What we learned today, Thursday 21 November
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Here are the main stories of the day:
The controversial ban on social media for under-16s has been introduced into parliament accompanied by a proposal to massively increase fines on social media companies which breach the legislation – up to $50m.
A chaotic two-day shutdown of Sydney’s train network has been averted at the 11th hour, after the state government caved to rail union demands to run 24-hour services to prevent workers striking.
The 19-year-old Melbourne woman Bianca Jones has died after suspected methanol poisoning in Laos.
The New South Wales supreme court has set aside a Minns government decision to cut off access to Newcastle harbour to try to prevent a four-day climate protest.
Bill Shorten has farewelled federal parliament.
Extreme heat is expected to hit much of South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and inland NSW while central Queensland braces for flooding.
We will see you back again for more news tomorrow.
Updated
Here’s the response in parliament to news that a Melbourne teen had died after suspected methanol poisoning in Laos:
Coles CEO tells inquiry supermarket sector is competitive
During today’s hearing of the ACCC’s inquiry into supermarkets, the Coles chief executive officer, Leah Weckert, repeatedly insisted that the sector was competitive.
At first, Weckert denied that Coles and its main competitor, Woolworths, were effectively offering the same product at the same – or very similar – prices.
Under questioning from the counsel assisting the inquiry, Naomi Sharp SC, Weckert conceded that “quite often there will be large numbers of products which are the same price in a single week”.
Sharp asked Weckert if there were “really incentives for Coles to compete vigorously with Woolworths on price?”
Weckert replied:
We would say competing on price and value is an absolute cornerstone of ours … so yes, it’s critically important to us.
Weckert acknowledged that Woolworths and Coles controlled 67% of the Australian market but said there were other “significant” competitors including Aldi and Amazon.
Amazon does not have a grocery delivery service available in Australia but it does sell a range of other dry goods and household products.
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Coles CEO says a third of all supermarket sales are of products on price promotions
Back at the ACCC inquiry, the Coles chief executive officer, Leah Weckert, has said a third of all of the company’s supermarket sales are of products that are on price promotions.
The Coles chief commercial officer, Anna Croft, said promotions were often placed on staple items such as dishwashing tablets, or “more impulsive products” such as chips and soft drinks.
She said:
You would see a higher proportion of promotions in impulse but we would run promotions across all categories in the supermarket.
There is a variety of promotions that would be relevant for different product types.
Separately to its inquiry, the ACCC has commenced proceedings in the federal court against both Coles and Woolworths for allegedly breaching consumer law by misleading shoppers through discount pricing claims on hundreds of common supermarket products.
The ACCC’s allegations relate to products sold by each of Woolworths and Coles at regular long-term prices which the regulator alleges remained the same - excluding short-term specials - for at least six months and in many cases for at least a year.
The consumer watchdog alleges these items were subject to price rises of at least 15% for brief periods.
The items were then placed in Woolworths’ “Prices Dropped” promotion and Coles’ “Down Down” promotion, the ACCC alleges, at prices lower than during the price spike but higher than, or the same as, the regular price that applied beforehand.
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Some lovely photos from Mike Bowers of Bill Shorten’s valedictory speech earlier today.
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Coles acknowledges ‘hidden form’ of inflation
The Coles chief commercial officer, Anna Croft, has acknowledged that so-called “shrinkflation” is a “hidden form” of inflation and conceded that the supermarket giant has ultimate control over retail prices.
As Guardian Australia has previously reported, food companies have been regularly reducing the size of their products but neither they nor the supermarkets have reduced retail prices, under a practice known as shrinkflation.
Croft and other senior Coles executives have been giving evidence to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s supermarkets inquiry today, where they were asked about the practice.
Croft said very few Coles products had been subject to shrinkflation but it would be open to measures to increase transparency, as long as these were imposed across the supermarket industry.
She said:
We would definitely want this to be an industry solution.
Because we’re very conscious under our obligations under the grocery code that we wouldn’t want to do anything that would impact the sales of our ... suppliers’ products as a result of putting the signage up on the shelf.
Counsel assisting the inquiry, Naomi Sharp SC, put to Croft that it was “fair to describe shrinkflation as a hidden form of inflation, isn’t it?”
Croft replied: “I think that would be fair.”
Sharp then put to Croft that Coles had “some control” over shrinkflation as it could set the retail prices it wanted and did not have to adhere to suppliers’ recommendations.
“Yes. We do set the retail price,” Croft replied.
At the ACCC inquiry earlier this month, the Australian Food and Grocery Council chief executive officer, Tanya Barden, defended the practice of shrinkflation.
She said it was a “difficult decision” for manufacturers and not one they took lightly.
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Five recent heroin overdoses in New South Wales have been linked to people using drugs thought to be cocaine, prompting NSW Health to sound the alarm over the dangers of recreational drugs increasingly being laced with potentially lethal opioids.
Medical director of the NSW Poisons Information Centre, Dr Darren Roberts, said all five people were hospitalised after the use of substances they thought to be cocaine, with two requiring intensive care.
A heroin overdose could quickly result from a single line. One of the dangers of illicit drug supply is the contents and strength of the substance you are getting is unknown and can be inconsistent. Opioids such as heroin can be sold as or found in cocaine, methamphetamine, and MDMA (ecstasy). You cannot always tell the difference between these drugs by appearance.
Roberts said people who used drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA or opioids should carry naloxone due to the risk of overdoses - a life-saving medication that reverses the effects of opioids.
The overdoses follow two recent deaths from heroin in September after users took what they thought was cocaine at a house party in Sydney’s inner west.
NSW supreme court overturns Minns government attempt to prevent climate protest
The NSW supreme court has set aside a Minns government decision to cut off access to Newcastle harbour to try to prevent a four day climate protest.
The court found the notice was invalid after hearing an urgent application from climate activist organisation Rising Tide on Thursday.
Rising Tide argued the four-day marine exclusion zone commencing at 5pm Thursday was an improper use of a section of the Marine Safety Act, which was intended to ensure special events proceed safely – not to prevent them from taking place at all.
Justice Sarah McNaughton accepted these arguments, telling the court that although lawyers acting on behalf of the transport minister Jo Haylen made “skilful submissions”, the wording of the relevant section was not designed to “prohibit the special event it purports to be regulating”.
McNaughton noted that while she had quashed the notice for the exclusion zone - which could have meant on the spot fines of up to $1,100 for anyone who breached it - this did not mean certain activities by Rising Tide organisers would be lawful.
This is because police did not approve the protesters’ form 1 application, meaning they are not protected from being charged under obstruction and unlawful assembly offences if they block the waterway.
Rising Tide plaintiff Alexa Stuart said:
“The NSW government was attempting to criminalise peaceful protest, but the real criminals here are the coal and gas companies who are continuing to put profit above all else and burn my future and the futures of all young people.”
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Many thanks for joining me on the blog today, as we wrap up the second-last sitting week of the year. Nino Bucci will be here to bring you the rest of our rolling coverage.
Sydney train strike called off
A chaotic two-day shutdown of Sydney’s train network has been averted at the 11th hour, after the state government caved to rail union demands to run 24-hour services to prevent workers striking.
