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 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.
What we learned today – Wednesday 14 August
That is where we’ll leave the blog for the evening, but first a quick recap of the main events:
Peter Dutton said Palestinians from Gaza should not be allowed into Australia “at all”. Bill Shorten said Dutton’s Gaza comments were a “misfire” and “problem”.
CBA posted a robust profit result against the backdrop of rising household costs.
Shorten said gambling was “not the same as tobacco” amid debate of advertising bans.
Telstra and Optus announced they’re delaying the shutdown of their 3G networks to give more time for customers to switch over.
The Commonwealth Bank wound back its financing of fossil fuels in its latest climate report.
Police removed climate protesters who were carrying out a sit-in in the marble foyer of Parliament House.
Question time began with clashes over Palestinian visas.
And the NSW Liberals missed the deadline for council election nominations.
Have a lovely rest of your evening! The politics live blog will be back bright and early tomorrow morning.
Updated
Tasmanians warned of counterfeit cash circulating
Counterfeit $100 notes are circulating around Tasmania, police are warning.
People in Hobart, Glenorchy and Bellerive should be wary of the notes which are easily identifiable as fake once inspected, Insp Jason Klug said:
While people might not notice at first glance, the notes have words such as ‘this is not legal tender’ written on them, and the usually clear plastic element is black and not transparent.
When handling cash, should check notes for any inconsistencies such as this before accepting them as payment.
If people detect counterfeit notes, they should contact police and provide any relevant information, including CCTV footage if possible.
Please be aware that these notes are circulating and check that the cash you are handling is legitimate.
Anyone with information about the use of these notes should contact police or Crime Stoppers Tasmania, and you can stay anonymous.
Updated
Thanks Amy and good afternoon (or I should say evening by now) everyone!
Natasha May will guide you through the evening now – I will be back early tomorrow morning for the last sitting day of this week. Until then, take care of you.
Updated
For those who missed it (lucky you) here is the former deputy prime minister of Australia withdrawing calling the current prime minister of Australia a “sook” in the parliament:
Updated
Andrew Wilkie popped into the other place (for him, given he usually sits in the house) to see how the Senate was handling debate on gambling advertising this afternoon.
David Pocock joined him on the edges of the chamber.
Updated
Birmingham tells Sky News Dutton’s comments on Palestinian visas ‘entirely consistent’ with Coalition policy
Liberal senator Simon Birmingham was on Sky News this afternoon, where he appeared to be trying to clean up some of what Peter Dutton had said this morning regarding Palestinians coming to Australia.
Dutton said:
I don’t think people should be coming in from that war zone at all at the moment.
It’s not prudent to do so and I think it puts our national security at risk.
There has been no suggestion from security agencies that national security has been placed at risk. The director general of Asio, Mike Burgess, said all security checks of people applying for visas were being undertaken in the usual ways, as recently as Sunday.
In his interview this afternoon, Birmingham was asked when Dutton’s statement became official Coalition policy and said:
Look, this is entirely consistent with what we’ve said for some time, and that is that nobody should be coming here without full and thorough screening.
Particularly screening in relation to security issues when they’re coming from a terrorist-controlled territory.
Now, it’s evident from all of the advice and information to date that that full, comprehensive, thorough screening is not possible to be done out of Gaza at this point in time.
The flow on from that is that we shouldn’t be processing people, and they shouldn’t be coming at this point in time until that sort of thorough checking can be undertaken.
The Rafah border, which runs along Gaza to Egypt and had been the only exit point for Palestinians wishing to leave Gaza, was seized by Israel on the Palestinian side in May and closed. Since then, only in the rare cases of approved medical transfers has anyone been able to leave, regardless of whether they have a visa or not.
Updated
Australia’s rejection of thousands of Palestinian visas a ‘shocking abdication’ of obligations, says Amnesty International
Amnesty International Australia has released a statement on the visa numbers – and rejections – that Tony Burke announced in today’s question time.
The Australian Government’s rejection of over 7,000 Palestinians fleeing Israel’s relentless assault on Gaza is a shocking abdication of its legal and moral obligations to provide safety to those in crisis. Despite the catastrophic toll on Gaza’s population, the government’s response remains inadequate.
For more than two million Palestinians, there is nowhere safe to go. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) estimates 75% of the population of Gaza are displaced, yet Australia has failed to offer them adequate humanitarian protection. The International Court of Justice has recognised the grave risk of genocide faced by Palestinians in Gaza, exacerbated by Israel’s siege on Gaza and blockade of essential aid.
Amnesty says Canada announced the expansion of its visa cap to 5,000 and granted refugees rights to work, study and access medical care, as well as looking at streamlined processes for processing refugee claims.
Australia granted more than 11,000 Ukrainians temporary visas and offered an additional 6,000 places over three years for Afghan refugees under the humanitarian program.
Mohamed Duar, Occupied Palestinian Territories Spokesperson at Amnesty International Australia, said:
The Department of Home Affairs has imposed severe restrictions on visa issuance for Palestinians fleeing the devastation in Gaza and cancelling visas on the grounds of perceived ‘security risks’. All visa applicants are subjected to stringent security checks, a process that is inherently inadequate and unfair. These checks have become a barrier to those in desperate need of safety, further limiting the already inadequate response to the humanitarian crisis.
1.7 million Palestinians in Gaza have endured the horrors of constant bombardment, and displacement after displacement. Australia has a duty to protect civilians and provide a humanitarian pathway to those fleeing to safety.
Updated
Greens react to news of NSW Liberals missing nomination deadline for council elections
The Greens NSW spokesperson for local government and the former deputy mayor of Albury, Dr Amanda Cohn, has responded to the news the NSW Liberals have failed to nominate candidates for several councils in next month’s local government elections:
Communities across NSW can be reassured that all 376 Greens local government candidates and 22 mayoral candidates got their paperwork in. There are excellent candidates to vote for on September 14!
Updated
CFMEU legislation will not be voted on tomorrow after Labor motion fails
Over in the Senate (a sentence that always makes me shudder) the government just lost a motion to guillotine time for debate on the CFMEU legislation.
Yesterday the government gave notice it would be moving the motion today, which if passed would have set a deadline for debate on the CFMEU administration legislation by 12.15pm tomorrow. That would give it time to get it in front of the house chamber, where the government would vote for it and wham, bam, the bill would have been through the parliament by the end of the first sitting week.
But! Despite Michaelia Cash saying this earlier today:
I invite minister [Murray] Watts to consider what are very reasonable amendments and come back to me, but as we said, as Peter Dutton has made clear, we are prepared to pass the bill this afternoon if the government is prepared to take on board what are very reasonable amendments.
The Coalition just voted against the guillotine motion. Which means unless there is some sort of reverse ferret on the vote, the legislation can’t be voted on tomorrow.
The games continue!
Updated
Save the Children CEO urges Dutton to ‘put the politics aside’ to help Palestinians coming from Gaza
Save the Children CEO Mat Tinkler has also responded to Peter Dutton’s comments calling for a blanket ban on people from Gaza coming to Australia.
It was the previous government, which Mr Dutton was a part of, that provided humanitarian visas to Ukrainian and Afghan nationals. Australia retains the very same security and assessment tools to safeguard Australian citizens, and there’s no reason why the same protection can’t be extended now to Palestinians.
It’s time to put the politics aside and help those in need, regardless of their nationality.
Updated
Question time as seen by Guardian Australia’s Mike Bowers
There is nothing Ed Husic loves more than using pop culture references from at least 20 years ago in a question time answer.
Today it was Zoolander. Mike Bowers caught the moment of delivery.
Bill Shorten is still having a great time.
We’re confused too, David Littleproud.
Graham Perrett takes one for the team.
Updated
Senate to hold inquiry into effect of financial regulation on first home buyers
The Liberal senator Andrew Bragg has secured support for a Senate inquiry into the impact of Australia’s financial regulation on first home buyers.
Bragg said the Senate select economics committee will “specifically explore ways to reduce lending costs and improve accessibility for first home buyers”. He said:
This inquiry will be about people, not institutions.
… If the average working Australian loses access to capital for a mortgage to fund their family home, this will cement the intergenerational divide and destroy the Australian dream.
Updated
Revisiting Joyce’s one-man protest against RM Williams
Barnaby Joyce, who put himself front and centre during QT once again, is still continuing his one-man protest against Andrew Forrest renewable’s projects, by refusing to wear RM Williams’ boots.
Instead, Joyce continues to embrace the hipster favourite: cowboy boots.
