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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Daisy Dumas and Amy Remeikis (earlier)

Education union calls for vice-chancellor to resign over robodebt role – as it happened

Peter Dutton TikTok Australia Jacqui Lambie Simon Birmingham IGADF Geoffrey Watson Penny Wong Greens Labor
Charles Sturt University vice-chancellor Renée Leon.
Charles Sturt University vice-chancellor Renée Leon. The National Tertiary Education Union argues her role in the robodebt scheme makes her position ‘untenable’. Photograph: Charles Sturt University/PR IMAGE

What we learned, Monday 16 September

As we wind down our live news coverage for the day, here’s what has been keeping us busy this Monday:

Thank you for joining us and see you tomorrow.

Updated

Virgin pilots reach in-principle agreement with ‘historic’ pay increases

Virgin Australia pilots have reached an in-principle agreement after the Fair Work Commission intervened in the airline staff’s bargaining process.

In July, Transport Workers’ Union Virgin pilots voted against a proposed enterprise agreement that, they said, failed to address genuine concerns of the workforce.

The Fair Work Commission has now recommended an in-principle agreement that “significantly restores pay and conditions which were decimated during the airline’s administration process”, the TWU said in a statement on Monday.

The revised in-principle agreement provides “historic” pay increases of up to 21% on base salary over three years, the union said.

TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said:

TWU Virgin pilots led the charge on a strong no vote as the airline continued to present an offer that failed to acknowledge the sacrifices they made during the pandemic.

There is significant work Virgin still must do around rostering and fatigue issues. With Virgin soaring back to profit and a new CEO waiting in the wings, it’s time for Virgin to get back to the fundamental business of listening to its people and rebuilding morale.

Read more:

Updated

Frost for eastern inland Australia

It’s going to be a frosty morning for many in Victoria and South Australia tomorrow.

The Bureau of Meteorology has warned that frost will affect Victorians in Mallee, Wimmera, Northern Country and North East district. South Australians in Mount Lofty Ranges, Mid North, Riverland and Murraylands districts will be affected.

For a look at the weather around the country tomorrow, here’s the bureau’s latest video update:

Updated

Education union calls for vice-chancellor to resign ‘immediately’ over robodebt

The National Tertiary Education Union has issued a bruising statement against Charles Sturt University vice-chancellor Renée Leon for her role in the robodebt scheme.

In the royal commissioner’s report last July, Leon, who was then human services secretary from 2017 to 2020, was criticised for telling the ombudsman that the lawfulness of the scheme was “not uncertain”, which the commission said “had no proper basis”.

Leon explained she did so because this was a description of the DHS’s position at the time but the commissioner said she “did not delve into the grounds for the purported DHS position” and if she had the claim “could not be sustained”.

The royal commission report also credited Leon for being “the first to take steps” to end the robodebt scheme in 2019.

An Australian Public Service Commission report on Friday found Leon had breached the code of conduct 13 times in four substantiated allegations made against her.

In a statement made on LinkedIn on Friday, Leon said “robodebt was a failed policy, developed without a proper legal basis, that caused enormous pain for some of Australia’s most vulnerable people”, adding she regretted the “significant human toll of the program” and remained “proud” of her role in ending it.

The union’s general secretary, Damien Cahill, said on Monday Leon’s role in the university’s top job was “untenable” and she must resign “immediately”.

Alison Barnes, the NTEU’s president, added:

A public university should not be run by someone found to have breached public service rules more than a dozen times through their role in one of the greatest public policy disasters in Australian history.

The chancellor’s immediate defence of Ms Leon after the public service commissioner’s report was released raises serious questions about university leadership’s attitude to governance, integrity and accountability.

Read more:

Updated

BoM still not expecting a La Niña (even if some other agencies are)

The Bureau of Meteorology will tomorrow provide its fortnightly update of the “climate drivers” around Australia.

They’ve offered a sneak peak though as to what its own Access model is projecting and, despite the ongoing chatter, the BoM is NOT expecting a La Niña later this year.

Now that doesn’t mean we won’t get a La Niña event - it’s just that BoM’s model still reckons it’s only about a 5% chance at this point.

The view is at odds with US agency the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Last week, NOAA estimated there was a 71% chance of a La Niña developing, while noting that its below-surface temperatures hadn’t shifted much in the past month.

We’ll get a more thorough explanation from the bureau tomorrow about its outlook. Presumably it will retain its “La Niña watch” status.

Updated

Barnaby Joyce to Labor: ‘live your best life in opposition’

Coalition frontbencher Barnaby Joyce thinks that the Labor party should go back into opposition where its MPs can live their “best life”. Speaking with the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, he said:

The first thing is aren’t we all sick of hearing the Labor party talk about how they are not the government? It is always, ‘You’ve got to realise this problem that we have created for ourselves, it started long before we were here and everything that has happened is apparently somebody [else’s] fault.’ If you are so enthused about opposition, you have to go back there and enjoy it. Live your virtue, live your best life in opposition because you don’t seem to want to be the government.

When it comes to Labor’s ambitious target to build 1.2 million new homes as part of its aims to alleviate the housing crisis, Joyce said that immigration was in part to blame for the problem.

You are pouring people into Australia and yet you know you can’t get the houses built. At the start it was like this sort of Doctor Evil from Austin Powers, ‘We are going to build one-and-a-half million houses’ or something and, of course, they never get built, none of it ever happens.

Updated

Allegra Spender on Help to Buy: ‘no panacea’ but will help ‘a bunch of people’ locked out of housing

Independent MP Allegra Spender, who is supporting Labor’s Help to Buy scheme, says that the policy is “no panacea, but this is something that will help a bunch of people who are currently locked out of housing to have a path to homeownership”. She told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing:

It is particularly valuable to help women, particularly after a marriage breakdown, older women who are the groups that are most at risk of homelessness, but who may have a job and have a path to homeownership [and] can’t do it by conventional routes – or, young workers who again have the salary to be able to afford to service a mortgage but don’t have the time to build up the deposit.

She said “we need to be throwing everything we can right now at housing because it is the biggest economic issue facing Australian families”.

The member for Wentworth also has tax in her sights – particularly how it is disproportionately burdening wage earners. She said:

I think we should be lowering the burden of tax on wage earners and be looking in other areas, including property, to rebalance those taxes … Why do I care about tax? It is because young people are falling behind right now and it is not OK.

Updated

Asked if Israel has complied with international law in Gaza, Pat Conroy says ‘I’m not the ICC'

The federal minister for defence industry, Pat Conroy, has refused to say explicitly whether Israel has complied with international law in Gaza over the past 11 months, but says he has been “disturbed” by TV images of the conflict.

Conroy and other government ministers have repeatedly urged Israel to comply with international humanitarian law, but have generally refrained from giving a direct answer as to whether it has done so.

When asked at a press conference in Canberra today whether he believed Israel had complied with international law throughout the conflict in Gaza, Conroy said:

Well, again, that is not something for me to say. I am not the international criminal court, for example.

What I can say to you is that we call for an urgent ceasefire in the Middle East. We desperately need humanitarian assistance to go into there. While ever the conflict is ongoing, we urge all sides to respect the international rules of law, and I, like many Australians, are disturbed by what I’m seeing on television.

Earlier this month, the UK government announced that it was suspending 30 licences to export arms to Israel (out of a total of 350 licences) because of “a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law”.

When pressed on why the UK could make such an assessment public but Australia could not, Conroy said:

Well, again, you can ask the UK government why they’re in a position to say that.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, condemned the UK government’s decision as “shameful” and “misguided” and said it would “only embolden Hamas”.

Updated

Gun violence ‘one of the sharpest contrasts’ between Australia and US, Simon Birmingham says

Continuing with Simon Birmingham, who has commented on the apparent attempted plot to assassinate presidential hopeful Donald Trump.

He told the ABC that gun violence was “one of the sharpest contrasts between our country and America, and we are both great democracies.”

He said that while he was concerned the incident may encourage copycat plots, he does not believe such incidents will “impact the legitimacy” of the election result.

I see no reason to believe it will impact the legitimacy of the result. America is a robust democracy, they have demonstrated time and again the resilience of that democracy through many troubling times, not just in recent years, but in decades past.

When we go back … to incidents that occurred during the 1960s, including tragic assassinations at those times, their democracy withstood those challenges - but I suspect many Australians would share my views that we wish that the great country of America had a very different gun culture that meant we weren’t having such conversations.