Sydney train services had been set to stop running early on Friday morning, as part of a Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) work ban which was set to lift on Sunday morning.
However, last-ditch talks between New South Wales premier Chris Minns, transport minister Jo Haylen and RTBU secretary Toby Warnes led to an agreement that will see the union call off the strike that was set to affect all train services in the Sydney city network over a busy two-day period.
Guardian Australia understands the government has agreed to run 24-hour services over the two-day period, caving to a union demand that had become a bargaining chip as it sought to force action on the wider improved pay and conditions it was seeking from the government.
Updated
In case you missed it this afternoon, our climate and environment editor Adam Morton has published new analysis from Cop29 in Baku – where Australia’s plan to host a major UN climate summit in 2026 has hit a Turkish roadblock
You can read the full analysis below:
Well, that was a big two hours! Our own Mike Bowers has been in the gallery to capture all the action, and snapped these shots:
Peter Dutton says Bill Shorten has ‘the best political judgment’ on Labor’s front bench
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, also stood to say a few words on Bill Shorten following his valedictory speech.
Dutton made mention of his and Shorten’s regular Friday morning appearance on the Today Show together, and told the parliament:
I think this is a huge loss to the Australian Labor party, because observing from afar – and I say this fortuitously – my judgment is, with all due respect to some of my friends on the front bench and some of my enemies on the front bench, that he has the best political judgment on the front bench of the Australian Labor party, and he will be loss to the Labor caucus.
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Prime minister addresses parliament following Shorten’s valedictory speech
The prime minister has stood to say a few words after Bill Shorten’s valedictory speech.
Anthony Albanese said that “in this place you cannot keep a secret”, but the announcement Shorten would be retiring from politics was different:
With Chloe and Clem, we were both shocked that sometimes you can keep a secret in this place for a period of time because that, I think, was kept in confidence, as Bill and I had discussions where he informed me that he wanted to look for a new challenge …
Albanese said it would have been “totally understandable” if Shorten decided to walk away after the 2019 result.
No one worked harder to rebuild Labor in opposition … No one would have thought any lesser of Bill had he chosen a quiet life instead.
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Bill Shorten walked across to stand with his wife, Chloe, as the standing ovation continued and wrapped up.
Shorten concludes valedictory speech to loud standing ovation
Bill Shorten says that he would “not hand back a single minute of a single hour of a single day that I have spent in this place or in this job”.
Urging parliamentarians to be ambitious, Shorten tells the chamber he leaves “full of gratitude to all of those that made it possible”.
I encourage future parliaments to carry their sense of ambition forward … Perhaps most of all, be ambitious for the young people of this country who currently feel disenfranchised, disengaged and dismissed by the political process. Be ambitious for what you all can accomplish here. It is a privilege to serve this great democratic institution …
My final advice to future parliamentarians, all of our time here is finite … For the last time I thank the house.
Shorten is receiving a loud standing ovation from parliamentarians and those gathered in the gallery – packed full of people.
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Shorten: ‘You do regret your mistakes, you don’t forget your failures’
Bill Shorten has repeated the Frank Sinatra quote he said when he first announced his retirement from politics – “Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention.”
You do regret your mistakes, you don’t forget your failures. What I would give to go back to election day 2016 and turn up a sausage and bread and eat it a different way.
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Bill Shorten has also taken a moment to talk about his new role as vice-chancellor of the University of Canberra – which he will begin next February.
He says in this role he will “choose the side of young people” – and “the people who will nurture their inquisitive minds, their lecturers and tutors”.
I am excited to have new horizons to strive to in the national interest, consistent with the values that have animated me my whole working life. And to give something back to the city of Canberra – which has been for many of us our second home for so long.
Just before this, he spoke on the housing crisis and noted it is “harder than ever for young Australians to save for a first home.”
We must not become a society where the best predictor of a young person’s likelihood of owning a home is their parents’ current bank balance.
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Shorten speaks on climate change and the voice referendum in valedictory speech
Bill Shorten has been speaking on climate change, stating it “is not a Labor issue or a Liberal issue or a Greens issue or a teal issue”.
It is the world we live in and it is the country we pass on to our grandchildren.
He also said Australia has “unfinished business with our First Nations people”, speaking on the voice referendum:
It was a novel idea. Sadly, recognition in our constitution has become a toxic issue. I remain hopeful that with good faith on both sides that we can achieve recognition of Indigenous Australians in our nation’s birth certificate and genuine empowerment for our First Nations people, including the work of treaties.
The traditional owners of this land do not ask much from this parliament. Recognition, though, they do. 65,000 years of continuing connection to this continent that we are all lucky to call home.
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More on the Rising Tide protest in Newcastle
The activities have felt more party than protest as activists gathered in costumes on Horseshoe beach to watch the kayakers enter the water.
78-year-old Ken, who is from the Hunter Valley and paddled out alongside the protesters, said following the government and court orders would go against his “conscience”.
I’m old and I’m responsible for the problem that we’re in, and so I’m feeling now, the least that I can do is to be out here for my children and my grandchildren.
The group have called the protest the “People’s Blockade of the World’s Largest Coal Port”.
Alongside the blockade of the port is a four-day “protestival” which is expected to attract 5,500 demonstrators. A number of musicians will be playing during the course of the event, including Midnight Oil frontman and former environment minister Peter Garrett.
Rising Tide is demanding the government immediately cancel all new fossil fuel projects and end all coal exports from Newcastle by 2030. It is also calling for the government to tax current fossil fuel export profits at 78%, and to put that money towards community and industrial transition away from fossil fuels.
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Hundreds of climate activists paddle into Port of Newcastle aboard kayaks
Hundreds of climate activists have paddled into the Port of Newcastle aboard kayaks and rafts, defying a police-sought court order that attempted to stop the protest from going ahead.
One of the organisers for Rising Tide, Zack Schofield, told Guardian Australia as the kayakers lined up along the sand in preparation to paddle out: “we’re going to be staying out there as long as it is possible for us to do so.”
Earlier this month, the NSW police won a legal challenge in their attempt to stop the protest, which had planned to block coal from leaving the port for 30 hours. The police’s win means the protesters - which are taking part in what is expected to be one of the largest climate protests in Australia’s history - will not be protected from being charged under obstruction and unlawful assembly offences while they block the waterway
The organisers, Rising Tide, were in court again today, this time challenging the NSW government’s plan to impose an exclusion zone around Newcastle harbour, making it off-limits to the public for four days during which Rising Tide activists plan to hold their protest. After the NSW government issued the exclusion zone last Friday, the NSW Council for Civil Liberties accused it of acting outside the law in a “hell bent” effort to stop the protest from going ahead.
The protesters headed out two hours before the government’s exclusion zone was planned to start at 5pm, and which will carry through until Monday unless the organiser’s legal challenge is successful. Schofield said:
At the end of the day, this exclusion zone is the state government trying to arrest its way out of a problem that it’s created by approving new coal and gas projects in a climate crisis. We came here to get onto the water to make our voices heard.
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Shorten says the NDIS is ‘changing hundreds of thousands of lives’
At his valedictory speech, Bill Shorten has been speaking about the NDIS, and said it was a “privilege” to serve as disability spokesperson under Rudd and Gillard.