As Calla Wahlquist points out about his boots, though:
Ariat is a quintessentially American brand – it’s named for the racehorse Secretariat. This would be like an American politician trying to appeal to their patriotic base by wearing boots called Phar Lap.
Updated
NSW Liberals miss deadline for council election nominations
The Liberal party has missed the deadline for nominations for the upcoming New South Wales council elections, meaning not all of its candidates will be eligible to run in September.
The opposition leader, Mark Speakman, said submitting the local council nominations was a matter for NSW Liberals state director, Richard Shields, and called on him to explain what happened.
In a statement, Shields said:
With the secretariat resources that we had available unfortunately we were unable to nominate in all of the local government areas that were put forward by the State Executive.
Close to 300 Liberal candidates were nominated with the NSW Electoral Commission, including in areas like Parramatta, Strathfield, Blacktown, Inner West and Bayside where we did not run in 2021.
The status of nominated Liberal candidates will be communicated upon confirmation from the NSW Electoral Commission.
On behalf of the secretariat, I would like to apologise to Liberal endorsed councillors that were not nominated and to the Party membership more broadly.
Updated
On that final point, here is Tony Burke explaining some of Asio’s security checks:
What did we learn in question time?
Question time ends.
Once again, I am not sure if we learned anything of substance.
The Coalition tripled down on what looked like an off-the-cuff policy remark from Peter Dutton this morning, calling for a blanket ban on Palestinians from Gaza being able to come to Australia.
Every question the Coalition asked was around the issue of the security checks for Palestinians who have been granted visas, whether Palestinians would be given permanent visas, and Tony Burke’s role in approving visas his constituents make representations on.
Tony Burke was prepared – he outlined the arrangements in place in the case of a conflict between his job as a local MP and his role as immigration minister (he doesn’t make the decision in those cases), he had the figures on how many visas had been approved and rejected (almost three times as many had been rejected compared to those that had been approved since 7 October), and he was able to talk about some of the security checks in place, including how often Asio’s watch list was updated (every 24 hours).
The government tried to keep the focus on cost of living and Future Made in Australia, but it was clear the Coalition seized on the chance to try to put the government on the back foot over the issue of Palestinian visas.
Updated
There is some argy-bargy after that question and then Barnaby Joyce decides he wants to Barnaby Joyce things up.
Someone over there said the word sook, and they MUST withdraw it!
He is trying to be funny, because as he told Karen Middleton, he was made to withdraw his comment calling Anthony Albanese a sook, and Albanese asked for it to be withdrawn. Joyce says that by getting offended by the word “sook”, you are proving you a sook.
So he is trying to make a point.
Labor MP Graham Perrett withdraws the comment, and Milton Dick is so relieved someone has defused the situation which means he doesn’t have to make a ruling on “sook” that Perrett should ask him for an Ekka strawberry sundae in response.
Updated
And another one
Liberal MP Keith Wolahan asks Tony Burke:
Minister, since 7 October last year, has any individual from the Gaza war zone applied for a visa and been rejected on the basis of their affiliation with or membership of the listed terrorist organisation Hamas?
Burke:
The statistics on visas applied for and rejected are as follows.
Since the 7th of October to the 12th of August, which is the statistics which I have available; 2,922 visas were granted, 7,111 were rejected.
Updated
Another question on visas for Palestinians from opposition
Liberal MP Zoe McKenzie asks Tony Burke:
Minister, have any visa for individuals coming from the Gaza war zone been granted without an in-person interview?
It is obvious Burke is starting to lose his patience with these questions:
When visas are issued within a war zone, and people apply for visitor visas, the in-person interview is a different circumstance.
But the security checks don’t change. And that’s what matters.
What matters is that there will be no compromise on national security. None.
None.
When it comes to advice – because I’ve seen what Senator [James] Paterson has said and I’ve seen what [Asio director general] Mike Burgess has said, and – if it’s a choice between taking national security advice from a junior coalition shadow minister or the director general of our national security organisation, I’ll back our security organisations any day.
Updated
Tink’s question on environment ruled out of order for not being directed at environment minister
Kylea Tink asks her question:
My question is to the minister for regional development, territories and local government: my community of North Sydney cares deeply about regional and rural Australia, recognising that many in these communities are already survivors of some of the worst significantly severe climate events seen in the past decade.
As the minister responsible for these communities and local government, do you support the inclusion of a climate trigger as part of the approval process for future developments?
Or otherwise, what measures and protections are you arguing for to ensure these communities are spared the impacts of worsening climate events?
That is a question for Kristy McBain, asking her what she thinks about something which is under the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek’s portfolio.
Tony Burke says that question is out of order under the standing orders, and Milton Dick agrees. Tink is given a chance to redirect the question, but chooses not to.
She asks the same question again, and Dick rules it out of order.
Updated
‘Show respect’ to crossbenchers during questions, Milton Dick urges MPs
Independent MP Kylea Tink gets up to ask a question and the interjections from the opposition get very rowdy.
Tony Burke is on his feet pretty quickly:
Mr Speaker, there is a habit from those opposite when particular members of the crossbench rise to ask a question. Of levels of abuse that don’t go to other members. It’s consistent and it just happened again before our eyes.
Zali Steggall also stands up:
I would like to raise with concern the behaviour as standing order 90 and 91, in particular to the member for Maranoa [David Littleproud].
As a leader of a party, he should show leadership in how he conducts himself in the parliament.
Milton Dick agrees:
There’s a distinct [increase in noise] when members of the crossbench or non-major parties ask their questions. I’m asking members to show respect.
Updated
Sussan Ley ejected from question time
Milton Dick says Sussan Ley has interjected “about 17 times” and had been specifically instructed not to interject during that last answer (Andrew Giles was answering a dixer) and she did, so she is booted out under 94A.
Dick says that Ley probably knew what was coming – and Ley does, she is packing up her stuff to leave, even before Dick finishes speaking.
Updated
Burke: ‘Every single visa’ issued goes through Asio check regardless of where applicants come from
Dan Tehan is up with the next opposition question:
Minister, of all the visas that have been approved for applicants from the Gaza war zone since October 7, have any been granted without an ASIO security assessment being made?
Tony Burke:
There is a process which Asio is involved with, which applies to every single visa. Every single visa issued by Australia. Whether you come from the United States or whether you come from the Gaza Strip.
And that’s through what Asio will routinely refer to as their watch list, what is technically referred to as the movement alert list.
It is updated every 24 hours. With every name that Asio puts forward that they are concerned about.
Every single visa that has been issued by this government and by the previous government went through that check against Asio’s information.
Updated
We have clarified with Barnaby Joyce what it was he called across the House of Representatives chamber earlier in Question Time that prompted the prime minister to ask him to withdraw it.
Joyce informs us that he called Anthony Albanese a “sook”.
I called him a ‘sook’ and he raised an objection with the Speaker for me to withdraw,” Joyce told Guardian Australia.
Well, quod erat demonstrandum. If I call a tall person short or a genius an idiot, they fob it off. But if you call a person who is easily offended by the inoffensive a sook, and they are offended, well that is because they are a sook.
Good to get that straightened out.
Updated
Tony Burke:
If I can explain how arrangements work within the portfolio, every member here – and I haven’t been in the habit of sharing individual representations that members make to ministers, but, if we go down that path, we go down that path.
(That is a parliamentary way of saying – if you want me to start naming names on people who are making representations, I will.)
Burke continues:
Every minister here, every member here makes representations. When representations are made when I took on this portfolio, I have a similar arrangement to when I last took on the portfolio in 2013.
Anything with respect to my electorate, the representation I have to make to a different minister or the secretary of my department and the responsible minister who deals with all ministerial interventions of that form, which I will make on behalf of my electorate, is the assistant minister (Matt Thistlethwaite).
Anything in his electorate he would write to me.
So Burke isn’t the minister making the decisions if someone makes an appeal to him, as their local member. The decision is left with Thistlethwaite, as the assistant minister.
Updated
Coalition MP Anne Webster has the next question and asks Tony Burke:
Has the minister been lobbied by anyone in his electorate for a visa for an individual from the Gaza war zone since October 7?
Anthony Albanese raises a point of order on the question – it is asking Burke to answer something as the member for Watson, not as immigration minister.
Webster is then asked to re-work the question, and she does:
Has the minister been lobbied by anyone in his electorate, or any other electorate, for a visa for an individual from the Gaza war zone since October 7?
That question is in order.