Updated

Simon Birmingham asks why Australia’s embassy in Kyiv remains closed

Thanks, as ever, Amy Remeikis. Let’s get on with the rest of the day’s news.

Over at Afternoon Briefing, shadow foreign minister Simon Birmingham has been asked his thoughts on the Labor government’s choice to keep Australia’s embassy in Kyiv closed.

Birmingham told the ABC that “of course politics should not play a role but nor should bureaucracy in keeping the ability of Australia to have an embassy open, like all of our partners do, from Ireland to Indonesia, Canada through the United Kingdom and so many other countries.”

Around 70 countries have managed to reopen their embassies in Kyiv while the Australian one has stayed shut. What is it about the advice going to Minister Wong and her department that keeps the Australian embassy shut when everybody else around the world is managing to do so with appropriate safety and regard for their diplomatic staff?

Why is it that Australian diplomats or Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is incapable of structuring safe working arrangements for us to have officials in Kyiv, getting real-time briefings, face-to-face briefings, accurate intelligence and information that we can’t get from another city in the same way. Why is that impossible for Australia? Yet possible for everybody else, including most notably, Canada, with whom we share the same building.

Updated

The Senate is still going through its formal motions business, but I will hand over to Daisy Dumas now to guide you through some of the other business of the day for the rest of the afternoon.

Thank you for everyone who joined us for the first day of the Senate-only sitting week – we truly appreciate it. Housing will continue to dominate as the week goes on, and we will make sure you are as up to date as possible.

We’ll be back early tomorrow morning – until then, take care of you.

Updated

Domestic, family and sexual violence commission to hold workshops

The Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission (the Commission) will hold a range of consultations “to further the national conversation on sexual violence for both adults and children”.

From the official release:

The Commission will hold a series of online and in-person roundtables, briefings, and targeted workshops on Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission, the challenges facing us across the country in preventing and appropriately responding to sexual violence.

These consultations will consider both sexual violence perpetrated and experienced by adults as well as child sexual abuse.

The first workshop will be held in “the coming months”.

Updated

The truth telling inquiry has begun in Queensland.

Andrew Messenger reports on that here:

Legal advocacy group points to ‘growing reluctance to enact meaningful justice’ for robodebt victims

Economic Justice Australia has responded to the final report on the robodebt centralised code of conduct inquiry release from the Australian Public Service Commissioner.

The group said it had been waiting for “some measure of true accountability”.

We have been disappointed instead to see that mounting evidence has coincided with what we perceive to be a growing reluctance to enact meaningful justice for victims of the scheme.

The EJA said:

On Friday, the Australian Public Service Commissioner (APSC) released the Final Report on the Robodebt Centralised Code of Conduct Inquiry. The report revealed that, of 16 individuals referred to it, 12 current or former public servants breached the Code of Conduct a total of 97 times. This included two of the most senior Department staff at the time, who between them were found to have made a total of 25 breaches.

Yet so far, the main sanction for damaging behaviour at the top levels of the Department has been naming and shaming. It is our view that this indicates the punitive nature of the social security system in Australia only flows one way, and that it is only interested in punishing the vulnerable.

EJA CEO Kate Allingham said:

Until we see justice for Robodebt’s victims, we cannot make steps to restore public trust. We cannot know for sure that the public service is acting with integrity. Not least because, if government demonstrates there are no consequences for rule-breaking, it is only a matter of time until this happens again.

Updated

Bridget McKenzie asks again about the CFMEU (the answers are the same as when Michaelia Cash asked the question) and then Murray Watt tries to bring the session home on housing, but he is interrupted so many times he loses momentum.

And Senate question time, the Senate-ing, ends. For today.

Updated

NSW releases consumer energy plan

The New South Wales government has today released its consumer energy resources plan, including $290m over four years to get more households to use energy more wisely and generate and store more of their own electricity.

The program has been in the works for a while and complements other programs, such as $175m to improve energy efficiency in social housing. But it’s hard not to consider the package underwhelming given the challenges facing the power grid (including during heatwaves come this summer) and the many opportunities for households to make permanent cuts to energy demand without affecting comfort. Not to mention the screaming urgency of climate change.

With about 8.2m people in NSW, the latest instalment amounts to about $8 per person per year. By contrast, the government is offering $435m in energy rebates (or $53 per NSWer) in 2024-25.

Yes there are the state’s first targets for solar panels and batteries - 1m homes “having access” to them by 2035 and 1.5m by 2050 - but given NSW has a 50% emissions reduction target by 2030, versus 2005, why not set a 2030 goal?

The strategy highlights switching off fossil gas for heating, hot water and cooking can save households and small businesses $4,000 a year on average (and cut 2.12 tonnes of carbon emissions) if they also install solar and a battery. But unlike Victoria or the ACT, there’s no hint of banning gas connections on new homes.

There’s also the plan to introduce a disclosure of home energy performance ratings at the point of sale or lease in 2025 - but only on a voluntary basis. The pilot will help “inform” when the scheme should be made mandatory.

“The NSW Consumer Energy Strategy is our plan to supercharge the energy transition and put households and small businesses at the centre of this work,” energy minister Penny Sharpe says in the report’s foreword.

The industry’s response has been politely supportive.

Updated

Michaelia Cash finds this very funny.

Don Farrell:

Yes, that’s true. You can laugh, Senator Cash - you can laugh, Senator Cash, but politics is the art of the possible. I continue to have hope that, through the lengthy discussions that I’m involved in, we’ll get a result.

Larissa Waters then asks:

Fossil-fuel companies and their lobbyists are donating millions to both big parties. In return, the Albanese government continues the bipartisan tradition of giving $10 billion of public money every year in fossil-fuel subsidies, turbocharging the climate destruction. Will you ban donations from fossil-fuel corporations and other sectors with a track record of buying influence so that politics can work for the public interest and not the highest bidder?

Farrell also doesn’t directly answer this one:

My objective in all of the discussions that I’m involved in at the moment is to try and put downward pressure on the amount of money that’s being spent by rich actors in the political process. I think we have one opportunity - one opportunity - to do this. The idea that, at the last federal election, somebody like Clive Palmer could spend $117 million … (he runs out of time)

And the third question:

We’re in an election season and we’ve already seen widespread mis- and disinformation campaigns. South Australia and the ACT already have truth in political advertising laws which are generally supported and have reshaped electoral campaigning in those jurisdictions. Will the Albanese government work with the Greens and the crossbench to deliver truth in political advertising laws?

Farrell:

Look, I’m very happy, as you know, I have been meeting with you, Senator Waters - it’s not as if there haven’t been meetings and meet with anybody in this place who wants to have a discussion about electoral reform. Senator Pocock’s not in the room, but he grabbed me the other day and said, “Don, can I talk about this?” And I stopped and talked about it.

But the parliament has a range of political actors. And my job is not just to talk to the Greens, or not just to talk to elements of the crossbench. My job is to talk to the whole parliament, including here.

Updated

Don Farrell: electoral reform has taken ‘longer than I would have liked’

The special minister of state, Don Farrell, continues to display his talent for saying almost nothing, but taking three minutes to get there.

Greens senator Larissa Waters asks:

Prime minister Albanese made big promises about transparency and accountability before coming into government. But we have been waiting over two years and, despite what Labor keeps telling the media, we are still yet to see any electoral reform legislation from this government. The Greens have been calling for changes to our donation laws for decades. And in this parliament, Labor has a crossbench ready to progress genuine electoral reform. Minister, will you keep your election commitment to improve our democracy, or instead benefit the LNP to benefit the two-party system?

Farrell:

You’re correct - the prime minister did make undertakings to improve transparency and accountability in our electoral system. As you would be aware, a process was gone through in the relevant committee to examine a variety of proposals in respect to electoral reforms. They did include aspects to deal with accountability and transparency, and also regulating the amount of money that can be spent on the Australian electoral system. And it’s true that we have not yet presented that …

But one of the things I’ve tried to do over the period that we’ve been in government is to consult with all of the parties. We’ve certainly been doing that with you. We’ve had direct personal meetings on these issues. And your leader and his relevant staff have also been involved in all of those negotiations. And I’m very happy to talk to anybody in this place who wants to discuss electoral reform. It has taken longer than I would have liked, but sometimes in this place to get the best results you do have to take longer than you otherwise would like.

Updated

And the third from Michaelia Cash:

Given that the prime minister of Australia clearly did not address the CFMEU’s culture of bullying, standover tactics and links with the criminal underworld for more than 10 years, why did he give the CFMEU control of the construction sector in Australia when he abolished the Australian building and construction commission?