The NDIS gives dignity and agency to people with disability. It is by no means perfect but it is changing hundreds of thousands of lives… Its strength comes from putting people with disability at the centre, trusting them to make decisions …
I want to thank the prime minister for the opportunity he gave me to serve in his cabinet to get the NDIS back on track, at its birth and in its repair.
I must acknowledge as well, though, that the overwhelming majority of the parliament, the opposition and the government, that we want to make sure the scheme got back on track. While the NDIS was a Labor government initiative, it is not a Labor government issue. This has been parliament at its best.
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ANU chancellor: ‘our target to reduce spending by $250m per year has not changed’
The vice chancellor of ANU, professor Genevieve Bell, said every staff member who had voted to forego a pay rise had helped “shape the conversation” about how to achieve financial sustainability, while adding the need to reduce $250m in spending per year had “not changed”.
As I have said, all conversations and options must be on the table. The decision to reject the pay rise variation means we will need to look at other financial levers and controls. ANU is a unique place in our nation but we face some serious challenges and without changing the way we operate, we will not be able to deliver on our national mission.
I took the role as vice-chancellor because I deeply believe in ANU as a place that changes lives. Our target to reduce spending by $250m per year has not changed. We will continue to review our financial situation and budgetary targets on an ongoing basis, taking into account feedback received through our consultative processes, our statutory obligations, our progress in achieving savings, our revenue, the significant financial challenges and external factors affecting the university.
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Bill Shorten: ‘I am a proud moderate’
Back at Bill Shorten’s valedictory speech, he says parliament must “rise to the big issues and engage with them thoughtfully and respectfully”.
Declaring he is a proud moderate, Shorten says:
Let us not just be noisy actors talking at each other [and] over each other … parliament has a responsibility to ensure that the extremes of the left and the right do not set the terms of engagement of ideas in this country … I am a proud moderate. My goal has always been to turn ideas into outcomes. I reject outright the argument that being moderate is a sign of conservatism or apathy.
You can be in the centre of Australian political life and be a reformer, be a humanitarian and indeed be radical in the terms of ambition to get things done for the Australian people. I think being a moderate is an acknowledgement that Australians hold broad and diverse and competing views, but the majority in the middle should never be held hostage to the view on the zealous fringe.
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ANU staff vote no to proposal to freeze pay
Staff at the Australian National University (ANU) have issued a resounding defeat for a proposal to forego a 2.5% December pay rise, requested to stem budgetary losses at the institution.
Last month, the ANU Council gave directions to the chancellery to reduce the university’s recurring cost base by $250m by the end of 2025, including $100m in staff expenditure.
For the request to freeze pay to take effect, it required the agreement of a majority of ANU staff employed under the enterprise agreement through a vote. Out of a total of 4,782 staff, some 88% voted against, results released yesterday afternoon revealed.
NTEU ACT division secretary, Dr Lachlan Clohesy, said the vote should “never have happened”.
Now that plans for international student caps have been torpedoed, there is no continuing rationale for job cuts or pay cuts at the ANU.
In a letter sent to staff this afternoon, management expressed their gratitude to staff for their engagement in the consultative process.
We look forward to continuing to work with you in the coming year on how we can reach our financial sustainability goals.
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Bill Shorten has been speaking about his time serving as Labor leader, and what it has meant for him being a member of the party.
All of us in the parliamentary party, we are merely the tip of the spear [and] march at the head of a movement. We carry the hopes and aspirations of millions of working people who want better for their families and our country and we champion the cause of the most vulnerable.
These are the values and policies that the Albanese government will take to the next election … I’m confident that my colleagues will continue in government after the next election.
Bill Shorten argues there should be “no dividing line” in parliament any more between “those who are pro- or anti-employer, between those who are pro- or anti-union”.
This country no longer has the time to waste on that false choice. We can work together. Our nation needs this. It is what I’ve always sought to do.
There is a degree of irony of all the effort that I put into ensuring that both workers and companies benefit from negotiating better agreements, my reward was to be asked a thousand questions for two whole days at the now discredited Trade Union Royal Commission.
[I was asked] more questions than any CFMEU official. Although to be fair, none of them were leader of the Labor party.
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The NDIS minister is now speaking about the Beaconsfield mine collapse – he was the national secretary of the Australian Workers Union at the time.
Bill Shorten:
I was witness outside the superintendent’s office when a salt of the earth AAW miner from Rocky Cape looked at everyone – the police, coroner – and he said this is not a recovery operation, it is a rescue mission, until we know different, there are men down there still alive. And so a group of modest heroes dug through hard rock and saved their mates. When Brant and Todd emerged from the mineshaft, I certainly made sure they got paid for every day they were trapped down there.
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Shorten: democracy ‘under greater challenge than any time since the second world war’
Bill Shorten says that, on an occasion like this, “a measure of nostalgia is impossible to resist” – but that he wants to speak about the future.
Shorten says that right now, democracy is “under greater challenge than at any time since the second world war”, and we “cannot dismiss these threats just because we are the fortunate possessors of an island continent far away, hoping that our distance makes us immune from troubles elsewhere.”
We Australians, by and large, are a pragmatic bunch. We don’t tend to think in terms of isms or ologies. We don’t have time in our day for every new outrage and shock. Most Australians focus on the fundamentals – family, health, home and community.
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Bill Shorten’s speech is drawing laughs early on as he talks about his wife, family and his bulldog. There’s an Auslan interpreter relaying Shorten’s speech in sign language on screens in the parliament too – a nod to Shorten’s longtime advocacy for disability rights and the NDIS.
We can see numerous current and former Labor staffers in the public galleries watching his speech. Senators Helen Polley, David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie have also made their way into the chamber to listen.
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Let’s go back to Bill Shorten, who is continuing his valedictory speech in Canberra – thanking the 196 staff members who have worked for him during this 17 years in parliament.
Now it’s a bedrock convention in this place that we don’t mention, we don’t name all the staff. They don’t seek the spotlight. We don’t put it on them. Now I wanted to upend that and name them all.
But rather than name them all, he tabled a list of the 196 names.
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Fatima Payman says proposed electoral reforms a ‘major party conspiracy’
Independent senator Fatima Payman has described her former party’s proposed electoral reforms as a “major party conspiracy” and a “cynical attack on the diversity of the political landscape” in Senate question time.
There are audible groans from the government’s benches, who are obviously still bitter about Payman’s split from the party.
Payman begins positively, saying there are positive aspects of the bill such as lowering the disclosure threshold, before twisting the knife. Payman asks how the proposals can be seen as “anything other than a cynical attack on the diversity of the political landscape”.
The trade minister, Don Farrell, says Payman’s understanding of the bill is “not accurate” before saying she took these pledges to the people of Western Australia who elected her in 2022.
“Please stop misleading people, minister,” Payman shoots back.
An unlikely intervention into Farrell’s response comes from Nationals senator Matt Canavan, who interjects about Labor’s backflip on stage three tax cuts.
The former Labor senator says she should stop “expecting answers here”. Payman then asks why the bill is being rushed through without scrutiny. Farrell says:
You took everything that is in this legislation to the people of WA two-and-a-half years ago. This legislation is not a surprise to anybody ... The only people in this chamber that are seeking to block this legislation are the people who are backed by the billionaires.