Updated
Sukkar continues opposition line of questioning over visas for Palestinians
Michael Sukkar steps outside his housing portfolio to ask:
Prime minister, under the Albanese Labor government’s proposed visa arrangements for individuals from the Gaza war zone, will applicants be eligible for a permanent or a temporary visa?
Anthony Albanese:
I’m not sure how that fits in with the housing portfolio? I saw the manager of opposition business this morning speaking about how we needed less questions from the crossbench and more questions from the shadow ministry, because they stuck to their portfolio of speciality. I saw that this morning.
But that changed in a matter of hours. It didn’t last a matter of hours.
He then gets to the substance of the question:
The arrangements that we have in place are the same that were in place under the former government. The role of Asio, the use of the movement alert list, the processes that we use to vet visa applicants – all is unchanged.
Updated
Faruqi says ‘slaughter’ in Gaza could end today if US and Australia cut off support to Israel
Ahead of question time in the senate, the Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi delivered a statement on what is happening in Gaza and the Labor government response:
I’ve had it up to here with your rubbish and false accusations about the Greens so Labor can cover up their inaction on Israel’s genocide in Gaza while smearing those who are speaking up for justice for Palestine.
Hiding behind so-called social cohesion to attack and silence anti-genocide protesters is just plain disgraceful!
The slaughter could end today if the US and Australia really wanted it to end. They have the power to cut off Israel’s support – and yet they refuse. With every passing day, more Palestinians are butchered, and you sit on your hands.
We will never forget. We will never forgive.
Updated
And here is the first back and forth between Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese on visas for Palestinians.
Mike Bowers captured the sit-in that climate protesters held in the Parliament House marble foyer this morning:
Updated
Ed Husic has managed to sneak in another (dated, but we will allow it) pop culture reference in one of his dixer answers:
Thinking of Angus [Taylor] as a manufacturing worker is like thinking of Derek Zoolander as a coalminer! I mean, it just doesn’t fit!
Dan Tehan, looking as if he could do with an orange-mocha frappachino, asks for members to be referred to by their correct titles.
Milton Dick misses an opportunity to ask if anyone ever thinks there is more to life than being really, really, really ridiculously good looking, and instead says the point of order is valid.
Updated
Doctors urge phase-out of fossil fuels as analysis shows pollution is ‘killing more Australians’
Stepping outside parliament for a moment – Australian doctors are calling for fossil fuel use to be phased out after the release of new analysis on the health harms caused by fossil fuel pollution and climate change more broadly.
Gas heating and stoves in homes caused one in eight cases of childhood asthma, according to the new report from Doctors for the Environment Australia launched on Wednesday.
The report also found climate change distress was worsening young people’s mental health and rising extreme weather events – including heatwaves, Australia’s most deadly natural disaster – were causing deaths, displacement and disease.
DEA’s executive director and GP Dr Kate Wylie targeted the polluting harms of burning coal, oil and gas:
This smoke kills – whether it’s coming from a gas stove or a car exhaust, it gets into our lungs and bloodstream and causes disease, disability and death.
Also launching the report was communications group Comms Declare, whose founder Belinda Noble called for restrictions on fossil fuel advertising:
Fossil fuel pollution is killing more Australians than car crashes, alcohol and gambling combined and yet the fossil fuel industry is allowed to continue spending millions of dollars on promotion every year.
Updated
Bowen says small business grants intended to help improve businesses’ energy efficiency
Independent MP Dai Le has the first of the crossbench questions and asks Anthony Albanese:
Prime minister – a local business in Fowler has seen his energy bills go from $4,000 to $11,000 per quarter. Affordable energy prices are critical to fight cost-of-living pressures and the survival of competitiveness of many businesses. What is your government doing to fundamentally change the systems by which electricity is currently charged across Australia to create certainty and access to lower costs for consumers and businesses?
Chris Bowen takes this one:
The honourable member asked about small business, and about consumers and businesses. This government is providing relief to both of them. In relation to that, we’re providing direct relief. We have provided a tax support to assist small businesses in making the transition to more efficient energy uses.
The deputy leader of the opposition scoffs and says – wow.
Well, it is good to provide support to small businesses for the energy transition. We on this side of the house think that. The opposition doesn’t agree.
The opposition does not agree with providing a support to small business. The deputy leader of the opposition scoffs at that, and dismisses it. We’re delivering $62 million in small business grants to improve energy efficiency to small business. And in relation to residences, state and territory ministers agreed with me a couple of weeks ago to adopt a consumer energy roadmap, which I think the honourable member was referring to, which puts residences and consumers in charge of their own energy use.
Updated
The Asio director general’s comments which led to opposition’s Gaza questions
These questions (and indeed the whole issue being raised today) are in response to the director general of Asio, Mike Burgess, saying on Sunday during his interview with the ABC that someone expressing rhetorical support for Hamas would not necessarily mean they wouldn’t pass a security check.
Burgess was saying the agency looks at whether a person is ideological, whether they have given support, through financial or other means, and the comments, if any, themselves.
He was saying that a comment in isolation would not necessarily mean someone would fail a security check: ie – security agencies use contextual information.
Updated
Ley asks PM whether any concern has been expressed about arrivals from Gaza
Sussan Ley gets the next non-government question and you can probably see a theme emerging here:
Prime minister – has any agency expressed any concern about any individual who has arrived from the Gaza war zone since October 7? And, has any such individual had their visa cancelled?
Before he begins his answer, Anthony Albanese asks for something Barnaby Joyce said to be withdrawn.
“Withdraaawwwww,” Joyce says, drawing out the word.
The opposition laughs.
Anthony Albanese:
One of their best on the frontbench, Mr Speaker. One of their best. One of their best!
Mr Speaker, that question is, perhaps, of the entire time since federation, perhaps the most broad. Has anyone, anywhere, any time, done something, somewhere! [Labor MPs laugh at this.]
Can I say this, Mr Speaker. Can I say this, Mr Speaker.
We have exactly the same process with, indeed, the same director general of the security organisation who has just been reappointed another five years, that they had in charge, with the same rules in place as the director general of Asio confirmed on Sunday and confirmed last week.
The director general of Asio has certainly not expressed concerns to me along any of the lines which were raised by the shadow minister.
Updated
Anthony Albanese then moves on to Peter Dutton:
I seek to bring people together. This bloke …
(There are very loud interjections from the opposition benches.)
This weak leader here who can’t ever say no to anyone on his team, can’t say no even if it raises tension in our community.
And he is always looking for an opportunity to create division, which is what his off the cuff comments were about today, that didn’t go to their shadow cabinet, didn’t go to their caucus, didn’t go through any of their proper processes, yet again.
Updated
PM says visa system ‘exactly the same’ as when Dutton was immigration minister
Anthony Albanese continues:
I’d make two comments … one of which relates directly to security assessments and they are done by the Asio director general.
If the leader of the opposition doesn’t have confidence in that system, he should say so.
It’s exactly the same system that was in place when the leader of the opposition was the minister for immigration, who presided over these issues.
I want to make another point relating to this and the comments from the Asio director general that he made on Monday August 5. He said this about social cohesion: “This is really a matter for everyone. Community leaders, politicians and media. Watch your words and actions. There’s a direct between enflamed language and enflamed tension and violence.”
Updated
Question time begins with clashes over Palestinian visas
Peter Dutton has started question time with:
Prime minister, in order to hold a visa, individuals must pass a character test. Does supporting a listed terrorist organisation like Hamas, does it pass Australia’s character test?
Anthony Albanese:
I notice the leader of the opposition at a time where we were celebrating Olympians coming back to Australia, a moment of national unity, chose once again to seek divisions this morning on Sky News.
And, of course, under the former government, there’s this organisation called the Taliban in Afghanistan. And that, of course, did not stop Australia from accepting people from Afghanistan.
And rightly so, Mr Speaker. Rightly so.
Rightly so. Similarly, in Iraq, similarly in Syria, with the chaos that occurred, a special visa created for people from Syria, indeed.
The Asio director general, Mike Burgess, of course, made some comments about this on Sunday …
Dutton has a point of order on relevance. Mark Dreyfus says something I don’t hear and is asked to withdraw. Tony Pasin is also asked to withdraw a comment.
Updated
Macnamara MP Josh Burns has tweeted in response to Peter Dutton’s earlier comments this morning that Australia should not accept Palestinians from Gaza:
Australia doesn't have a race based immigration policy. It has been a long time since we had one and we should never go back.