Penny Wong:

This is the ABCC, which by your own admission did nothing in relation to these allegations, just so that we are clear. This is the ABCC which you touted as the great cop on the beat which did nothing in relation to the allegations which were public in 2015.

The reality is that this government and prime minister have taken stronger action to stamp out criminal conduct in the CFMEU than any government ever had and we have done so because we are the Labor party and we believe the principles of trade unionism and that they not endorse organised crime.

What you did is try and go after workers, what you did is try to go after the principle of trade unions and what you did was try and go after the Labor party, you are so focused on the political agenda that you did not actually do the job that you should have done.

Updated

Michaelia Cash’s second question:

Given that the prime minister clearly knew about the CFMEU’s culture of corruption, standover tactics and links with the underworld for more than 10 years, why does the prime minister, on behalf of the Labor party, accept more than $6.2 million of donations from the CFMEU since becoming leader in 2019?

Wong:

Why did the Liberal party, which was in government in New South Wales and federally, do nothing to investigate this allegation? Senator Cash, you were minister, I think, in September of that year, when these allegations were public. Why did you do nothing about those allegations? Why is it that the Heydon royal commission which was set off by the Coalition did nothing to investigate these allegations?

The prime minister has taken stronger action against the CFMEU than any prime minister and any minister has. As much as you might like to try and tell us that you were tough on the CFMEU, it is the prime minister who has put the construction division into administration, more strong action than any government has ever taken and, of course, the prime minister, as leader, expelled John Setka from the Labor party.

Updated

Michaelia Cash asks what the PM knew about the CFMEU

Michaelia Cash wants to know from Penny Wong:

This year Prime Minister Albanese pretended to act surprised by revelations about the CFMEU’s links with criminal activity and today we saw a whistleblower confirmed that the prime minister knew about the links between your donors in the CFMEU and biker gangs and criminal syndicates more than 10 years ago. The whistleblower personally told the now prime minister of his concerns.

Can the minister please confirm that Mr Albanese has been well aware of the CFMEU’s link with criminal activity, corruption, bullying and harassment and standover tactics for at least 10 years?


Wong:

I did see those reports and I went and I had a look at what was on the public record about these matters and I tell you what I can confirm, Senator, I can confirm that these matters were made public, including on the 7.30 Report in 2015, the year in which you became the responsible minister.

(There are very loud interjections at this. Sue Lines calls for order and then Wong continues):

We are reminded, of course, that it was the Coalition that was in government when this became public, not through any meetings but on the 7.30 Report. But what I can say to Senator Cash, perhaps if your government had been less focused on playing politics on a royal commission which was all about attacking the Labor party and the trade union movement, maybe if you paid more attention to what was already public, you might have actually had the courage to do what the prime minister has done, which is to take the strongest action against organised crime, violence and thuggery in the trade union movement that could be taken.

And we do so not because we are anti-union, we are pro-union, we do so because we believe that trade unions, trade unionists and workers deserve far better than the thuggery, corruption and violence associated with criminals that we have seen. Unfortunately, those opposite have spent so much time in government playing a political agenda and trying to attack the Labor party and the labour movement, they actually did not do the job they should have done.

Updated

Senate president Sue Lines is now threatening to use “203” against unruly senators.

What is it?

If a senator:

  • persistently and wilfully obstructs the business of the Senate;

  • is guilty of disorderly conduct;

  • uses objectionable words, and refuses to withdraw such words;

  • persistently and wilfully refuses to conform to the standing orders; or

  • persistently and wilfully disregards the authority of the chair,

the president may report to the Senate that the senator has committed an offence.

  1. If an offence has been committed by a senator in a committee of the whole, the chairman may suspend the proceedings of the committee and report the offence to the president.

  2. A senator who has been reported as having committed an offence shall attend in the senators place and be called upon to make an explanation or apology, and then a motion may be moved that the senator be suspended from the sitting of the Senate. No amendment, adjournment or debate shall be allowed on such a motion, which shall be immediately put by the president.

So they can’t get booted, but they can be made to apologise. Which apparently no one wants to do, sorry being the hardest word to say and all.

Updated

Malcolm Roberts has two more questions:

You could not tell me the battery capacity of your government tender build, so you may not be able to answer this, but please answer yes or no. What is the capital cost of the battery backup and how much of that bill will taxpayers pay? Simple.

(The short version of that question is what is the cost, yes or no)

And the second question is:

The minister cannot tell us the battery capacity required, nor the cost of the backup, AEMO is working off a figure of 60 gigawatt hours of storage at around $1 billion per hour, which is $60 billion. Minister, how much will electricity prices and supermarket prices rise as a result of having to spend this staggering amount of money?

He doesn’t get the answer he wants, even without the yes or no demand.

Updated

One Nation senator asks about battery capacity

After more dixers on housing, One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts gets the call and asks Jenny McAllister:

During evening and morning peak hours, electric generation from industrial solar and wind makes up just 10% of energy generation because solar doesn’t work in the [dark]. Big batteries can transfer from daytime to the evening peak.

Minister, how much battery capacity is your government planning to build to maintain electricity supply between sunset and sunrise?

McAllister:

The senator is right to point to the fact that Australia’s electricity system is changing. We have, as I think most senators understand, a fleet of ageing coal-fired power stations that require replacement and I can tell you that they are not getting any more reliable, they are not getting any more reliable, and in fact over the last year I do not think there has been a day where we have not had a circumstance where at least one of the coal-fired generators and the national electricity market has been off-line for one kind of maintenance or another. Of course, this arises because we went through nearly a decade where the Coalition while in government did not land an energy policy. 22 energy policies, none of them landed.

There is a point of order from Roberts:

Standing order 70:23 C says the answer shall be directly relevant to each question. I asked about battery capacity, how much battery capacity your government is planning to build to maintain electricity supply between sunset and sunrise.

McAllister takes a big breath and responds:

The investors who built the generating capacity that is necessary to power homes and businesses have the confidence to invest and that is what the capacity investment scheme has been designed to do. We have just been through a very significant [process] underwriting very significant battery capacity.

Updated

Plan for Australia to build rocket motors for ‘world’s most advanced missiles’

Let’s cut away from Senate question time briefly to bring you an announcement about the federal government’s push to develop and manufacture rocket motors in Australia.

The minister for defence industry, Pat Conroy, has spoken to reporters at Fairbairn, near Canberra airport.

Under the plan, the government is “seeking options from industry to establish a manufacturing complex that will enable production of rocket motors for some of the world’s most advanced missiles in Australia”.

It will earmark an initial $22m for this purpose over the next three years to “help grow Australia’s advanced high-tech manufacturing sector and boost long‑range strike capabilities for the Australian Defence Force”.

It is believed this funding comes from within an already announced bigger pool of money: the $21bn over 10 years to establish the Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO) Enterprise.

Under GWEO, the government wants to start making Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS) missiles from next year. However, the proposed rocket motor complex may not begin production until the end of the 2020s decade.

The government has also announced plans to spend up to $60m over five years “to develop the next generation of guided weapon sub-systems and components, such as hypersonic and long-range strike”.

Updated

Mehreen Faruqi’s second question:

Labor has finally announced some of the Housing Australia Future Fund will be allocated to developers. But still not one single home has been built. Minister, can you guarantee a single one of these houses will be built before the election?

And the third:

The majority of the homes that have been allocated funding so far from the Haff are so-called affordable homes. However, given their rents are set at 75% of severely unaffordable market rents, how many of these homes will be genuinely affordable to low-income renters?

The answers are variations of the first one (but with increasing levels of frustration).

Updated

Mehreen Faruqi on housing

Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi seems to annoy Labor MPs on housing almost as much as Max Chandler-Mather does – which is quite a lot.

Faruqi:

Given you can only at best help 0.2% of renters while pushing up house prices for everyone else, why won’t you join with the Greens to end negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts that are stopping renters from buying a home?

Penny Wong (who is annoyed right off the bat):

I think the real question, Senator Faruqi, is how a party that professes to be progressive works with Peter Dutton to block more houses being built.

How does the party that professes to be progressive, and to stand up for those who are in trouble, those who are doing it tough, work with Peter Dutton to stop a Labor government building more houses? That is the real question.

What is it about your political opportunism that you would be prepared to work with Peter Dutton - Mr Dutton - to stop houses being built? And you sit in silence because you know it’s true. You sit in silence because you know it’s true. And that this is all about - this is all about - your political campaign, thinking that you can peel votes off. It’s not actually about helping Australians who need help with housing.