A fact-check on that claim – we didn’t actually know the details of the bill until last week. Farrell has previously flagged he was seeking to legislate spending caps and truth in political advertising as early as 2022.
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Bill Shorten begins valedictory speech
The NDIS minister and former Labor leader, Bill Shorten, has begun his valedictory speech in parliament.
He will retire from politics next year before taking up the role of University of Canberra VC next February. His family is in parliament to watch the speech, as are various other luminaries – as we’ve outlined in previous posts.
Shorten began with thanks to his families, and opened with:
Political life is indeed tough. Election defeat, scandal, illness, Section 44. I stand here neither defeated or disposed, lucky to have served, fortunate to be able to say goodbye.
Peter Dutton offers ‘heartfelt support’ to family of Bianca Jones
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has also paid his condolences to Bianca Jones, saying the incident has been “shocking from the moment it was reported”.
Our heartfelt support goes out to Mark, Michelle and Lachlan Jones. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who are still on life support and we hope that there can be some comfort to the family knowing that every Australians’ heart is breaking for this tragic loss.
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Independent MP Zoe Daniel on death of Bianca Jones: ‘Our hearts are broken’
The independent MP for Goldstein Zoe Daniel is also speaking to the parliament on the death of Bianca Jones in Laos.
Jones and her friend Holly Bowles lived in her electorate. Daniel told the parliament:
Bianca and Holly went on a holiday to south-east Asia – a rite of passage many young Australians experience … they grew up in the bayside suburbs of Melbourne … Bianca’s brothers and sisters have been by her side during this ordeal over the last few days and they are suffering pain that no one should have to experience. I offer my thoughts to Holly’s parents who are her side in Bangkok.
To the families of these two young Aussie girls who just headed off on an adventure together, I know that so many members of our community are connected to these girls, to these families. I feel your grief. Our hearts are broken.
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Albanese offers ‘our deepest sympathy’ after confirmation Bianca Jones, 19, has died after feared methanol poisoning in Laos
The prime minister says he has received confirmation from the Department of Foreign Affairs that 19-year-old Bianca Jones has lost her life, after she and her friend Holly Bowles suffered a suspected methanol poisoning incident in Laos.
Anthony Albanese told the parliament:
Our first thoughts at this moment are with her family and friends who are grieving a terrible and cruel loss. This is every parents’ worst fear and a nightmare no- one should have to endure. All Australians offer them our deepest sympathy in this time of heartbreak …
We also take this moment to say that we are thinking of Bianca’s friend Holly Bowles who is fighting for her life there in Laos. Australians hold her and her family in our hearts as we pray for her and we hope for a good recovery.
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Ahead of Bill Shorten’s valedictory speech, disability rights advocates including Elly Desmarchelier and Paralympic champion Kurt Fearnley are also among others assembling in the VIP seating.
Shorten’s family files into chamber ahead of valedictory speech
As question time winds down, the family of Bill Shorten has filed into the chamber ahead of his valedictory speech.
We can see Shorten’s wife Chloe, his children, and his twin brother sitting in the VIP chairs on the side of the House of Reps. There are also former Labor politicians Warren Snowdon and Chris Hayes.
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Coalition asks treasurer to guarantee Future Fund investments won’t go to budget spending commitments
In the House of Representatives, shadow treasurer Angus Taylor is back up to ask about … drumroll please … the Future Fund.
He asked if the government would guarantee that Future Fund investments will not assume spending commitments currently in the federal budget?
Jim Chalmers responded that “I answered the question but I will answer it again … in a different way.”
We’re not changing the expectations about the benchmark rate of return … We’re leaving independence, benchmark rate of return and risk as it was. What we’re saying to the Future Fund is as you make these investments, as you focus primarily on returns for the Australian taxpayer, we need you to make sure that you are focused as well on the major economic challenges that we confront as a country.
The treasurer said he expected “the usual, predictable, partisan hyperventilating from the usual, predictable and partisan places, and that’s what we’ve seen today.”
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Future Fund also being discussed in Senate question time
Schoolyard behaviour aside, the opposition has used a number of their questions in Senate question time to deal with changes to Future Fund investments overnight.
To recap, the Future Fund is a sovereign wealth fund set up by the then treasurer, Peter Costello, in 2006, mostly with the proceeds of privatising Telstra.
Under the new changes, the fund will have to consider national priorities including increasing the domestic supply of residential housing, continuing to support the energy transition as part of the net zero transformation of the Australian economy, and delivering improved local infrastructure including economic resilience and security infrastructure.
The opposition leader in the Senate, Simon Birmingham, asked Labor whether its objectives were about maximising returns first, or “seeking to redirect Future Fund investments to the government’s priorities”?
The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, responded:
It is clear the fund [is] still about maximising returns but it is important national priorities will be part of their investment consideration, that is not a difficult proposition.
It appears to be for the opposition, who are allergic to investments that might actually drive national priorities such as residential housing ... and infrastructure that increases our economic and national security resilience. One would have thought these were things that would have had bipartisan support but we know of course the opposition will always want to play the game of aggression and opposition and not actually deal with the proposition on the table.
As always, there’s a lot of shouting across the chamber.
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Mike Bowers is in the gallery, capturing all the action, and has noticed the luminaries beginning to file in for Bill Shorten’s valedictory speech – Christine Wallace and Michael Costello, former AFL footballer Michael Long, the former member for Eden-Monaro Mike Kelly and Bill Kelty.
Chalmers: ‘There will be no drawdowns from the Future Fund at least until 2032’
Angus Taylor was just up once again to ask about the Future Fund – this time, will the treasurer guarantee that no spending in the federal budget in housing projects, green projects or infrastructure projects will be assumed by the Future Fund?
Jim Chalmers said yes, he can, and that the question was “based on a completely unsurprising misrepresentation from the shadow treasurer”.
There will be no drawdowns from the Future Fund at least until 2032 and that means that there will not be any taking money out of the Future Fund and putting it towards the budget …
We know what this question is really about. They want less investment in housing, that is why they team up with the Greens.
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Chalmers: ‘We would be mad’ not to make the Future Fund work in the national interest
Angus Taylor is up again, asking Jim Chalmers whether he discussed the decision to “raid the Future Fund” with former treasurer Wayne Swan before the decision was announced.
(Before answering, the Speaker Milton Dick reminds everyone to stop interjecting and “lift the standards”.)
Chalmers said he did not discuss it with Swan but “I discussed it with the board of the Future Fund and the chair of the Future Fund.”
[Katy] Gallagher and I went to the board of the Future Fund in August of this year. We briefed them on our thinking [on] the issues that we were trying to progress. We had a very active discussion with them. We followed that up with the chair of the Future Fund subsequently, and we’ve worked together very closely with the Future Fund to make these announcements that we’re making today …
I’ve said to the investor round table, including the group that I’ll be convening here in Canberra tomorrow, that we would be mad not to find ways to make our big national advantages, including our … capital and superannuation and the Future Fund, work in our national economic interest. I’ve made my priorities very clear … publicly on a number of occasions.