— Josh Burns (@joshburnsmp) August 14, 2024
Our security agencies assess individuals on a range of factors including character and security grounds, as they did when Peter Dutton was the Minister.
Bob Brown fined $500 for trespassing during native forest logging protest
The former Australian Greens leader Bob Brown says he will appeal after a court fined him $500 for trespassing in a native forest logging area.
Brown, 79, was last week found guilty along with two others of trespassing in a logging area – known as a coupe – in forest on the state’s east coast in November 2022.
Hobart magistrates court heard Brown had refused to leave a coupe when asked by forestry workers. The magistrate, Jackie Hartnett, said there was a legitimate and democratic right to protest, but it was not unfettered.
The protesters argued the land was used by the swift parrot for foraging and nesting. Brown said a swift parrot flew overhead as he was arrested, an event that under law should have led to logging stopping within 500m of where it was sighted.
Hartnett did not record a conviction against the longtime environmentalist, noting the offence was brief and he had not been convicted of any offence since the mid-1990s.
Speaking outside court, Brown said the protesters had defended both “the natural law” and “the law of the land”.
This was a crime being committed against the laws of this country. That is … when swift parrots are reported to be present all logging must stop.
So I reject this proceeding … The wrong people are being fined.
Brown said he has asked the Tasmanian police commissioner to investigate the “spiteful” felling of a swift parrot nesting tree known as Lisa’s tree after he was arrested.
Updated
Fatima Payman opposing phase-out of live sheep exports
The former Labor senator Fatima Payman said she would let her WA listening tour dictate what she raised in parliament and true to her word, she is now arguing against the Labor phase-out of the live sheep export industry.
Payman is also referring to “the wise men and women of the east” (pejorative) in her Senate speeches.
Updated
Meanwhile, overnight, the Parliamentary Friends of AFL event was held in the parliament, attended by Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton.
Mike Bowers was there:
Bowers tells us that during Dutton’s speech to the group, he told the crowd that at the AFL breakfast on grand final day, “one of the hardest things to do was try and be a comic” at those sorts of events, because “although we banter during question time, neither me or the prime minister are funny”.
Truer words and all that.
Albanese yelled from the crowd “it’s all relative” and Dutton responded “you need to work on it” and then both thought that was hilarious.
Updated
We are now just a little over 20 minutes away from the next question time.
After an absolute flurry of activity this morning (a lot was said, not a lot was achieved) there has been a little bit of a lull, but that will change again very soon.
So grab what you need now – maybe have a little treat while you are at it. I think we are all going to need it.
Updated
NZ reserve bank cuts interest rates amid flatlining economy
New Zealand’s reserve bank has cut interest rates for the first time in four years, despite previously saying it could be 2025 until it took such an action.
As AAP reports:
On Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) cut the official cash rate from 5.5% to 5.25%.
The decision was a surprise to many economists, given the RBNZ warned as recently as May that it may not cut rates until August 2025.
However, fresh data releases in the three months since – including a fall in headline CPI inflation to 3.3% – has prompted RBNZ governor Adrian Orr to move.
At the core of the NZRB’s decision was NZ’s flatlining economy, including a double-dip recession.
Gross domestic product per capita has fallen in each of the past six quarters for a total of about 4%.
Updated
PM spruiks Future Made in Australia legislation
Anthony Albanese spoke on the government’s Future Made in Australia legislation in the house a short time ago, where he invoked the spirit of Australia’s war and postwar prime ministers, John Curtin and Ben Chifley.
If you look back to the creation of the car manufacturing industry under John Curtin and Ben Chifley and their vision for national reconstruction after the second world war, there is an economic multiplier effect.
But importantly, Curtin appointed Chifley as the minister for reconstruction at the height of World War Two – That’s vision.
That’s making sure that you look forward and plan for it and invest in it.
Because the truth is that there is an economic multiplier effect with all of this.
It’s always more than the sum of the parts.
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Pocock says Dutton comments on Palestinian visas ‘completely hypocritical’
AAP has independent senator David Pocock saying that Peter Dutton’s comments “only exacerbate the tension on our social cohesion and are completely inconsistent with the advice of Asio head Mike Burgess”:
The continuing, extreme, state-perpetrated violence, starvation and killing of civilians and hostages in Gaza is completely horrific. Australia needs to be doing more, not less, to support people seeking to flee one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes of our time.
It is completely hypocritical for the Coalition to support additional humanitarian visas for people fleeing conflict in Afghanistan and Ukraine but not Gaza.
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Greens Senator says Naplan results show public school funding should be boosted
Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne has responded to the latest Naplan results and says if the government truly wants to improve student outcomes, it would boost funding for public schools.
We shouldn’t sugarcoat it. We are at risk of a full-blown flight of parents and kids out of a public system that is being left to rot, while money pours into the pockets of the richest private schools.
Minister Clare talks of more testing and more checkpoints, when what we really need is more teachers, smaller class sizes, less admin and red tape, and enough funding so that all students, regardless of where they live or how wealthy their parents are, get the support they need.
The so-called ‘Better and Fairer Schools Agreement’ doesn’t even come close to delivering that. It does nothing to fundamentally reform our outdated education model, make schools more inclusive or reverse the growing inequities between the public and private systems.
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National Farmers’ Federation welcomes 3G shutdown delay
The National Farmers’ Federation has welcomed the delay to turning off the 3G network (it is now set to be switched off at the end of October) and president David Jochinke said it was now time for people to get a wriggle on:
This is not the time to take a ‘she’ll be right’ attitude. I urge people to check their devices urgently and make sure they are compatible with the 4G and 5G networks.
Jochinke said people needed to check all their technology – including agricultural tech such as livestock and dog trackers, weather stations, soil moisture probes, yield monitors and variable rate technology. There’s also security cameras, EFTPOS machines, medical monitors, 3G landlines (NGWL), repeaters, antennas and electronic road signs.
We can’t keep prolonging the inevitable. Let’s use this time wisely and then start focusing on how we move forward and address the systemic issues facing rural connectivity.
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Human rights commission endorses crossbench bill to make housing a human right
The Australian Human Rights Commission has given its support to the private members’ bill David Pocock and Kylea Tink have introduced, which would enshrine housing as a human right in Australia.
The bill would require the government to develop a long-term national housing and homelessness plan, which would be based on a human-rights approach to housing.
The AHRC president, Hugh de Kretser, plans to make progressing economic and social rights, including the right to adequate housing, a priority of his term which began last month.
De Kretser said:
Everyone needs a home. We should all be able to live somewhere in security, safety and dignity. Yet for many people in Australia, this is currently out of reach.
This Bill, if passed, would help to address this. It would promote a human rights-based approach to housing policy by requiring the federal government to develop a long-term plan to prevent and end homelessness and improve housing supply and affordability. It would improve accountability including by requiring progress reports to ensure we are making positive inroads into housing challenges.
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Teal independents urge amendments to Labor’s super tax bill
Teal crossbenchers have come together again for “urgent amendments” to the government’s better targeted super bill, particularly over the proposal to tax unrealised gains.
An unrealised gain is the amount an asset has increased in value but it hasn’t yet been realised. Think of a house increasing in value, but you haven’t “realised” the gain as yet, because you have not sold it, or borrowed against it.
The government wants to tax based on the unrealised gain, but the crossbench says that will have a “negative impact” on small businesses, startups, farmers, and self-managed super fund members.
Kylea Tink is among the teals who have introduced amendments to the government’s bill “highlighting that including unrealised capital gains in superannuation earnings would add complexity, increase costs, and create unintended consequences.”
The amendments call on the government to adopt a simpler method, such as using a deemed rate of return to reduce uncertainty and mitigate these issues.
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More than 1,200 Palestinians fleeing the war-torn strip have arrived in Australia on tourist visas since the conflict began on 7 October 2023. The numbers represent a fraction of the 7,000 tourist visas applied for by Palestinians in the 10-month period since 7 October. About 2,400 have been approved, with more than 4,600 applications rejected as of the end of May.
Pressure has been growing on the federal government to offer an alternative visa pathway for Palestinians from Gaza – similar to those offered to Afghans and Ukrainians in recent years.
Michaelia Cash told Sky News the pause on visas should continue until peace in the region is “restored”.
Cash said:
The one thing you’ll always get with Peter [Dutton] – you don’t have to like him, but guess what? He will always stand up for Australia, Australians and put the national interest first.
Cash was asked whether she thought Dutton’s comments this morning caught her colleagues by surprise. Cash said she disagreed.