That is what is so appalling and hypocritical about the Greens political party. They come in here and they tell us, ‘You’re the two major parties. We’re the ones that care about people. We’re the ones that actually care.’ But they come in here with the most cynical of political acts. The most cynical of political acts. And teaming up with Mr Dutton, who is not known for his support for social housing. Who is not known for his support for affordable housing. Who is not known for his support for anything positive for the Australian people. And you empower him.

You empower him. And then you come in here and tell us - ‘Oh, we’re going to vote no.’ Give us all a break, really. Really. I mean, I think it is patently self-evident to everybody in this chamber - the cynical political tactics the Greens are engaging in. What you should do is come in and vote for the bill, and then - and then people will take you seriously when it comes to housing.

Updated

Sue Lines seems to be wishing she did have 94A:

Senator [Bridget] McKenzie, Senator [Hollie] Hughes, and Senator [Jane] Hume, I do not intend to spend the whole of Question Time calling you to order. You are being disrespectful. You are yelling louder than the minister who was on her feet. And I’m asking you to listen in respectful silence.

Updated

Jane Hume:

Minister, aside from record levels of Labor spending, and along with record levels of migration, is there anything else that’s keeping the Australian economy out of recession after three Labor budgets?

(A very annoyed) Katy Gallagher:

The biggest danger to the Australian economy at the moment is the federal opposition. Because they’re opposed to a Future Made in Australia. They’re opposed to the net zero transition and all of the certainty that’s required about the energy transition. Opposed to that. You want all this uncertainty and all this division because you actually don’t want the economy to go well.

And on top of that, on top of all of that, you want to cut $315 billion. You want to cut pensions. You want to cut Rent Assistance. You want to cut the pensions of sole-parent families in this country. You want to cut all of that.

Well, we’ve heard you, Senator Hume. We’ve heard you. It’s $315 billion that the Coalition would not have committed to, and didn’t commit to. That is the money that you want to cut from this budget, and that means people on pensions, people on sole parent pensions, indexation, Commonwealth Rent Assistance - all of that - the slash and burn that we know you’re waiting to do - will happen.

Updated

Jane Hume:

Given, minister, you attribute Labor’s spending to keeping the economy out of recession, can you advise if the economy would be in recession if net overseas migration were not at record levels?

Gallagher:

Population growth has contributed to economic growth in this country for a long time. That is not unusual. And, as I said in my answer to Senator Birmingham, population growth and public demand are contributing to our economy growing. And it’s important that our economy grows because, if it wasn’t growing, it would mean households were doing it exceptionally tough and it would be a much harder job to get out of.

Now, we are focused on supporting economic growth in this country. And not only through our investments directly into households, but through other measures to make sure that wages get moving again, to support women and women getting back into work if they choose to do it, and ensuring the closing the gender pay gap to ensuring we’re building houses so essential workers can live close to where they work. All of these things are interconnected.

And all of these things are things that you opposed, including - crazily - a Future Made in Australia. How could you be opposed to a future made in Australia? But you are. You are.

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Questions on the economy continue for finance minister Gallagher

Liberal senator Jane Hume has the next non-government question and asks Katy Gallagher:

Senator Gallagher: Minister, you consistently claim that the economy would be in recession if it were not for Labor’s spending. Given your willingness to make such forecasts, would inflation and interest rates be lower if not for Labor’s spending?

Gallagher asks for the last part to be repeated, as she didn’t hear it. Michaelia Cash yells something and Senate president Sue Lines tells Cash that she is running proceedings, not Cash.

Hume repeats the question and Gallagher answers:

The answer to the first question is - is public spending contributing to growth? Yes, it is. And I will continue to say that. Because your economic plan is nuts. It’s nuts. Your policy [is] nuts.

I mean, it is so out there that you can’t actually - you can’t even get your head around it.

Like, you argue for a contraction of investment, and you want to see the economy going to recession, because it would suit your political purposes. But it would be terrible for the economy. It would be terrible for households. So, we have made decisions based on what is in the interests of households around this country. Of families sitting around trying to make ends meet. And that is why we’ve repaired the budget, delivered surpluses, invested in cost-of-living relief, and put the future markers down for growth. And those opposite oppose every single step.

Updated

The first Labor dixers (government senators asking government ministers questions) are on … housing.

Penny Wong launches into an “aren’t the Greens terrible on this and also the Liberals and Greens are working together to block this and are playing with the future of Australians” in three different ways.

Updated

The second question is:

Can the minister inform the Senate how much worse off Australians are after six quarters of the Albanese Labor government’s per-capita recession?

and the third:

Minister, how are six quarters of a per-capita recession - which has taken the purchasing power of Australian households all the way back to 2017 levels - remotely consistent with the prime minister’s promise that a Labor government would make Australians better off when, in fact, they’re worse off and they’re all the way back at 2017 levels in terms of their purchasing power?

The answers are variations of the first one.

A reminder that no one can get booted in the Senate (there is no 94A) so there are interjections, but because there are fewer people in the Senate, it is more difficult to hide with an interjection, so they (mostly) keep it to usual heckling levels. (We say usually because it is the Senate, which is the Q&A of Australian democracy)

Updated

Senate question time begins on the economy

Simon Birmingham opens the questions with one for finance minister Katy Gallagher:

President, my question is to the minister representing the treasurer, Senator Gallagher: Minister, for how many quarters has Australia been in a per-capita recession?

(Ministers are appointed to answer questions for ministers who are in “the other place”, a fancy parliamentary way of referring to the other chamber, and act as their surrogate. It is the same arrangements for Senate estimates.)

Gallagher follows the Jim Chalmers school of answering economic questions:

As reflected in the national accounts, we have seen slower growth, soft growth, and in fact it’s been the decisions of this government to not cut spending like those opposite want to do – $315 billion worth of cuts that they’ve said that they will implement in government – that has ensured that our economy keeps growing.

And it’s actually those opposite - if they were able to implement the policies that they have outlined to the electorate - want to see a recession in this country. Well, we don’t, which is why we’ve been making those sensible investments to help people with cost of living, whilst getting the budget in better shape by ensuring that we have a surplus – two surpluses. Two surpluses. Those opposite weren’t able to deliver one surplus in the decade that they were in government. They got the mugs printed, didn’t they?

Birmingham has a point of order on relevance. Gallagher continues:

[Those opposite are] the only people in the country that would be sitting there waiting for the economic data to come out and wishing it be worse than it actually is. Those opposite were shattered on the day that interest rates were on hold - shattered. Shattered that that would happen.

And again, when the national accounts show that our economy continues to grow, even in difficult times like we are facing now with the inflation challenge that we inherited from those opposite, inflation with a “6” in front of it Senator Cash. Inflation with a “6” in front of it and on its way up. And inflation now moderating in welcome ways with a “3” in front of it. So our economic plan is working. We are pleased the economy continues to grow. And we’ll continue to focus on helping people with cost-of-living pressures.

Updated

It is two-minute statement time in the Senate (the house MPs get 90 seconds) but the airing of the grievances continue (just for 30 seconds longer).

Today seems mostly focused on Labor senators being very upset the Greens are not passing their housing bills.

Updated

Sarah Hanson-Young to Albanese: ‘It’s not leadership to be a bulldozer’

The Greens environment spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, has labelled Anthony Albanese a “bulldozer” for his comments appearing to rule out a climate trigger in environment laws.

Hanson-Young said the prime minister’s approach to negotiations is simply to urge the crossbench to “get out of the way”.

She said:

This parliament doesn’t operate like that. We’re a democracy. The government does not have the numbers in the Senate. The government needs to negotiate and to work collaboratively to get outcomes. It is not leadership to bulldoze your way through.

Our previous prime minister was a bulldozer, let’s not forget, that didn’t end so well. You can’t bulldoze your way through the Senate. We need to put a stop to the bulldozers in our forests and the bulldozers that are pushing our wildlife to extinction and to breaking point.

The prime minister needs to work out what he wants to do. On one hand he’s got his minister out saying they want to negotiate and then he’s out telling everybody to get out of the way. It’s not leadership to be a bulldozer, it’s arrogance.

Updated

There is just under 20 minutes until the first of the week’s Senate question times gets under way.

For those who don’t know, in the Senate, someone who asks a question also gets two supplementary questions.

Which usually means we hear the same answer three times. Good times!