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Chalmers ‘making no apologies’ for changes to the Future Fund
Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor just got up to ask the treasurer another question on the Future Fund. Jim Chalmers responded that the government makes “no apologies for the changes we’re making”:
Every time the shadow treasurer asks me about this, what he’s really telling everybody is he wants less investment in housing and energy and infrastructure … So we make no apologies for the changes we’re making, we’re proud of them. They’re about ensuring that investment flows in ways that benefit the Australian people and strengthen their economy.
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Jason Clare takes aim at Coalition over international student cap
The education minister, Jason Clare, used a dixer to take aim at the Coalition over an article in the Nine newspapers about an event attended by shadow education minister, Sarah Henderson.
As Sarah Basford Canales reported a moment ago, this was also raised in the Senate QT.
Clare went on an animated rant about the article, telling parliament:
On Tuesday I said, Mr Speaker, that it was hard to believe this opposition leader would get into bed with the Greens on migration. Now it seems that bed is getting pretty full – full of education agents.
He ended by criticising the Coalition for not backing the government’s cap on international students.
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A moment for old rivals
As Michelle Rowland got up to take a government dixer on the social media age limits, Anthony Albanese got up from his seat at the big table and stepped back to the benches behind him – sitting down next to old rival Bill Shorten.
Shorten, as you might have heard, is giving his valedictory speech right after question time (tune back in around 3.10pm), ahead of his departure from politics next year, before taking up a new job as vice-chancellor of the University of Canberra in February.
Albanese and Shorten, former rivals for the Labor leadership, spoke warmly for a few moments, the prime minister smiling as he spoke to the minister for the NDIS. Unclear exactly what they were talking about, but with Albanese fresh from returning from a week overseas at summits in South America, no doubt we’ll be hearing some tributes from Albanese for the departing Shorten.
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Senate debate on international student caps gets rowdy
Question time in the Senate is often overlooked by its more popular lower house companion, but those who tune in know it is often more rowdy. Today is no different.
The final question time of the week kicked off as it likely intended to continue – a shouting fest.
Labor senator Tony Sheldon pointed to an article in the Nine newspapers about an event attended by shadow education minister, Sarah Henderson.
To recap briefly, the Coalition is opposing Labor’s international student caps, saying it will hurt regional universities and private education providers.
So Sheldon used his time on the mic to raise his eyebrows at Henderson, referencing the article that revealed the Liberal senator had headlined an event for migration agents and private colleges in October.
Naturally, Henderson defended herself, interjecting that Sheldon and Labor were “desperate”.
As senators filtered in for the start of question time, the agriculture minister, Murray Watt, watched from the side of the chamber before yelling out that Henderson was “making it all about” herself.
I could hear Labor senator Glenn Sterle call out something that sounded like “Senator Glassjaw”.
Happy Thursday, indeed, as Labor senator Raff Ciccione said a short while later.
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Chalmers says changes to the Future Fund ‘not about messing with its independence’
The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, has also got up to ask the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, about changes to the Future Fund.
Chalmers has, like the prime minister, answered by criticising the Coalition’s economic record. While answering, and while Taylor got up on a point of order, the MP for Macarthur, Mike Freelander, was sent out under 94a.
The treasurer concluded his answer, telling the parliament:
The changes that we’re announcing today … are not about messing with the independence of the Future Fund. They’re not about changing the expected rate of return, or the Future Fund board’s approach to risk. But what it is about is making sure that this tremendous national asset that we have as Australians is working in the service of our national economic interests …
If they [the opposition] don’t support more investment in housing, or [clean] energy or infrastructure, that just goes once again to the risk that they pose to our economy, and to household budgets.
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Question time begins on changes to the Future Fund
Question time has begun in the House of Representatives, where we have prime minister Anthony Albanese in attendance for the first time this week.
His deputy Richard Marles had been acting prime minister earlier this week while the PM attended the Apec and G20 summits overseas.
The opposition leader Peter Dutton is first to ask a question, asking Albanese about the changes to the Future Fund as announced overnight:
Answering the question, the prime minister took the moment to criticise the Coalition’s economic track record, saying the government inherited a $78bn projected deficit.
Those opposite, in 2013, were elected with a commitment to do a surplus in the first year and every year thereafter. But in spite of the money ripped out of health, money ripped out of education, money ripped out of services … in spite of the Robodebt debacle and everything that we have seen, they ran deficit after deficit after deficit, time after time after time.
Albanese said the Future Fund would remain independent and “their mandate will be about maximising returns, which is what it will do.”
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More from governor general’s speech at the War Memorial last night
Continuing from our last post: Sam Mostyn was the subject of critical coverage in Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph on Sunday over the cost of her trip to Britain to meet King Charles upon taking office. Since her appointment, Mostyn has faced condescending public rebukes from monarchists concerned that she has made pro-republic remarks in the past, who urged her to be on “best behaviour” and not “step out of line”.
In her speech last night, Mostyn said Australians had always been able to demonstrate “the gentle thought and the outstretched hand” when challenges arose and she hoped that could extend to care for the nation’s environment, democracy and institutions.
And I include the Fourth Estate in those institutions - and care in the way in which we discuss and debate the issues of our time without judgment or rancour or violence.
The governor general hailed the new leadership of the Australian Defence Force for wanting to place care at the centre of defence culture and said there was also a role for that in journalism.
I wanted to show a modernity in high office and tell you about what I think represents the how and why of my engagement with all Australians – without any question all Australians – as your governor general.
So I look forward to doing that, and tonight we can have those conversations and do that with a dose of mutual respect even if we don’t agree with each other all the time, that gets back to disagreeing well, and perhaps that’s what Charles Bean expected of someone in high office, given his commitment to truth and perspective.
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Governor general urges restoration of civility in public debate
The governor general Sam Mostyn has lamented the lack of respect in public debate and urged leaders and the media to work to restore civility, with a veiled swipe at armchair critics who launched political attacks on people they have “never met”.
Delivering the annual CEW Bean Foundation address honouring Australian war correspondents and named after first world war correspondent Charles Bean, Mostyn urged Australians to value the role of journalists and urged journalists and their employers to help restore civility in public debate.
She said since her appointment earlier this year, many Australians had told her they shared the desire she expressed at the time for more care, kindness and respect. She told the audience of journalists and members of the defence and security community:
They wish for us to return to habits of disagreeing well, respecting and listening to those whose views we may not always agree with, particularly those who we’ve never met and can attack from afar.
It’s an old fashioned concept, perhaps, but reflective of our modern demands and needs of the Australian community.
More to come from her speech in a moment.
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Question time in the House of Representatives is set to begin in about 10 minutes’ time, so grab a coffee and get ready – we’ll bring you all the key takeaways right here.
Afterwards, NDIS minister and former Labor leader Bill Shorten will be delivering his valedictory speech to the parliament. He has previously announced he would leave politics next year to take up the role of vice-chancellor at the University of Canberra.
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Labor had ‘no indication’ from Coalition it would oppose international student caps until this week, senator says
Labor had “no indication” from the Coalition they were going to oppose international student caps until this week, the assistant education minister, Senator Anthony Chisholm, has told the ABC.
Speaking to ABC North Queensland radio today, Chisholm didn’t agree the bill was “doomed” but acknowledged the clock was ticking until the end of parliament.
