we already know, that real wages have been going backwards, even though wages go up because inflation is still too high, that means your real wages have been going backwards.
If you are feeling poorer, that is because you are.
You can buy less with the same amount of money than you could a year ago. Much less than you could two years ago since Labor came to office. We have been saying to Labor that they need to tackle inflation rather than simply put a Band-aid solution through subsidies.
If you can’t tackle inflation at the source, the cost of living will keep getting worse for Australians.
Updated
Good morning
Hello and welcome to the last sitting day of the week. Time really flies when you’re having no fun, huh?
The NZ PM Chris Luxon is in town, and he’ll be putting New Zealand’s case over the reverse ferret on deportations very simply to Anthony Albanese when the pair meet on Friday.
Australia had agreed early in the Albanese term to take into consideration links to Australia in visa decisions, as part of an attempt to limit the number of New Zealander-born people who had spent most of their lives in Australia being deported if they spent more than a year in prison.
But then the whole ministerial directive 99 thing happened, and a new directive was put in place, placing community safety above a non-citizens ties.
Luxon is in Sydney today, where he’ll meet with NSW premier Chris Minns and discuss business opportunities and infrastructure, before heading to Canberra tomorrow for his leaders’ chat with Albanese. Luxon will also be giving an address to the Lowy Institute on how New Zealand sees its place in the world, which is also expected to touch on the issue of deportations.
The senate committee looking into murdered or missing First Nations women and children will be handing down its final report today. The committee has travelled the nation and heard absolutely heart breaking and horrific stories.
The committee report is going to make for very hard reading, because it will reveal just how many times Indigenous women and children have been failed, and ignored.
The defamation trial Linda Reynolds has brought against her former staffer Brittany Higgins also continues.
You have Karen Middleton, Paul Karp and Sarah Basford Canales covering everything Canberra for you, with Mike Bowers bringing you into parliament through his cameras. You also have me, Amy Remeikis, with you for most of the day on the blog.
Ready?
My fourth coffee is on the stove about to boil, so let’s get into it.