Updated

Labor’s Help to Buy bill yet to gain support in Senate

Every politician and their dog is speaking in the Senate today on the federal government’s Help to Buy bill.

The bill would create a shared equity scheme between the government and eligible applicants to get them into the housing market with smaller deposits and loans. The bill outlines it will do so by loaning recipients 30% for an existing build purchase price or 40% for a new build. This reduces the bank loan to 60% or 70%, so those eligible will require smaller deposits and loans.

It needs either the opposition or the Greens and a few crossbenchers to support but so far no one’s budging.

But one person yet to deliver their statement is former Labor senator Fatima Payman.

In an Instagram video posted a few days ago, the 29-year-old independent senator is seen looking at a flipchart that reads “actually good policy ideas”. Under the title, it lists cap negative gearing, limit capital tax gains discounts and take action on Hecs debts.

Those policies were once Labor plans that have since been taken up by the Greens and some crossbenchers.

Another line appears below the options and Payman sarcastically circles it in a dig at her former party: “Things no one asked for – ban kids from social media.” She hashtags it #makeitmakesense.

You can take it as a good indication of where Payman will stand on the matter.

Updated

Independent Tammy Tyrrell says states complaining about school funding should ‘dust off their own budget papers’

You can add independent Tasmanian senator Tammy Tyrrell to those crossbench senators not impressed with public school funding – but unlike the other crossbenchers, Tyrrell’s beef is with the state governments, not the federal.

As Caitlin Cassidy has been reporting, Labor’s proposed deal is to increase its share of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) to 22.5%, up from 20%, and to 40% in the NT due to additional need. Its been agreed to by Western Australia and the Northern Territory. The remaining states are holding out and Tyrrell has some words for them:

The states haven’t funded schools to the level they said they would and now they’ve got their cap in hand asking the federal government for more money. That’s not how this works.

It’s like agreeing to split the bill at dinner, except someone doesn’t pay their share and the last person is left to cover their tab too. No one likes that person.

What the federal Labor government is putting forward in extra funding is reasonable. If the states are complaining that public schools aren’t properly funded, they should dust off their own budget papers.

Updated

Pocock ‘disappointed’ by Albanese’s stance on climate trigger

The independent senator David Pocock has criticised Anthony Albanese for speaking out this morning against inclusion of a climate trigger in Labor’s Nature Positive bill to set up an Environment Protection Agency.

Pocock said:

[It’s] really disappointing for a prime minister who in 2005 moved his own bill to ensure that the [Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation] Act considers climate. He’s known about this being a huge issue since the year I finished high school. To be in this place in 2024 and see what’s happening when it comes to our climate and biodiversity in Australia, the nature that Australians love and cherish and have him taking these lines is pretty disappointing. There’s a lot of people out there who are wondering why there is such a lack of leadership, vision and courage when it comes to protecting the people and places [that we love].

The former Labor senator Fatima Payman said she has been speaking to stakeholders on both sides and is still waiting to see what the government proposes. Payman said the balance is between those who want more environmental protection, but she could also see the importance of job creation.

Payman said Albanese has “still not given me my full staffing allocation”, making it “really difficult” to get on top of critical legislation.

Updated

AFP employee charged with ‘secrecy related offences’

The Australian Federal Police have sent out a statement:

An AFP employee has been charged with secrecy related offences, pursuant to 60A of the Australian Federal Police Act 1979, and will appear in the ACT Magistrates Court today (16 September, 2024).

The employee, charged by AFP Professional Standards, has been suspended from duty.

The AFP is committed to transparency.

No further comment will be made.

Updated

Dutton on TikTok

We are reliably informed by blog watchers that Peter Dutton’s first foray into TikTok (a platform the Coalition wanted banned in – checks notes – March of this year) is going very well.

Peter Dutton MP (verified) now has 76 followers – up from 52 at 7am this morning – and his first Tiktok is going well, with a raft of comments questioning what the Coalition did while in government, what they would do, and one making the comment “pizza”.

There is, however, someone who “can’t wait to call [Dutton] PM” so it’s found part of its target audience.

Updated

New poll shows Coalition slightly ahead of Labor on two-party preferred basis

AAP has taken a look at a recent poll first published in the Nine newspapers:

The Australian Financial Review/Freshwater Strategy poll published on Monday shows the Coalition is ahead 52% against 48% for Labor on a two-party preferred basis.

However, the online poll of 1,057 voters taken between Friday and Saturday also shows Anthony Albanese is the preferred prime minister on 45%, against 41% for opposition leader Peter Dutton.

The two-party outcome is in line with other recent voter polls, which have either the Coalition ahead or neck-and-neck with Labor.

Updated

Bowen: ‘Dutton has no plan for Australia’s energy future, just a risky gamble’

Chris Bowen certainly keeps track of time’s passage.

The energy minister just posted to social media:

It’s been 89 days since Peter Dutton announced his risky nuclear reactor sites and he still won’t tell us how much they will cost the taxpayer, how long they will take to get up and running, or how much energy they will generate. Peter Dutton has no plan for Australia’s energy future, just a risky gamble.

Updated

The Greens will be holding a press conference in a short while to respond to some of the day’s events, including the never ending housing debate.

The Greens leader Adam Bandt has stuck around Canberra, despite the house not sitting, so it’s obvious the party was preparing for this to be a big week.

Updated

Data breaches hit record high across Australia

Data breaches in the first half of 2024 have reached record highs, new data from the privacy watchdog shows.

The figures from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, released Monday, shows the regulator was notified of 527 data breaches between January and June 2024 - the highest number since July to December 2020.

Malicious and criminal attacks were behind 67% of the breaches with 57% of those recorded as cybersecurity incidents.

The Australian government recorded 19% of data breaches during the six-month period while the health industry made up 19% of cases.

The privacy commissioner, Carly Kind, said:

Almost every day, my office is notified of data breaches where Australians are at likely risk of serious harm. This harm can range from an increase in scams and the risk of identity theft to emotional distress and even physical harm.

Updated

‘A question of values’: crossbenchers unite in push to ‘properly’ fund public schools

Members of the Senate crossbench, including Fatima Payman, David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie have backed a push by Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne to have public education “properly” funded by the government.

The crossbench senators want the government to “fund public schools from 22.5% of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) to a minimum of 25%”.

Allman-Payne said the school funding system was not fair:

Every day this year, the federal government will give $51 million to private schools, while leaving public schools underfunded. Every day. Who can look a public school parent or carer in the eye and say that’s a fair system?

The government must make a choice. Will it further entrench a two-tier system where public schools, which educate the vast majority of disadvantaged students, are forced to struggle by on inadequate funding? Or will it invest in our young people and properly fund our public schools?

Pocok said he could not “in good conscience back legislation that will bake in underfunding for a decade to come”.

The ACT has been fortunate enough to be the only jurisdiction to hit 100 per cent of its school resourcing standard but even then we’ve got kids without enough chairs in class, teachers burning out, classes collapsing.

Payman said it was a “question of values and priorities”.

By neglecting public schools, we are condemning another generation of Australian kids to an underfunded education.

Every child, regardless of their background, their postcode, their parents income, deserves a fully funded, high-quality education.

Lambie wants the government to honour the 2010 Gonski reforms.

Gonksi was a Labor reform - it blows me away that Education Minister Jason Clare still hasn’t fixed this. While our richest private schools are getting taxpayer money to build libraries that look like castles and sports centres with Olympic swimming pools – my old high school is still using demountables from the late 1980’s.”

Updated

Greens, Pocock and Lambie call on federal government to lift share of school funding

The Greens, and some of the crossbench including senators David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie are about to call on the federal government to increase its share of public school funding to 25% of the school resource standard.

The commonwealth has done a deal with Western Australia to increase its share to 22.5% and wants the other states to agree to that figure, but the states and the Australian Education Union are calling for 25%.

We’re expecting the Greens’ senator Penny Allman-Payne to put out a media release soon.

Lambie said:

On the back of the Gonski reforms in 2010, prime minister Julia Gillard told Australians that your postcode shouldn’t determine how well you do in life. But in 2024 more than half of the $29 billion [federal] government spend on schools in Australia goes to private schools! Gonksi was a Labor reform - it blows me away that education minister Jason Clare still hasn’t fixed this. While our richest private schools are getting taxpayer money to build libraries that look like castles and sports centres with Olympic swimming pools – my old high school is still using demountables from the late 1980s.