We’ve only got five sitting days left starting today to pass this legislation. There’s been a thorough process that’s gone on with this bill to bring international student numbers down ... and then we find out on Monday that the opposition are going to oppose it, despite saying they want to bring down student numbers as well.
They showed no indication that they were going to oppose the bill until Monday ... we had a measured process, one that we’d worked through with the sector ... and for the Coalition to recklessly say they’re going to oppose it, particularly when we knew that there are limited sitting days before the end of the year leaves the sector in the lurch and particularly regional universities in the lurch.
Chisholm has rebuffed claims from the Nationals that the international student cap would harm regional universities, pointing to department of education figures showing all 10 institutions outside of metropolitan areas would be able to have their 2025 intake increase as a result of the cap compared with last year by a margin between 24% and 265%.
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Jacqui Lambie calls for tougher penalties after anti-Israel vandalism
Senator Jacqui Lambie has been speaking with Sky News about the anti-Israel graffiti in Sydney overnight, and has called for harsher penalties:
We need to start taking these people, and we need to start punishing them and making them pay for what they are doing.
Until you start seeing some disciplinary action out there, this will continue. Start setting examples of these people that are doing this stuff. Otherwise, we [are] never going to stop it.
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Burns and Sharma hold cross-party press conference to condemn anti-Israel graffiti
Labor’s Josh Burns and Liberal Dave Sharma have held a rare joint cross-party press conference to condemn the anti-Israel vandalism in Sydney overnight, saying such actions have “no place in a modern Australia”.
Burns, who is Jewish, and Sharma, the former ambassador to Israel, said they wanted to stand together to send a message that such abuse is “condemned across the political aisle”. Sharma said:
This community of Jewish Australians have been feeling besieged and under threat for the past year and it simply has to stop. This is not an attack on one community, it is an attack on the values and social contract that holds us all together as Australians.
Burns said people had a right to protest and disagree, which he backed, but that such violence was “not a legitimate form of participating in the democratic process that we hold so dear”. Burns’ own office was attacked earlier this year with graffiti and vandalism.
Every multicultural community wants and deserves to feel safe. Every person in Australia wants to maintain and cherish that amazing multicultural fabric that makes up our country. The other thing to say is that people need to be held accountable if they are going to do these sorts of things and this violence is not acceptable.
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The emergency management minister, Jenny McAllister, spoke with Sky News earlier after 10 cars and three premises were graffitied with anti-Israel messages in Woollahra, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, overnight.
She told the program that Labor has been “very clear” about the need to “take the temperature down”:
[We’ve said] really clearly we need to take the temperature down, and we’ve all got responsibilities in the way that we talk about these very difficult issues … None of us benefits [from] inflamed division in our communities. We’ve been very clear about that from a Labor perspective.
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Westpac pushes back its expectation of when the RBA will start cutting interest rates
Among the big four banks, all but NAB had been tipping the Reserve Bank would start to cut its cash rate in February (ie the RBA’s board’s meeting after next.)
Well, now we’re down to two of the four, with Westpac turning more pessimistic, joining NAB (and a few others, such as UBS) in tipping the first interest rate cut won’t land until May.
Perhaps to mollify the move, Westpac’s chief economist, Luci Ellis (a former chief economist at the RBA), thinks the RBA will then cut a bit faster than previously thought. The cash rate will still be cut by a full percentage point to 3.35% by the end of 2025 – but in fewer (over six rather than eight) meetings.
Ellis cited the recent “sharp increase in consumer sentiment” as among the reasons the RBA will delay its first rate cut.
As we noted yesterday, the RBA board minutes from its meeting earlier this month show the central bank wanted to “observe more than one good quarterly inflation outcome” to be confident the recent decline in inflation was sustainable.
It could be argued the September quarter was the first of those “good” outcomes, which would mean a repeat for the current quarter (results of which we will see on 29 January) could keep a February cut in play.
As Ellis herself notes “things can pivot quite quickly”.
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Alert for possible grid strains in NSW reissued as heat starts to build
We noted yesterday that southeastern Australia was about to warm up a bit as the first big heatwave of this warming season sweeps across the region:
Temperatures are already into the 30Cs in Adelaide and will likely exceed 30C tomorrow and Saturday, on current Bureau of Meteorology forecasts. The Bureau has also updated its heatwave service so we can see how the tailend of the heatwave will look, come next Tuesday.
Notably, regions around Sydney will nudge into the “severe” heatwave condition over the Sunday-Tuesday stretch.
Also mentioned yesterday, the Australian Energy Market Operator had issued a rare lack of reserve level 3 alert for New South Wales. It’s only a forecast, with the intention of prodding generators to do more of their thing to avoid load-shedding (aka “blackouts”).
Aemo cancelled the first alert only to issue another such warning this morning (The problem period is 3.30pm-7.30pm Aedt for NSW). And for good measure, there are LOR2 alerts for Monday and Tuesday too. That means Aemo is looking for more reserve generation to be available should there be a dropout among suppliers who have presently committed to generating electricity.
Monday and Tuesday are a few days away, so it’s still likely that the alerts will be cancelled as the market responds. Still, it’s a reminder to the relatively narrow margin for error in the grid - and we have a few warm months to come.
Last-ditch attempt to avert Sydney rail shutdown
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, and the transport minister, Jo Haylen, will meet with officials from the rail union in just over an hour, as they try to strike a deal to prevent a two-day network-wide train strike.
At 1.30pm, Minns and Haylen will meet with chiefs from the Rail, Tram and Bus Union who are set to strike from 4am tomorrow as part of an ongoing wage dispute, in industrial action expected to wreak havoc for commuters as well as music and sports fans over the weekend.
The union has threatened to stop all work on the train lines unless the government runs trains overnight. Sydney trains typically stop running services between about midnight and 4am.
The government had agreed to run 24-hour trains and avoided a shutdown after the union made the same demand last week, but Haylen said the extended timetable made repairs difficult and stretched the operator past its limit.
Despite the last-minute talks, the Minns government has sought to downplay the likelihood a breakthrough can be reached, warning Sydneysiders to prepare for days without trains.
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Unicef reacts to government’s social media age limit bill
Unicef Australia has responded to the government’s social media age limit bill, welcoming news it would be “just one piece of this complex puzzle”, and said “much more must be done to protect children and young people online”.
Unicef argued that social media bans risk “pushing children into increasingly covert and unregulated online spaces”, as well as “preventing them from accessing aspects of the online world essential to their wellbeing”,
Katie Maskiell, head of policy and advocacy, said:
[From] the outset Unicef Australia has stated that this would not be a solve-all for protecting young people from the wide range of online harms that exist.
Holding tech companies to account, along with broader online safety and privacy reforms are needed to protect children online and balance their rights to safety, participation and inclusion.
Maskiell said a “duty of care” under the Online Safety Act must be actioned.
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Coalition to overturn changes to Future Fund if elected: Taylor
Earlier, the shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, spoke to reporters at Parliament House about the government’s changes to the Future Fund. He said the Coalition would overturn the changes if elected:
We will oppose this change and, if elected to government, we will overturn what the Labor party is seeking to do here. This is absolutely the wrong direction for the Future Fund.