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Cash says Gaza humanitarian visas should be paused ‘until peace is restored’
The shadow attorney general, Michaelia Cash, has clarified the Coalition is seeking to pause all humanitarian visas to those fleeing Gaza until “peace is restored”.
Cash made the comments to Sky News after the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, revealed he didn’t think “people should be coming in from that war zone at all at the moment”, citing national security.
The opposition’s frontbench has been out this morning to drive the message that security checks on those fleeing the war zone have been lax, despite the Asio boss, Mike Burgess, insisting on Sunday the security agencies are making all the necessary checks ahead of anyone being granted a visa for Australia.
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Date announced for NSW byelections to replace Dominic Perrottet and Matt Kean
New South Wales voters in the Sydney seats of Hornsby and Epping will elect new MPs on Saturday 19 October, following the resignations of Dominic Perrottet and Matt Kean.
The speaker of the legislative assembly in NSW parliament, Greg Piper, announced the date of the byelections a short time ago.
The byelections were triggered by the recent decisions of Perrottet, the former premier and member for Epping, and Kean, the former treasurer and member for Hornsby, to quit parliament.
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‘They’re human beings’: Jason Clare’s response to Dutton’s call to refuse visas to Palestinians
Here is Jason Clare’s full response to Peter Dutton following the opposition leader’s earlier comments that he doesn’t think Australia should be granting visas to Palestinians. He asked Dutton to come and talk to people in his community.
People in my community are hurting. I often say that the war in Gaza feels like a world away from most of us. But in my community, it’s much, much closer to home and the dead bodies that we see on our TV screens almost every night, for the people in my electorate, those dead bodies have names. Sometimes it’s mum, sometimes it’s dad, they’re family, brothers, sisters, children. And so they feel it intensely.
I’ve got a friend of mine, her family is trapped in a church in northern Gaza. There’s more than 400 people who’ve been living in a church now for more than nine months. And if they go outside, there’s a risk of sniper attack. People have been shot and killed outside the church. They’ve got to get food. They need medicine.
They are living like that now for nine months, I’ve had the privilege to be on Skype calls and talk to them and understand the lives they’re living.
They’re human beings. They’re just like you and me. And they’re trying to survive. And that’s why my community, like, I think, anybody with a brain, anyone with a heart, would be saying, this war needs to end.
The fighting needs to stop. The killing and the slaughter of innocent people need to stop. The starvation of kids needs to stop.
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Labor senators accidentally vote in favour of One Nation vaccination bill
Over in the Senate there has been a bit of an oopsie-daisy with Labor’s vote on Pauline Hanson’s vaccination bill.
We mentioned the bill a little bit ago – Hanson introduced it in 2022 and it would ban the ability of states to stop people from travelling across state lines during a pandemic response, or based on vaccination status. It’s been sitting on the notice paper for a while and came up for debate this morning.
It was all meant to be handled very quickly because there were not enough votes in the Senate to pass the bill.
But someone didn’t tell the Labor senators which side of the chamber they were supposed to be sitting, because they ended up on the ‘aye’ side, and voting for the second reading, before asking for the vote to be recommitted (done again) and moving to the no side.
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Greens say tax on big tech can fund free-to-air TV in place of gambling ads
The Greens’ communications spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, is up at 11:30 to discuss taxing big tech and funding journalism.
Yesterday, she responded to Bill Shorten’s comments that gambling ads were needed to fund free-to-air TV, describing them as a “clanger”.
She told Guardian Australia:
We all know that the business model of media in this country is broken, but profiting from the misery and addiction of gambling is not the answer.
The Greens have put forward real solutions to support quality journalism. If we want to fund journalism we need a tech tax, not more problem gambling and predatory ads during the footy.
Instead of funding journalism with the human misery of gambling addiction, Labor should get real with a tech tax on the global giants like Meta, Google and TikTok to make them pay for the journalism and content they monetise.
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Asked if she was calling for new security checks, or for intermittent checks, Jane Hume said:
Well, that’s up to our intelligence and securities agencies.
I’m not going to tell them how to do their jobs,
…That’s up to them as to how the appropriate ways to deal with this cohort, but what we’re saying is, unless we can be assured that those security checks have been done and that we are not inviting people in that are active supporters of terrorist organisations, particularly Hamas, which we have identified here, but we can’t then be assured that we’re keeping Australians safe.
That’s the government’s first job – keep Australians safe. If they can’t guarantee that that’s the case, well then there should be a temporary pause on visitors from that area.
Mike Burgess, the head of Asio, has said that security checks have been done.
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Here is a little bit more from the Jane Hume interview on Sky News from earlier this morning.
(A reminder, the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt is under Israeli control on the Palestinian side, and has been closed for some time).
Hume:
We have asked Tony Burke, the new minister, to make sure that Asio does appropriate checks of those … to cease all …temporarily cease, all, all visitors from Gaza, from that area … unless that can be assured there’s those appropriate checks.
But more importantly, those that have already come here, to make sure that they retrospectively have security checks.
(Asio has confirmed they have been involved in security checks of people receiving visas to Australia.)
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Melbourne mayor says e-scooter ban will ‘make our city safe again’
The Melbourne lord mayor, Nicholas Reece, says the city council’s decision to end its rental e-scooter scheme will “make our city safe again”.
Melbourne city council on Tuesday night voted to rip up contracts with rental e-scooter operators Lime and Neuron. The council has given the operators 30 days to remove their e-scooters from the council area, which includes the CBD and Docklands areas.
Speaking to reporters, Reece says the decision is the “reset that Melbourne needs” for the scheme:
This was an opportunity to end the havoc on Melbourne’s footpaths and make our city safe again.
Private e-scooters will still be able to be used in the Melbourne city areas and the rental scheme will continue to operate in Port Phillip and Yarra councils.
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Police remove climate protesters from Parliament House
Police have removed climate protesters who were carrying out a sit-in, in the marble foyer of Parliament House.
The hall is a public area of the parliament and is often the scene of protest action.
The group wanted “the prime minister to come and hear from community members from the frontlines, or agree to a meeting”.
In a statement, the protesters said they felt “betrayed by the Albanese government’s abandonment of major reform to our environment laws earlier this year, following pressure from coal and gas companies”, and say “it’s clear the government is not listening to those hit hardest by the climate crisis”.
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Would a gambling ad ban really drive punters to offshore operators?
As mentioned earlier in this blog, Anthony Albanese told the ABC, when asked what the unintended consequences of a gambling ad ban could be, “You’re aware that there’s this thing called the internet? And the internet means that people can gamble offshore”.
Albanese said it made it “much more difficult to put restrictions on” companies.
Yesterday, the chief executive of Responsible Wagering Australia – which, despite its name, is in fact the peak body and lobby group for the gambling industry – argued bans don’t work because they only drive gamblers to illegal offshore services.
Spain dealt with the same industry arguments when it proposed stronger gambling advertising reforms. The Spanish gambling regulator noted;
The gambling industry and the TV and advertising sectors lobbied against the reforms. None of the dire predictions have occurred … The TV stations said that they would go broke without gambling revenue and this has not happened … Spanish sports teams said that they wouldn’t be competitive if they were the only ones not allowed sponsorship, and this hasn’t happened either … The threat of gamblers migrating to illegal operators had not occurred either.
This all came out in Australia’s parliamentary inquiry.
The Australian communications regulator, Acma, does a fairly good job blocking problematic gambling sites, and there have been calls to give them more resources to implement regulations.
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From previous reporting, we know that because of the realities of the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, security agencies have access to more information on Palestinians than most people who apply for Australian visas.
Even before the war, Palestinians were made to go through daily checkpoints and security checks to move around. Palestinians were required to receive permission to travel and had to have special identification documents in order to move through different territory.
The head of Asio, Mike Burgess, told Guardian Australia in March his agency had not been pressured by the government to speed up the security checks of anyone applying for visas from Gaza.
He said then:
If we have grounds to say that we are going to impact [an] individual, we have to have the evidence and that’s subject to a rigorous assessment. It can’t just be, ‘I feel … there’s a bit of doubt, so we’ll do it.’
We don’t work that way.
Burgess confirmed on Sunday that Asio had been involved in security checks of people being granted Australian visas as per the usual processes.
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Jane Hume said security checks should be done “retrospectively” on those already in Australia.
What we’re saying is unless we can be assured that those security checks have been done and that we are not inviting people in that are active supporters of terrorist organisations, particularly Hamas, which we have identified here [as a terrorist group], we can’t then be assured that we’re keeping Australians safe.