Updated

Wong asked about Ukraine’s use of British and French made missiles

On the question of whether or not Ukraine should be allowed British and French made long range missiles to target military sites in Russia, Penny Wong says:

Look, NATO, including obviously the US and the UK, has been balancing a very difficult set of propositions throughout this conflict, and they include, we all have to stand with Ukraine and their fight for their sovereignty. I mean this is a breach of the UN Charter and no country is safe if the international community enables in any way that breach of the UN Charter.

Equally, Nato is balancing, you know, how to avert further escalation in Europe. They are hard decisions, and I know from my conversations with both the US and the United Kingdom, they are considering very closely these sorts of issues; how do you support sovereignty, but at the same time not escalate.

I recognise the work they are doing to try and strike that balance.

Updated

Wong says ‘Iranian regime is a destabilising and repressive force’

The US, UK, France and Germany announced sanctions against Iran’s government last week after accusing it of sending missiles to Russia. Asked if she supported those sanctions, Wong said:

Of course. What this demonstrates is the extent to which the Iranian regime is a destabilising and repressive force. It demonstrates its willingness to ferment conflict elsewhere in the world; we know the destabilising role it has in the region.

This enabling of President Putin’s illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine is again not only a violation of international law, but it is – flies in the face of Ukrainian sovereignty and international law.

Updated

Wong relieved Trump not injured and says political violence ‘has no place’ in society

In an earlier interview with ABC radio RN Breakfast, Penny Wong also spoke about the apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump:

I’m relieved that President Trump and others were not injured in this, and you know, obviously very pleased that law enforcement was able to deal with the situation. But what I would say is, political violence has no place in any society, certainly has no place in a democracy, and … this is another, you know, dreadful demonstration of the potential of political violence.

Updated

Palestinian applications for onshore protection slightly down in August

The latest home affairs statistics on people applying for onshore protection (subclass 866 visas) have been tabled in parliament.

In August the three biggest sources for claims were citizens of China (224), the “Palestinian Authority” (166) and India (161).

Until this month the number of Palestinians applying for visas has been rising, increasing pressure on the Albanese government over its decision to require them to come to Australia on visitor visas first.

August’s figures are down slightly on July, when 176 people from the “Palestinian Authority” applied. In June, July and August, none were actually granted – which points to delays processing claims.

Updated

Pesutto 'tarred' Deeming with 'the Nazi brush', court told as defamation trial begins

Victoria’s opposition leader, John Pesutto, “tarred” ex-Liberal MP Moira Deeming with “the Nazi brush,” the federal court has heard.

Deeming is suing Pesutto for defamation over allegations he falsely portrayed her a Nazi sympathiser after she spoke at a rally in March 2023 that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

Speaking in the federal court, Deeming’s barrister, Sue Chrysanthou SC, says Pesutto’s team would incorrectly argue that prior to March last year, Deeming had a bad reputation:

Reputation is apparently an issue in this place. Mr Pesutto comes to this court and asks your honour to find that, before he tarred her with the Nazi brush in March of last year, she had a bad reputation.

The evidence that is before your honour points overwhelmingly to the contrary.

Chrysanthou says this evidence includes Pesutto asking Deeming to apply for a parliamentary whip position after he was elected opposition leader in December 2022.

Updated

Hollie Hughes distances Coalition from aged care reforms: ‘This was not a co-design’

The Albanese government’s aged care reforms were announced last week after negotiations with the Coalition. They are off to a Senate inquiry now, where there will be more of a lookey-loo over them, before they are voted on.

This morning on Sky News, the Liberal senator Hollie Hughes was keen to distance the Coalition from the legislation (which was put forward by Anika Wells after consultation with Hughes’ colleague Anne Ruston).

Hughes:

Well, this was not a co-design package of reforms. This is something that Labor’s put together. When she was finally brought in, Senator Ruston has negotiated a number of issues around making sure that these are grandfathered, that government will remain the majority funder, and that there will be lifetime caps, all of which were not necessarily part of Labor’s first suggested reforms. And Senator Ruston’s also worked really hard to make sure that those in rural and regional areas are supported, which are so often forgotten –

Host: [interjecting] “But was there another way?”

Hughes: “You know, retirees are Labor’s way to just whack them around.”

Host: “But that’s what you’re doing by supporting it.”

Hughes:

Well, we are trying to get them out in the open if it does need to be reform. And let me tell you, you don’t want the Greens in there trying to negotiate some of these things. We can’t all always just sit back. It may not be perfect, but there does need to be some reform. And Senator Ruston’s done a lot of work to make sure that the impact is minimal, but that the sector will remain sustainable.

Updated

‘Real question’ for Greens, Watt says, as Help To Buy housing bill goes to Senate

Employment minister Murray Watt was also carrying the housing baton this morning;

This will be a real test for both the Coalition and the Greens this week. Frankly, we don’t have much hope that the Coalition will support this legislation because they tend to say no to anything that Labor puts up, especially anything revolving around cost‑of‑living pressures.

But there’s a real question mark this week for the Greens party about whether they’re serious in working with the government to deliver more housing and support for renters that they always say they’re keen on. The truth is that every time the Greens vote against Labor’s housing measures, that makes it harder for renters to enter the housing market. It makes it harder for us to be able to deliver the more housing that this country so desperately needs, and every time we see the Greens vote with the Coalition to block Labor’s moves, the only person that that helps is Peter Dutton.

So there’s a real question for the Greens party this week about whether they will deliver on their promise to help renters and to help provide more housing, and the best way they can do that is by voting with Labor to pass this Help to Buy legislation.

Updated

Deeming v Pesutto defamation trial about to begin

A high-stakes defamation battle brought against Victoria’s opposition leader, John Pesutto, by ex-Liberal MP Moira Deeming is about to get under way in the federal court.

Deeming is suing Pesutto over allegations he falsely portrayed her as a Nazi sympathiser after she spoke at a rally last year that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

Deeming was one of a series of speakers at a rally held on the steps of Victoria’s parliament in March 2023.

The event was co-organised by the UK gender-critical activist Kellie-Jay Keen and part of her “Let Women Speak”. It held rallies in several cities, claiming that the push for transgender rights was silencing, and discriminating against, women.

The trial is expected to last for three weeks and current and former Liberal MPs will testify.

Updated

Housing top of agenda today as O’Neil announces second media event

The government is REALLY pushing the housing thing today – Clare O’Neil has announced her second event of the day after the joint press conference with Anthony Albanese this morning, with another press event at a housing estate later this morning.

The government hasn’t moved on any of the negotiation points from the Greens when it comes to the build to rent legislation (among which is to make all the housing affordable) or the shared equity scheme, help to buy (changes to negative gearing and other tax settings) so expect to see a lot in housing over the next week.

Updated

Applications open for Australian Heritage Grant funding

The latest round of Australian Heritage Grant funding has opened.

Previously, the grants have been used to:

  • ​Preserve dinosaur tracks found in the west Kimberley.

  • Protect K’gari from invasive weeks, pest and diseases, along with funding additional rangers.

  • Restore the convict era features of the Darlington Probation Station.

  • Restore Sydney’s North Head quarantine station.

Applications for the $25,000-$400,000 grants are open until 25 October.

Updated

Plibersek says a ‘very high bar’ would need to be met over misinformation

Asked where the line on “misinformation” would be drawn, Tanya Plibersek says:

I think it’s very clear that you have to have a very high bar. I’m all for free speech. I agree with Barnaby that it’s right, that he and I have the right to disagree. He should be able to put his point of view, I should be able to put my point of view. That’s healthy debate. There’s nothing wrong with that. What we have said is that if there is deliberate misinformation and disinformation that is verifiably false and doing harm, that the Australian Communications and Media Authority should be able to have a look at that. Now it has to be a very high bar. It has to be doing harm to our society.

Q: What, like they’re killing the dogs, or they’re killing the cats. Would that be deliberate misinformation?

Plibersek:

Well, I mean, it seems as though it was deliberate misinformation. I’m not sure it would meet the very high bar that we’re talking about for the sort of harms that we’re trying to avoid here.

But that’s not a matter for me to decide. This is legislation that’s currently before the parliament. We’d love to engage with the Coalition on this if they have sensible changes that they want to make. Michelle Rowland, the communications minister, has said that her door’s open.

We need to have this conversation, though, because we know that a lot of this misinformation and disinformation is deliberately generated by trolls overseas to cause social discord and to harm and undermine our democracy.

Like this isn’t accidental stuff. It’s not some kid in his mum’s basement. It is in many cases very deliberate, calculated stuff. But it has to meet a high bar. We’re not talking about shutting down, even the most vociferous disagreement is fine.