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Watch: King alleges in parliament Pasin filmed conversation on GoPro
Earlier, Josh Butler reported that infrastructure minister, Catherine King, alleged in parliament that Liberal backbencher Tony Pasin filmed a conversation between them on a GoPro, and has asked for the issue to be referred to the parliament’s powerful privileges committee.
Here is King’s speech to parliament:
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NSW police address media about anti-Israel graffiti in Sydney’s eastern suburbs
Just earlier, NSW police were speaking to the media after ten cars and three premises were graffitied with anti-Israel messages in Woollahra, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
The police officer said two people were depicted on CCTV running away from Wellington Street after the vehicle fire – described as wearing dark clothing with a face mask and a hooded top.
He said damage to the vehicles is estimated to cost up to $80,000.
There’s a number of inquiries that police are looking at the moment and it’s early in the investigation, we are determining what the motivation was for the graffiti … We are going to investigate thoroughly what occurred.
He said it was too early in the investigation to determine why the specific vehicles were targeted. He also said at this stage, it appears to be an isolated incident.
[This] is unacceptable and not of the community standard and not what anyone across the community accepts as being something that should occur …
These are people’s houses they live in, people’s cars and one of the vehicles that got spray-painted and set fire to … is completely destroyed. Again, [this] behaviour is completely unacceptable.
Rising Tide lodges supreme court challenge to harbour exclusion zone
Climate activists Rising Tide have filed a legal challenge to a Minns government decision to cut off access to Newcastle harbour during a four day “people’s blockade”.
Transport for NSW imposed a marine exclusion zone last week that makes the harbour off limits for four days from 5pm Thursday.
Rising Tide activists planned to paddle into the port on kayaks and rafts this weekend to stop coal exports from leaving and highlight the climate damage the burning of coal causes. Those that defy the exclusion zone could face a maximum penalty of a $1,100 fine.
It came after earlier this month, the NSW police won a legal challenge in their attempt to stop the protest, which intended to block the port for 30 hours. But the protesters vowed to go ahead, despite the court ruling meaning they would no longer be protected from being charged with obstruction and unlawful assembly offences.
Alexa Stuart, Rising Tide organiser and plaintiff in the supreme court challenge to the exclusion zone, said:
The legal challenge to this draconian exclusion zone is arguing that the marine exclusion zone is an improper use of the Marine Safety Act which is designed to ensure that events taking place on water, like yacht races can proceed safely, not to prevent an event from taking place.
The NSW government is attempting to criminalise peaceful protest, but real criminals here are the coal and gas [companies] who are continuing to put profit above all else and burn my future and the futures of all young people.
NSW transport minister Jo Haylen’s office said NSW Maritime enacted the exclusion zone on the request of NSW Police after the earlier supreme court ruling:
It’s been done to ensure the safety of users on the waterway and safe passage of vessels.
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Coles chief defends supermarket’s expanding profit margins during time of strain on shoppers and suppliers
The Coles chief executive, Leah Weckert, has defended the supermarket’s expanding profit margins recorded during a period of increasing strain on shoppers and its suppliers.
Weckert told the government-ordered inquiry into the supermarket sector today that it was important for a food retailer “to continue to be profitable and sustainable for the long term”.
When times do get tough and you do get cost increases coming through, you want the business to continue to be able to do what it needs to.
Profit margins at Coles and rival Woolworth are now well above pre-pandemic levels, and have jumped ahead of most of their international peers. This compares with the more fiercely competitive UK sector, where margins for the grocery businesses of the top supermarkets are at or below 2020 levels.
Under questioning at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission hearing, Weckert was asked if she agreed that “there’s nothing low” about the supermarket’s profit margins. She said:
Low is a relative number and so you have to compare gross margins across other types of businesses and other retailers.
She said Coles’ profit margins were “significantly lower than you would see, for example, at an apparel retailer or general merchandise retailer”.
The ACCC’s deputy chair, Mick Keogh, noted that a supermarket business would typically generate more stable revenue streams than a company involved in non-essential retailing.
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Israeli embassy condemns antisemitic attack in Sydney
The Israeli embassy in Australia says it is “appalled by the antisemitic attack in Sydney last night”. In a post to X, the embassy said:
Words are no longer enough – it’s time for action. We stand with the Jewish community and call for immediate measures to protect and uphold the rights and safety of all citizens.
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Moves afoot on Senate crossbench to get public inquiry on social media age limit bill
Staying on the social media ban for under-16s, we hear there are moves afoot on the Senate crossbench to try to get some kind of public inquiry into the bill – before the government seeks to rush it through, perhaps as soon as next week.
As we have reported, there is some disquiet in the parliament about the bill being rushed through before the end of the year, as the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has demanded.
We hear the government might try to get it done by the end of next week, but even some members of the Coalition opposition have been calling for an inquiry into the consequences of the bill (which could include all Australians, not just those under 16, having to give over more of their data to verify their age).
We’re watching for some moves in the Senate to try to force an inquiry, which could see a hearing early next week with some experts and senators questioning. Watch this space.
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A look at the legislation for the under-16s social media ban
We’ve been thumbing through the explanatory memorandum and the legislation for the under-16s social media ban, and can give you a little more about how the government proposes it will work.
But we still don’t know what kind of data people will have to give to the social media companies – with the government kicking that can to the big tech firms themselves, essentially asking Facebook, Snapchat and X to come up with their own systems instead.
As Emily already brought to you from Michelle Rowland’s speech, we’re told the laws aren’t meant to apply to messaging services like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, and will give some exemptions to products used for educational purposes like YouTube or Google Classroom.
The bill appears to seek action on under 16s being “logged in” on services – young people would be able to view YouTube videos while being logged out of the platform, as well as viewing Facebook pages used for a business in a logged-out state – the explanatory memorandum concedes that some Facebook pages “such as the landing page of a business or service that uses social media as their business host platform” would be able to be viewed.
In terms of penalties for the platforms, those big $50m fines splashed in the papers today will only apply for a “systemic failure to take action” on age assurance. It won’t apply to “individual instances where young people circumvent any reasonably appropriate measures put in place by the platform”.
On to privacy and the important issues of actually implementing or enforcing the ban. The legislation does not say how platforms should comply with the age obligation, and the government seems to be keeping it open to the platforms to come up with their own ideas – but the EM states “it is expected that at a minimum, the obligation will require platforms to implement some form of age assurance, as a means of identifying whether a prospective or existing account holder is an Australian child under the age of 16 years”.
The EM also claims there are “robust privacy protections” in the bill, including explicit bans on platforms using age verification data for any other purposes – with penalties of up to that $50m for repeated breaches.
The government concedes that complying with the age assurance framework “may require the collection, use and disclosure of additional personal information”.
Once the information has been used for age assurance or any other agreed purpose, it must be destroyed by the platform (or any third party contracted by the platform).
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Tink urges voters to consider local MPs behaviour during question time at the polls
North Sydney MP Kylea Tink has urged voters to consider their local federal member’s behaviour in question time at the polls, saying her first-term in the chamber had been marked by a lack of respect.
Tink was one of a number of teal and crossbench MPs to air concerns in August after a number of tense moments between the aisles. Tink said:
At the time, we came to this place in 2022 because our community sent us here to try and make a difference in how it operates, and I think we’ve done that with the help the crossbench. We finally have a parliamentary code of behaviour, which, until this term, didn’t exist. Crazy. We have called out behaviour consistently. We’ve stood in shaking knees to say that this isn’t what Australians expect, but it was never going to be fixed in three years.