The Victorian Liberal senator also flagged the terror threat level had been recently raised.
The Sky News host asked whether Hume had received briefings to link the two issues.
Hume said no, but added “there are lots of hot spots around the world, but this is one of them”.
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Liberal senator says Palestinians from Gaza should have ‘retrospective’ security checks
The shadow finance minister, Jane Hume, has told Sky News Palestinians fleeing Gaza should have “retrospective” security checks after Peter Dutton earlier urged for a temporary ban.
Dutton told Sky News on Wednesday morning he didn’t think “people should be coming in from that war zone at all at the moment”, citing national security.
The Asio boss, Mike Burgess, told the ABC’s Insiders on Sunday that all the necessary checks are made ahead of anyone being granted a visa for Australia.
Still, the Coalition insists it needs “assurances”.
Hume said a temporary pause on granting visas for those in Gaza was necessary for the sake of “safety”.
Hume told Sky News:
If [visa security checks have] been done in 24 hours, and some as little as an hour, it’s kind of hard to imagine that they have been [done adequately] – certainly not to the satisfaction of ordinary Australians.
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Victorian premier hopes Melbourne council will ‘have a change of heart’ after e-scooter ban
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has questioned the City of Melbourne’s decision to ban e-scooters, less than a month after spruiking their benefits at a joint press conference.
Allan told reporters this morning the lord mayor, Nick Reece, had joined the public transport minister recently to announce a new framework for their use.
She said:
It’s only two or three weeks ago, the lord mayor was out there talking about the 3m trips that e-scooters have saved across the city, and how they have a role in that public transport network. And that is why, as part of our evaluation of the trials that have been under way in different parts of the state, we’ve recognised that e-scooters have a role, but that also the safety framework needed to be strengthened.
And there is a personal responsibility around how people use e-scooters, and we’ve seen from time to time that that personal responsibility hasn’t been followed to community expectations, and so we’re strengthening the safety framework around that.
She urged the council to reconsider its decision and did not rule out intervention:
There is a role for e-scooters in our public transport network, particularly for those last mile journeys, for getting cars off local roads.
And I really hope that the City of Melbourne can have a change of heart.
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Albanese suggests gambling ad ban would encourage offshore betting
Over on ABC TV Breakfast, Anthony Albanese was asked what the “unintended consequences” of a gambling ad ban could be. (The prime minister and government MPs have often cited “unintended consequences” as one of the reasons they are taking the go-slow approach in responding to the Peta Murphy inquiry recommendations).
Albanese:
Are you aware that there’s this thing called the internet?
And the internet means that people can gamble offshore.
That means there are no, much more difficult to put restrictions on. There’s a range of issues that you need to deal with, issues which people who look at this in a sensible way understand we want to make sure that we deliver further change.
We know there’s more to do, but as I said, we’ve already done more in two years than any previous government combined.
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Coalition criticises CFMEU administration bill but says it will help it pass
The shadow workplace relations minister, Michaelia Cash, has said the Coalition stands “ready to help Labor clean up a mess of its own making” by helping to pass the bill to appoint administrators to the construction union.
However, Cash said the current bill is not strong enough, one could “drive a truck through it” and it looks like it could have been “co-authored by the CFMEU [Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union]”.
This is obvious hyperbole, because the CFMEU is fiercely opposing the bill, arguing it takes away their rights to due process, because the federal court is currently considering an application to appoint administrators.
The Coalition has 20 proposed amendments to the bill. Cash is meeting Murray Watt at 10am to discuss them. Cash refused to say if the Coalition will block or delay the bill if Labor does not agree – instead she just reiterated that the bill would pass this afternoon if Labor agreed to its demands.
We’ll have to wait and see if the Coalition is prepared to vote with the Greens to delay the bill, which would be a win for … the CFMEU.
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As the interview continued, the host revealed that maybe he wasn’t quite across the way visas are granted in Australia. Or the fact that the border crossing between Palestine and Egypt is now controlled by Israel (on the Palestinian side) and closed. No one is allowed out other than the most serious of medical transfers, and even that is not guaranteed. So there is a “pause” – because Israel is not allowing people to leave Gaza, even if they have a visa.
People who came to Australia before the border crossing was shut did undergo security checks, including with Asio, as is standard practice. This has been confirmed by the head of Asio himself, Mike Burgess.
Host: Why not refer it all to Asio?
Albanese: They are.
Host: Why not have Asio decide every entry, every visa …
Albanese: Guess what they do? There’s security checks.
Host: So you think there shouldn’t be a stop? At least a pause …
Albanese:
There’s security checks. There’s security checks. What I think is important, but what the director-general of Asio thinks, who commented on this just on the weekend, is pretty important too, I would have thought.
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Albanese responds to Dutton’s comments on visa screening for Palestinians
Anthony Albanese also went on Sky News this morning, as part of the media carousel of “woohoo Olympians” that went on this morning.
He was asked about Peter Dutton’s comments about not allowing Palestinians into Australia.
Albanese:
Even on a day like today where we’re just celebrating and coming together as a country …
Host: Well, to be fair, I asked him about it, so he was responding to a question.
Albanese:
Peter Dutton is always looking to divide. We’ll listen to the security agencies when it comes to national security, and the director-general, Mike Burgess, will play a critical role in that. And, you know, I seek to try to bring people together, not always looking for a wedge or to divide.
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The joint standing committee on treaties (yes, there is a committee for almost everything) has recommended the parliament ratify the following treaty agreements:
Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Republic of Fiji on Cooperation in the Field of Defence and the Status of Visiting Forces (Australia-Fiji agreement)
Protocol on the Accession of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and associated side-letters (UK Accession to the CPTPP)
Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity Agreement relating to Supply Chain Resilience (IPEF Agreement),and
International Labour Organisation Convention No. 191: Safe and Healthy Working Environment (Consequential Amendments) Convention (ILO 191).
Is gambling really ‘not the same as tobacco’?
Earlier this morning, Bill Shorten said: “The point about it is gambling, in my opinion, is not the same as tobacco”.
Gambling has been identified as a serious public health issue, with the industry using the same deceptive and harmful tactics as big tobacco to influence politicians and policy.
As Prof Samantha Thomas wrote in an editorial for Guardian Australia, the parallels between tobacco and gambling are in fact striking. Thomas has comprehensively researched gambling marketing tactics, finding the industry intertwines itself with sporting codes, media companies and politicians.
Guardian Australia has interviewed many young people affected by gambling as part of this series on youth gambling, along with teachers and parents, who told us about kids gambling before, during and after school.
One of the young people we spoke with was just 10 years old when he started gambling online – an addiction that by the age of 15 would see him lose about $2,000 and grappling with addiction, embarrassment and despair.
Young people we spoke with wanted the government to ban gambling advertising; this sentiment came out strongly among young people surveyed as part of Thomas’s research, who said they want the government to protect them from the marketing tactics of the industry.
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Commonwealth Bank winds back fossil fuel investment in latest climate report
In a move that might have some political reverberations, Commonwealth Bank, Australia’s biggest bank, has released its annual climate report which further winds back financing for the fossil fuel industry.
As we noted here last month, CBA was already lending the least among the big four Australian banks to gas, coal and oil industries.
Now they’ve gone further, declaring today it will halt “new corporate or trade finance, or bond facilitation” for companies in that sector beyond the end of this year unless they meet the bank’s core criteria.
That criteria is based on keeping temperatures “well below” the 2C goal of the Paris agreement (not the 1.5C end of that range, mind). Still, CBA demands clients provide a “transition plan” on how they’re cutting emissions - and if the plan falls short or they don’t provide one, the funding tap is turned off.
Market Forces, a lobby group, hailed what they said had been “the worst offender on climate and lending to fossil fuel companies to the first of Australia’s major banks to announce its break up with climate-wrecking clients”.
Kyle Robertson, the group’s senior banks analyst, said CBA’s move stood in contrast with ANZ, NAB and Westpac which were all busily arranging a new $750m for Santos for its “massive and dangerous expansion plans”.
ANZ, NAB and Westpac shareholders, customers and staff will be furious these banks are breaking their climate promises again, and expect them to match CommBank when they release their disclosures in November,” Robertson said.
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Apra imposes licensing requirements on Cbus Super over CFMEU links
The industry super fund Cbus has responded to Apra’s announcement it is imposing additional licensing requirements on the fund.
The CFMEU is a shareholder of one of the trustees of Cbus (United Super).