Updated

Barnaby Joyce says social media crackdown shouldn’t ‘morph into the censorship of the political debate’

Barnaby Joyce was then asked to weigh in, and he said:

Look, vastly, the majority of what Tanya said, I agree with. People who create mechanisms which bring on such things as anorexia, especially for young girls, body image, these caustic, horrible, filthy sort of cesspits which people such as Mark Zuckerberg and others their platforms make money out of. Nobody wants that.

We absolutely must do what we can to do that. And to go out there and say that a certain race should be wiped off the face of the Earth, of course, that should not be allowed.

But we’ve got to make – it is an absolutely imperative for both myself and Tanya and the Labor party and the Coalition that this does not morph into the censorship of the political debate. That if someone says, well, for instance, I’ll say something, I’ve got – I don’t think that Swindle factories and climate policy is going to make a degree of difference to the climate.

That’s my right.

Now, Tanya will disagree with it and that’s her right, but we’re allowed to have that debate. You can’t just say, well, I’m going to wipe that debate off the social media because I think it doesn’t agree with me.

That’s going to be the – that’s going to be the tricky part of how we manage this. But I hope we can land it because there is so much good that needs to be done from this. And more to the point, I think you guys are dancing around it at Seven and Nine and ABC.

We need a vibrant fourth estate and these billionaires are just ripping all your advertising revenue off and we won’t have a fourth estate. We won’t have advertising on your show, so we won’t have your show. You will not have a job [host], you will not have a job [other host], because your program – your company will be, as far as its media side, will be out of business, it’ll be a charity. And we’ve got to make sure we do something about that as well.

Updated

Tanya Plibersek continued:

It’s hard because these big tech companies think they’re above the law. You see the way they minimise paying tax by moving their profits around the world. This is just one more example of how they think they’re above the law. We know that it’s the right thing to do to protect our kids. We’re going to do it. We’re going to legislate as a government to do it. And we’re very hopeful that the Coalition will support us.

Plibersek says Elon Musk ‘doesn’t care’ about harm caused by misinformation on social media

Tanya Plibersek has spoken about the latest in the Elon Musk v the Australian government (in case you missed it: the government has introduced legislation to fine social media giants if they don’t address misinformation. Musk, the owner of X, responded by calling Anthony Albanese a “fascist”.)

Plibersek told the Seven network:

I think it says a lot about Elon Musk. He is absolutely not interested in the harm that he is allowing his social media platforms to do to our young people and in many ways to our democracy and our society. He’s a greedy billionaire who wants even more money flowing into his pockets, and he doesn’t care how that happens and he doesn’t care about the harm that he’s doing.

We’re making some very reasonable proposals to protect our kids. You know, we’ve got rules about all sorts of things, car seats, pool fences, button batteries to try and keep our kids safe.

We know that early exposure to social media is harming them. Since 2010, we’ve seen a doubling of the rate of young people going to hospital for mental health concerns. And we know social media is harming our kids. We need to get a handle on it. And Elon Musk should get out of the way. Or even better still, take some responsibility.

Updated

Boris Johnson to visit Australia on book tour

Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson is headed to Australia as part of his Unleashed (his new book) tour.

But given the love a certain part of Australia has for former conservative leaders/commentators, Johnson is offering a special “an audience with Boris Johnson” where he will “attend lunch at Doltone House in Sydney on Friday 6th December and dinner at the Sofitel in Melbourne on Saturday 7th December 2024”.

And for those willing to pay for GOLD (formatting, his publicists) you’ll get an autographed copy and a photo with the man of the hour, at the meet and greet before each event.

What is Unleashed about? Well, here is how his publicists are selling it:

In his new book Unleashed to be issued on October 30th Johnson takes readers through all the big decisions during his time in power and why he took them. The challenges and crises, how they were resolved - or not – and how he nearly died from Covid; riots; crime; the London Olympics, and so much more. Johnson writes about his role in Brexit and the constitutional sea-change in British politics in 2019 with his landslide election victory.

It must be former UK prime minister season in Australia – Liz Truss will also be in town next month for the conservative love in, Cpac.

Updated

Senate to sit from 10am

The Senate will sit from 10am today which is when the Senate-only week gets under way.

You can follow along with the business of the day, here.

We will be venturing into the Senate question time at 2pm, so just prepare yourself for that.

Updated

PM asked about bill to set up an Environmental Protection Agency

Albanese was also asked about Labor’s bill to set up an Environmental Protection Agency and whether it should be delivered no matter what because it was an election commitment.

He said:

As for environmental law, look, the Greens political party have never seen any piece of legislation they’re not confused by, any piece of legislation they don’t bring up things a distraction in order to justify voting against it. They should vote for the nature positive legislation as it stands. With regard to a climate trigger and other things that they’re raising. I’ve made it clear ... just a couple of weeks ago that I don’t support adding a trigger to that legislation.

Climate issues are dealt with through the safeguard mechanism. We’ve dealt with that. We have a target of 43% [emissions reduction], and we have a vehicle for emissions of large emitters, as well, as part of that program. The Greens and the Coalition increasingly are combining to vote against good legislation. And whether it is housing legislation environmental legislation, they need to get out of the way and stop coming up with excuses and start voting for solutions.

Updated

Albanese says it’s a ‘good thing’ Trump is safe after apparent assassination attempt

Anthony Albanese has responded to news about an apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

Albanese told reporters in Canberra:

Everyone wants the democratic process to be peaceful and to be orderly. This incident in the United States is of concern, again. It is good that President Trump has said that he is safe and that the incident, the details of which are still coming out, so it’s not quite clear all of those details but what is clear is that President Trump is safe. That is a good thing.

Updated

Housing Australia Future Fund funding announcement

The official announcement on the first round of funding from the Housing Australia Future Fund has been made:

The first round of Labor’s Housing Australia Future Fund and National Housing Accord programs will deliver 4,220 social and 9,522 affordable homes, including 1,267 homes for women and children escaping domestic violence and older women at risk of homelessness.

In just the first round of these programs, the Albanese Government is directly supporting more social and affordable housing than the Liberals and Nationals did in their entire nine years in office.

Housing Australia has recommended contract negotiations for 185 projects, with construction on almost 40 per cent of the 13,742 dwellings forecast to get underway this financial year.

Round one of the programs’ funding will unlock $9.2 billion of investment in social and affordable housing across Commonwealth, State and Territory government, and the private and community housing sectors.

Updated

Clare O’Neil reacts to apparent attempt on Trump’s life, praises Australia’s gun laws

Housing minister Clare O’Neil spoke to the ABC this morning, appearing just after an update on the apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a Florida golf course.

Asked about political violence, O’Neil said:

Firstly, my thoughts are with Donald Trump and his family. It is absolutely awful what has happened this morning and as you pointed out, to come two months after an assassination attempt on a former president. It is a terrible thing that is going on here. Just two really quick reflections.

It worries me because America is such an important and powerful democracy and it does affect us here in Australia. Always at moments like these, I am thinking about Australia’s political culture too. We are very lucky here and I never want Australians to lose sight of that. Firstly, having really good powerful gun laws is an important part of this.

The second is a political culture where we resolve our differences at the ballot box and not through violence. This is not the case in many countries in the world and it is something precious and it is something we have got to value.

It is fragile at times and we need to support it and protect it.

One of the last things O’Neil did as home affairs minister was give a speech on a report into Australia’s democracy and how to protect it, which is an ongoing project within Home Affairs.

Updated

Birmingham reiterates call for Australia to list Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp as a terrorist group

Simon Birmingham has also released a statement on Mahsa Jina Amini Day, acknowledging both her death and the Woman, Life, Freedom movement:

The Coalition, in solidarity with the Iranian-Australian community, continue to call for action against the horrific oppression of women, girls, protesters and critics of the Islamic Republic regime in Iran (IRI).

It has now been 18 months since the Senate inquiry on human rights implications of violence in Iran and it is devastating for the Iranian-Australian community that this Labor Government has only accepted two of the 12 recommendations from the report.

The IRI has demonstrated time and again over recent months that it continues to be a danger to its own citizens, and to citizens of many other countries as a result of its sponsorship of terrorism. Australia should play our part in holding the regime accountable for its abhorrent actions.

The Senate inquiry called for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp to be listed as a terrorist group. Birmingham reiterated that call today:

There is no excuse for Australia not to follow the lead of Canada and the US in listing the IRGC as a terrorist organisation, and we call on the Albanese Labor Government to take immediate action so that Australia sends a clear message that we do not tolerate acts of terrorism, no matter who commits or supports them.