In a statement released this morning, the watchdog said it “notes the recent public allegations regarding serious misconduct within the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) and the steps taken by state and federal governments and the Fair Work Commission”.
While these allegations are yet to be tested or proven through a court or tribunal process, APRA is concerned about the potential impact on trustees.
The CFMEU is a shareholder of United Super and has appointed three directors to its 14-member board. The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Industrial Union of Employees, Queensland (CFMEU-Q), a separate legal entity to the CFMEU, is a shareholder of BUSSQ and has appointed four directors to its eight-member board, three of whom are also CFMEU officers.
Under the additional licence conditions, the trustees are “each required to engage an independent expert to conduct a review” to ensure it meets the “fit and proper” standard.
Cbus Super released a statement in response supporting the authority’s announcement and says the independent review “will build on the work that Cbus has previously commenced”.
Cbus continues to work constructively with the regulator and will fully cooperate with the independent reviewer.
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Telstra and Optus delay 3G network shutdown
Telstra and Optus have announced they’re delaying the shutdown of their 3G networks to give more time for customers to switch over.
The networks were due to begin shut down at the end of August, but that has now been delayed until 28 October 2024.
The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, said at the start of this month around 77,000 mobile devices, both 3G and 4G, would need to be upgraded before the shutdown to keep operating – down from 740,000 at the start of this year.
But another major concern has been connected devices that use 3G like ATMs, Eftpos machines, CCTV and medical alert devices. It is estimated hundreds of thousands of those devices may still be connected via 3G.
The two telcos are going to use the extra time to communicate with customers. The move is voluntary, but Rowland has faced calls in the past couple of weeks to use her powers to force the companies to keep 3G operating for now.
The shutdown will allow 3G spectrum to be reused for 5G, allowing faster speeds and more users.
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Seems Pauline Hanson has an eye on the next pandemic. The One Nation leader is speaking on her Covid-19 Vaccination Status (Prevention of Discrimination) bill from 2022, which would “prohibit the Commonwealth, States and Territories and other government and non-government entities from discriminating on the basis of whether a person has had a COVID-19 vaccination, in the provision of goods, services and facilities and also in employment, education, accommodation and sport”.
The bill, which will not pass the Senate, aims to “prevent any interference of free movement between and within States and Territories of the country”.
The bill supports the inalienable rights and freedoms of all Australians, acts to minimise interference in our daily lives and aims to reduce the interference imposed by unnecessary, restrictive bureaucratic red tape.
Mike Bowers wandered into the Senate this morning to capture the morning proceedings. Here is some of what he saw:
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Q: Shouldn’t everyone be screened by Asio?
Peter Dutton:
Well, if people are coming in from that war zone and we’re uncertain about identity or their allegiances – Hamas is a listed terrorist organisation, they’ve just committed an atrocity against the Jewish people, the biggest attack on people of Jewish faith since the Holocaust – and that the government wouldn’t be conducting checks? I don’t think people should be coming in from that war zone at all at the moment. It’s not prudent to do so, and I think it puts our national security at risk.
There is no suggestion that checks are not being carried out. Mike Burgess, the head of Asio, has explicitly and publicly said that security checks are being carried out. And if there is any doubt, further checks are carried out before any decision is made.
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Here are the comments Peter Dutton made when asked about Palestinians coming to Australia on Sky News a little earlier this morning:
Well, I just think every Australian would be shocked to think the government’s bringing in people from a war zone, and that Asio is not conducting checks and searches on these people.
We have a database, particularly out of the US, which allows for biometric checks and to bring people out on paper documentation when you don’t have a regime there to check the births, deaths and marriages registers as you would normally have, coming out of another country – it is, I think, something the prime minister needs to answer because we’re living in a heightened security threat environment, and the prime minister needs to be upfront with the Australian public.
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What you are seeing here is Bill Shorten morph the argument about free-to-air media revenues being part of the fight against the social media giants and big tech:
If we don’t have free-to-air TV, what happens then is, you’re going to get your news from Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook.
And you know, hasn’t the horse bolted on them?
Well, you know what?
I am not going to go into the dying of the night without fighting back against international tech giants giving us their extreme, unfiltered views with no accountability.
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In that interview with ABC RN Breakfast, Bill Shorten said he wasn’t making his argument for balance to protect any particular media network, as they “have done me no favours”.
I am not arguing in favour of Seven, Nine or Ten as individual corporations. They’ve never done me any favours. I’ve run for, you know, I’ve run for prime minister.
I’ve seen how heavy media institutions can pile in.
But you know what? Free-to-air TV is at least a voice of diversity in a world where we’re getting a lot of misinformation.
So, you know, it’s to say to some of the extreme, you know, the zealot anti-gamblers – I understand what you’re saying. I can agree with a fair bit of what you’re saying, but I’m also saying, please stop and think about the view that we don’t want all our news coming from Facebook, they’re not paying for Australian content.
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Bill Shorten then pushed back against the criticism from anti-gambling harm advocates (and some crossbenchers) that the government wasn’t doing enough to address gambling harm, saying they should go all the way.
Well, then abolish it, you know. Like, let’s … if the prohibitionists are going to be prohibitionists, then be prohibitionists.
And the thing is, merely because I won’t do 100% of what an advocate wants doesn’t mean I’m not interested in fixing it.
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Gambling ‘not the same as tobacco’, Shorten says
Bill Shorten also said that he understands the harm that gambling can do, as he has seen a family member struggle with a gambling addiction.
But he maintains there needs to be balance when it comes to weighing up advertising bans, with the revenue lost to free-to-air commercial media networks.
“The point about it is gambling, in my opinion, is not the same as tobacco,” he said.
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Shorten says Dutton’s Gaza comments a ‘misfire’ and ‘problem’
Bill Shorten also pushed back against Peter Dutton’s comments this morning that he doesn’t think anyone from Gaza should be allowed into Australia.
I think Peter’s misfired on that. I think if somehow he’s conflating the idea that every person lives in Gaza is a member of Hamas, I don’t share that view.
He hasn’t said that, but he says there’s risk.
Well, we currently have a process where Asio vet people, where we have national security checking and memo to Peter Dutton, we’re using the same process that he used.
So if he thinks our current process is no good, then what’s he saying about all the time when he was in charge?
… It’s a very small number of people who’ve been accepted here temporarily. Their temporary visas are coming to an end. Unfortunately, the war in Gaza isn’t, so I don’t know how humane it is to send people we’ve accepted back, and we’ve always had a principle that in a war zone, whilst there’s combatants and bad people, there’s a lot of innocent people.
And when we start saying that everyone’s guilty because of some people, that’s a problem.
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‘These are people who’ve had their homes blown up’: education minister responds to Dutton’s Palestinian visa comments
The education minister, Jason Clare, has responded to Peter Dutton’s call for the government to stop giving visas to Palestinians from Gaza.
Clare told Radio National:
There’s no one coming from Gaza at the moment, the Rafah gate’s closed. That’s just a fact ... Anyone that comes from Gaza, like anyone who comes from anywhere around the world goes through security processing ... [of] the same sort that existed when Peter Dutton was in power. And he knows that. He knows that.
There are people from Gaza here now. They live in my electorate, I’ve met them. [They’re] great people ... I’d invite Peter to come to my electorate and meet them. These are people who’ve had their homes blown up. Who’ve had their school blown up, who’ve had their hospital blown up, who’ve had their kids blown up.”
Clare said this would give Dutton a better understanding of the “human catastrophe” in Gaza.
He said:
I’d like to see the killing end. I’d like to see the suffering end. I’d like to see the starvation end. I’d like to see Israel open the gate, there’s plenty of food and medicine in Israel. [There’s] plenty of trucks – put the food and medicine in the trucks and stop kids starving to death. I’d like to see the occupation end. I’d like to see a two-state solution with two people who can live side by side in peace and security, rather than what’s happening at the moment.
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Seven West Media full year net profit dives 69%
Seven West Media has recorded a 69% slump in full year net profit to $45m, in a “tough result” for a company hit by an advertising slump.
The owner of the Seven Network and West Australian Newspapers said the results reflected the ongoing decline in advertising markets which was partially offset by growth in Seven’s revenue share of the total TV market.
“FY24 is a tough result for SWM in a challenging market,” the chief executive, Jeff Howard, said.
The trading period, marked by high inflation, has proven difficult for publishers and broadcasters around the world, due to subdued demand from advertisers and subscribers.
Free-to-air television and printed newspapers have been hit particularly hard, as they grapple with streaming and digital rivals.