The Coalition has repeatedly made clear that we offer our bipartisan support for any actions required to enable the listing of the IRGC.

And on the sanctions announced today by Penny Wong, Birmingham says:

While the Coalition welcomes the application of additional sanctions today it is for the Albanese Government to explain why these actions took twelve months longer for Australia to apply than in the United States, seemingly awaiting anniversaries or media opportunities rather than being taken as quickly as possible.

For two long years, Iranian women and girls have shown bravery to fight for their basic human rights and Australia’s position should reflect their courage. We join with the diaspora community in urging the Government to take stronger action and reiterate our bipartisan support for them to do so.

Woman. Life. Freedom.

Updated

Albanese to hold press conference to focus on housing

Anthony Albanese is kickstarting the day with an early Canberra press conference where housing will be the main focus. Clare O’Neil, the housing minister will be with him.

Updated

CFMEU report finds 'cycle of lawlessness' in Victorian branch

The administrator of the CFMEU Construction and General Division, Mark Irving has released the report from Geoffrey Watson, which was looking at some of the allegations made against the Victorian and Tasmanian of the CFMEU’s Construction and General Division.

The national secretary of the union, Zach Smith, commissioned the report in July 2024, following the airing of allegations in a Nine investigation and before the union was placed into administration.

Irving said the Watson report has made seven recommendations and summarises it in a statement:

The information gathered supports the allegations of criminal and corrupt conduct reported in the ‘Building Bad’ series. Further investigation is needed.

Based on the information uncovered, the Victorian Branch has been caught up in a cycle of lawlessness, where violence was an accepted part of the culture and that the CFMEU had lost control due to connections with Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs and organised crime figures.

Victorian Branch officials have not only engaged in threatening and abusive behaviour, they have also been subjected to threats, violence or abuse in connexion with their work for the union.

In the course of Mr Watson’s investigations, serious threats were made to officials of the union who were seen to be cooperating with the investigation.

That on the information available, the Victorian Branch has been infiltrated by OMCG’s [outlaw motorcycle gangs] and organised crime figures.

Despite the removal of some delegates after the media reports, the Victorian Branch had no intention to fix the problem, and even if it did, more needs to be done.

The EBA process is capable of being misused to confer favours or to fulfil corrupt bargains as the result of the infiltration of outlaw motorcycle gangs and organised crime, as well as when CFMEU officers are financially induced to exercise their powers for unlawful or improper purposes.

Irving said he will give a “detailed response in the coming days”.

Updated

Birmingham warns Albanese government risks doing ‘destructive’ deals with Greens

Liberal senator Simon Birmingham has kicked off the week with a statement “warning” that “the risk of the Albanese Labor Government doing destructive deals with the Greens is enormous”.

The elephant in the room here of course, is that on some of these bills (housing being the main ones) the Greens are in the negotiating hot seat, because the Coalition hasn’t come to the table. (Others include Future Made in Australia, the RBA reforms and the nature positive/EPA bills)

Birmingham:

Many of Anthony Albanese’s big spending bills are stalled, making the government even more desperate as it tries to clear the decks for a possible early election.

Labor should rule out an avalanche of billion-dollar, economy crushing deals with the Greens in this Senate-only sitting week.

There’s a real risk that this week could give Australia a taste of just how destructive a future Labor-Greens government could be in the event of a hung parliament.

Birmingham doesn’t want Labor to turn to the Coalition – he just wants the government to drop the legislation.

Birmingham:

None of this legislation will lower inflation but it will add billions to public spending, green tape to economic activity and risk the independence of the Reserve Bank.

Labor’s bad policies need to be defeated in the Senate, not made even more costly and interventionist at the hands of the Greens.

What is interesting about this statement is that it continues a very recent trend we have seen from the Coalition – pointing to a hung parliament following the next election, and releasing the statement version of spooky music about what it could mean to have the Greens in a balance of power situation.

Updated

Wong announces sanction against five more Iranians

Foreign affairs minister Penny Wong has announced sanctions against another five Iranians on what is the second anniversary of the imprisonment and death of Mahsa Jina Amini.

Wong:

Mahsa Jina Amini’s death galvanised months of protests in Iran, which were brutally quashed by Iranian security forces.

The individuals sanctioned today include senior security and law enforcement officials who have been complicit in the violent repression of protests in Iran.

The human rights situation in Iran remains dire, particularly for women and girls. In early 2024, Iranian authorities launched a new campaign to enforce mandatory hijab laws through increased surveillance and harassment. Female human rights activists continue to be detained and handed death sentences.

Today’s announcement means Australia has now brought sanctions against 195 Iran-linked individuals and entities across multiple sanctions frameworks, including almost 100 individuals and entities linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

To learn more about how Australian sanctions work, you can visit the sanctions page on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website.

Updated

Jacqui Lambie takes out ads calling for release of report on military justice watchdog

The crossbench senator Jacqui Lambie has launched a radio advertising campaign in an attempt to pressure the federal government to release a report on the military justice watchdog.

The Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF) is an independent “umpire” that is responsible for overseeing “the quality and fairness of Australia’s military justice system”.

Last year the government appointed the former federal court judge Duncan Kerr to conduct a review of the office of the IGADF, with the report due to be finished by March this year.

In a 30-second advertisement to be run on 3AW, 2GB and 4BC from today, Lambie calls for the report to be released immediately:

We have just had a royal commission on veterans’ suicides and they won’t release the damn report.

The defence and veteran suicide royal commission was a separate exercise. The royal commission report, tabled in parliament last week, identified “many factors in the military justice system that can cause or aggravate poor mental health outcomes and contribute to risks of suicide and suicidality”, including a lack of consistency and “opportunities for the ‘weaponisation’ of administrative sanctions against serving members”.

In an interview with Guardian Australia, Lambie said 18 of the 122 recommendations in the royal commission report were focused on the military justice system, and that underlined the importance of having the IGADF review released.

She said some ADF members who were suffering were “not going to report their issues to military justice because they don’t trust it”. The Tasmanian senator vowed to keep running the advertisements for “as long as it takes” to get the IGADF report released.

The IGADF website states that the completed review “is currently under consideration and a response will be announced in due course”. Marles said last week that the defence and veteran suicide royal commission report was “really significant” and its recommendations would “make a huge difference”.

Updated

Good morning

Hello and welcome to politics live: the Senate, with the red chamber enjoying its time in the sun (and the political focus) for a Senate-only week.

Playing catch-up from estimates, the senators will be dealing with some of the backlog of legislation from the house. Chief among those bills is the second tranche of the government’s housing agenda, which is stuck between a rock (the Coalition) and a hard place (the Greens) because the government won’t bend on any negotiating point.

That will play out this week, as the Greens push the government to return to the negotiation table to try and find some common ground.

In better news for the government, it will announce the first round of funding from the Housing Australian Future Fund, which is set up to deliver social and affordable housing.

In other news, Anthony Albanese has confirmed the government will bring its social media age verification legislation to the parliament before the end of the year.

Speaking of social media, opposition leader Peter Dutton has posted his first video on the platform that the Coalition was once pushing to have banned in Australia; Tiktok. The official account now has 52 followers, and his first video (along with a demure joke, which we think gen Z moved on from two weeks ago) is about housing. Specifically about how Australia wasn’t meant to be a nation where people rented their entire lives. He links it to migration numbers, and not building enough homes. The migration numbers only tells part of the story; numbers under the last Morrison government were projected to be higher, there’s been a rush because the borders were closed for so long, and includes international students who are more likely to live in student accomodation. The former Reserve Bank governor, Phil Lowe, had previously pointed to the fact that after the pandemic lockdowns, people wanted their own houses, which cut down on supply (you may have remembered his “live in the spare room” clumsy point. And Dutton himself was a key part of a government that was in power for almost a decade and Australia’s housing issues didn’t emerge in a vacuum.

Still, it points to the Coalition returning to housing and cost of living as one of it’s main issues in the lead-up to the election.

We’ll cover all of that, and more, as the Senate-only week gets under way.

You have Karen Middleton, Paul Karp, Daniel Hurst, Josh Butler and Sarah Basford Canales with you in Canberra, as well as the entire Guardian Australia brains trust to help round out your day. And you’ll have Amy Remeikis with you on the blog for most of the day.

Third coffee is on the stove. Ready? Let’s get into it.

Updated

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