No dividend was declared.
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It seems Qantas has been forgiven – at least by the prime minister. Anthony Albanese gave the airline a special shout out in his speech welcoming home Australia’s Olympians:
I do want to take a moment as well to thank [CEO] Vanessa [Hudson] and Qantas for once again reminding us of why every serious country in the world understands the importance of having a national airline.
And bringing Australians home and once again, looking after Australians as you always do.
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CBA posts robust result against backdrop of rising household costs
The Commonwealth Bank has recorded a $9.5bn full year cash profit, a modest decline from last year’s record, in a robust result generated against a backdrop of rising household costs.
CBA’s chief executive, Matt Comyn, said that while many Australians were challenged by cost-of-living pressures and were experiencing falling levels of disposable income, the economy remained resilient.
Comyn said:
Higher interest rates are slowing the economy and gradually moderating inflation.
Australia remains well positioned but downside risks continue around productivity, housing affordability, as well as ongoing global uncertainty.
Australia’s largest bank, which generates the bulk of its revenue from mortgage and business lending, has recorded increased numbers of customers falling behind on repayments.
The 90-plus day “past due” arrears for home loans jumped 18 basis points during the year, according to the results released this morning.
Consumer arrears also jumped in a reflection of the “impact of higher interest rates and cost of living pressures on some borrowers”.
The bank declared a final dividend of $2.50 per share, up from $2.40 a year ago.
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‘You put excellence in motion’: governor general welcomes home Australian Olympians
The governor general, Sam Mostyn, has opened the official welcoming back celebrations for Australia’s Olympic athletes and their teams with a speech:
Welcome home. These two words are going to be doing some very heavy lifting today because the emotion and the feeling of all Australians is just so heartfelt.
We really do welcome you home with pride, with joy, admiration, respect and love.
As athletes, you put excellence in motion and you leave us breathless. As competitors, you inspire future generations to dream of Brisbane 2032 and beyond.
As team-mates you show the power of belonging to bring out the very best in all of us.
And as Australians, you took Paris by storm and gave the world a lesson in Australian grit, determination and success. Huge congratulations! We are just so, so proud of every one of you.
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Labor ‘using the same process’ as Coalition in granting visas, Shorten says
The government has been pushing back against the Coalition’s attacks over the issuing of visas to Palestinians.
In his interview with ABC radio RN Breakfast, Bill Shorten repeated the line the government has been using – that it has used exactly the same process as the former government in granting visas.
Memo to Peter Dutton, we’re using the same process that he used.
So if he thinks our current process is no good, then what’s he saying about all the time when he was in charge?
There are about 1,500 Palestinians on temporary visas in Australia, who are facing the end of their visa. The government has acknowledged it will have to create a fix.
Shorten also acknowledged that point this morning:
Their temporary visas are coming to an end unfortunately [but] the war in Gaza isn’t, so I don’t know how humane it is to send people we’ve accepted back.
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Palestinians from Gaza should not be allowed into Australia ‘at all’, Dutton says
Peter Dutton, who is also in Sydney welcoming home Australia’s Olympians, has also been on a bit of a media blitz this morning.
The Coalition have started the parliamentary week pushing back against Palestinians from Gaza being given Australian visas.
On Sunday the Asio boss, Mike Burgess, told the ABC’s Insiders that security agencies carried out all the necessary checks ahead of anyone being granted a visa for Australia.
Burgess was asked if someone expressing support for Hamas would be precluded from a visa, and Burgess said that if it was not ideological, if it was not giving money or support, then a rhetorical statement would not necessarily mean someone wouldn’t be given a visa.
If it’s just rhetorical support, and they don’t have an ideology or support for a violent extremism ideology, then that’s not a problem.
If they have a support for that ideology, then that will be a problem.
The Coalition have used those comments to launch a new attack line, which Dutton continued in an interview with Sky News this morning.
I don’t think people should be coming in from that war zone at all at the moment. It’s not prudent to do so and I think it puts our national security at risk.
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Meanwhile, Bill Shorten has continued to live his best media life, continuing to be the defender of free-to-air media while the gambling ad ban debate rages on.
Shorten spoke to ABC radio RN Breakfast arguing for the need for balance between addressing the harm gambling ads can cause and the need for a strong free-to-air commercial media.
Shorten said anti-gambling “zealots” needed to look at the bigger picture.
If you want more misinformation, then let’s kill off regional media. Let’s kill off free-to-air.
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Clare O’Neil spoke to Sunrise a little earlier about the Naplan results and she also said she was “worried” about them. She said it was down to the states to come on board the new agreement, but there was not going to be a “blank cheque”.
We do need this to see the states step up and say what goes on in these classrooms is really important as well as the dollars and we do need to see some changes there if we’re going to see these results shift,” she said.
Naplan reforms and new funding agreement will better identify students falling behind, minister says
Jason Clare said the changes to Naplan made in the last year can better help identify which students are falling behind. He says the federal government’s Better and Fairer Schools Agreement is the next step.
The Northern Territory has signed on, and WA is expected to be next. The other jurisdictions will make up their minds next month.
The 10-year agreement ties new funding to reforms to help lift student outcomes, sets targets and improves school funding transparency, including:
Year 1 phonics check and early years of schooling numeracy check to identify students who need additional help.
Evidence-based teaching and targeted and intensive supports such as small-group or catch-up tutoring to help students who fall behind.
Greater wellbeing support for learning and engagement, including through full-service schools, counsellors, wellbeing coordinators and mental health workers.
Increasing the proportion of students leaving school with a Year 12 certificate to 83.8% (by 2030), from 76.3% in 2022.
Reducing the proportion of students in the “needs additional support” category for reading and numeracy by 10 per cent and increasing the proportion of students in the “strong” and “exceeding” proficiency levels for reading and numeracy by 2030.
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Naplan results show ‘serious reform is needed’, education minister says
The Naplan (which stands for the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy) results are out, and the education minister, Jason Clare, is not mincing words:
The latest Naplan results show that serious reform is needed to build a better and fairer school education system.
Clare said this year’s Naplan results “show nearly one in 10 school students need additional support to meet minimum standards in literacy and numeracy” and “almost one in three students from poor backgrounds need additional support”.
A further break down of the results show one in three Indigenous students, one in four students living in remote locations and one in two students in very remote areas need additional help.
Clare said:
This shows that the education of your parents, where you live, and your background has a massive impact on your likelihood to start behind or fall behind at school.
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Good morning
Can you believe it is only Wednesday? It’s like the five-week break never happened.
The prime minister is kicking off the day in Sydney where he is welcoming home Australia’s Olympic team. He is also booked in for a whole heap of interviews across the breakfast TV programs, so he is keen to share the love.
Nothing gets politicians more excited than standing among the glory of winners, so brace yourself for that.
But maybe it will help take the sting out of the rest of the day and make what is coming for the government a little easier.
The gambling ad legislation is still dominating the agenda, with the government still leaning against a total ban as recommended by the Murphy review. Commercial TV networks have been making their case, arguing the loss in gambling ad revenue will impact their ability to produce local content. Bill Shorten helped kick that argument along on Monday, which has only fired up the crossbench.
Then there is housing, with Clare O’Neil stuck in the same situation as her predecessor, Julie Collins. O’Neil might be saying all the right things – acknowledging there is a housing crisis, that it is tough for renters and that the government wants to see more people be able to enter the housing market, but the policy hasn’t changed.
That’s an issue for the Greens, who are in the driver’s seat for negotiations, given the Coalition is complaining a lot, but not actually coming to the negotiating table.
The Greens, crossbench and stakeholders are also not impressed with the government for dumping the religious discrimination/freedoms commitment – the government says without the Coalition’s support, it will only descend into another culture war. It is clear that after the voice referendum, it’s not willing to go down that path. It’s the same story for the other parts of the Uluru statement from the heart, truth telling and treaty.
The Coalition have been pushing the government on whether it made a commitment to progress makarrata, but Albanese has been pushing back, arguing it was the Coalition’s behaviour during the voice referendum which has made progressing truth and treaty difficult.
Outside of the parliament, Linda Reynolds’ defamation case against her former staffer Brittany Higgins continues.
We will bring you all the updates – you have Karen Middleton, Paul Karp, Sarah Basford Canales and Daniel Hurst in Canberra, as well as Mike Bowers bringing the parliament to you. You have me, Amy Remeikis, with you for most of the day.
Bring on coffee number three, and let’s get into it.
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