Tink was joined by Zali Steggall, who has been critical of the opposition’s behaviour in the chamber. Steggall said “Australian taxpayers are paying for question time” and should therefore get more out of it beyond “spin and bad behaviour”.
There’s no doubt I’ve been the subject of much heckling from the opposition, and the leader of the opposition certainly takes every opportunity he can to turn his back on the Speaker and make plenty of snide remarks. But if he thinks that is going to intimidate me or change my determination to improve politics in Australia, he is sorely wrong.
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Steggall says social media age limit a distraction from ban on gambling ads
Independent MP Zali Steggall has accused the prime minister of being “very selective” on dealing with harms to children after more details emerged about the proposed social media age ban overnight.
At a press conference in Parliament House earlier, the Warringah MP described the move to ban under-16s from social media platforms as “tokenistic” and “superficial”.
Steggall said it was a convenient distraction from pressure to ban gambling advertising:
Forgive me for being cynical, but the timing of the government announcing a social media age ban of under-16s was the very time that they were absolutely under pressure to ban all gambling advertising … he’s been very selective about which harms he wants to protect our children from.
He’s doing a tokenistic age ban, which is getting him the headlines, but what he’s not addressing is the real harms underneath, and that comes from banning gambling advertising.
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Crossbenchers criticise government after Australia slips two places on global climate action ladder
Earlier this morning, crossbenchers stood up to criticise the Albanese government for letting Australia slip two places to 52nd on the global climate action ladder.
The annual Climate Change Performance Index compares 63 countries – which account for more than 90% of global emissions – on their climate action performances.
Independent MPs, Zali Steggall, Kylea Tink and Monique Ryan called on the federal government to “get real” about its action and announce a 2035 midterm target before the next election.
Tink said Australia had “an addiction as a nation to fossil fuels” and that “we are absolutely gambling with our future by continuing to kowtow to that predilection”. She continued:
Australia has no right to call ourselves a green energy superpower right now. We are a petro-chemical state. We need to step back from the edge and say to those people that are profiting from this, that our kids and our grandkids matter more than their economic returns.
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Has the government made any progress in finding a compromise with the Greens to pass housing legislation?
Jim Chalmers responded the question at his press conference, just now:
We are in discussions with Senate crossbenchers, as you would expect, about our housing bills and also about a whole range of other legislative priorities that we have.
We want to pass as much of our agenda as we can. We would expect to receive the enthusiastic support of the Greens but unfortunately, they have shown that they are more willing to support the Coalition than to support housing or other sensible changes in our communities and our economy.
What is the Future Fund?
In case you were wondering, the Future Fund is a sovereign wealth fund set up by the then treasurer, Peter Costello, in 2006, mostly with the proceeds of privatising Telstra.
The stated aim at the time was to “put in place arrangements for future generations to allow them to deal with the massive changes that the ageing of the population will bring” including unfunded public-sector superannuation.
It is run by an independent board, which decides how to invest its assets.
It was initially specified that it would not be drawn down until 2020, though subsequent governments have pushed that back.
You can read more on this from the time, here.
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Jim Chalmers accuses Coalition of ‘thoughtless babbling’ on economy
Another reporter asked about comments from the deputy opposition leader, Sussan Ley, that Jim Chalmers is “economically illiterate”.
The treasurer responded that “we have very low expectations of the Liberal party and their friends.”
One of the reasons we start so far behind on these big economic challenges … is because they wasted a decade stuffing around and failing and it is on us to clean up the mess they left us.
It is a bit rich coming from them when we are quite near the end of a three-year parliamentary term and they don’t have any credible costs in economic policies. So let’s hear Susan’s alternatives, let’s not hear just the usual thoughtless babbling.
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A reporter asked why the government isn’t borrowing money to invest in housing, green energy and infrastructure, rather than going this route with the Future Fund?
Jim Chalmers said he doesn’t see it as an either-or situation:
We are coming at these challenges from every conceivable and responsible angle. We have a lot of direct investment in housing and the energy transformation and national security and resilience, but the challenges and opportunities are so great that we need to find every way we can responsibly ensure that capital is [flowing into] our economy.
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Jim Chalmers says Future Fund changes will improve on version founded by Peter Costello
Jim Chalmers is now taking questions from reporters.
The treasurer said he respects Peter Costello, who founded the Future Fund, but “it would be strange to set something up in the early 2000s and pretend that … it would endure for the rest of time”.
This is about modernising the Future Fund and making sure it serves our national economic interests to the ultimate benefit of the Australian people. I think it would be unrealistic for Peter to assume that as he set it up two decades ago would continue for ever. My job is not to preserve what have inherited, it is to improve it and that is what we’re doing.
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Before going to questions from reporters, Jim Chalmers noted that the NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, would be giving his valedictory speech today and said:
Bill Shorten has so much to be proud of and we’re so proud of him. We’re looking forward to hearing from him this afternoon but also recognising and remembering that Bill has got still a lot of work to do and a huge contribution to make in this parliamentary term and beyond that as well.
I work really closely with Bill on the NDIS and a whole range of issues as well. As I said, he has so much to be proud of and the Labor party is very proud of him.
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Chalmers says inflation is falling in Australia
Moving to inflation, Jim Chalmers said it is “rising in the UK, the US, Canada and Europe, while it is falling here in Australia”.
We have made welcome encouraging progress in the fight against inflation [but] we know it is not mission accomplished. We know around the world inflation does not come down in a perfectly straight line. We are seeing that in major advanced economies now.
We are maintaining a primary focus in this fight against inflation and helping people with the cost of living but we’ve made sure that the reform wheels are continuing to turn in our economy at the same time.
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Jim Chalmers said the government would not start any drawdowns from the Future Fund “until at least 2032-33”.
There are no changes being proposed to the investing benchmark rate of return or the risk profile. The government will not be directing specific investments being made by the fund. The fund and its board will continue to make its decisions about investments independently.
Chalmers addresses media on changes to Future Fund
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is speaking to reporters in Canberra about the Future Fund announcement overnight.
As Paul Karp reported, the $230bn sovereign wealth fund will be retooled to help build houses, improve infrastructure and combat global heating under a new investment mandate.
Chalmers said the government is “not changing the fundamental focus of the Future Fund when it comes to maximising returns”.
The Future Fund was still focus primarily on maximising its returns, but this will make sure that we can also maximise our opportunities in the context of national interests as well.
The new investment mandate will require the fund to consider priorities like housing, the energy transformation and also making sure that when it comes to infrastructure that there is a particular emphasis on resilience and security as well.
This will mean more investment where we need it most but without compromising the returns, which will continue to be the primary focus of the Future Fund.
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Faruqi responds to NTEU report on university executives income
Greens senator and education spokesperson, Mehreen Faruqi, has responded to an NTEU report showing hundreds of university executives are raking in more money than state premiers, pointing to a “governance crisis” threatening the sector.
In a statement, Faruqi said it was “obscene that staff have been robbed of hundreds of millions in stolen wages, yet VCs and executives walk away with hefty pay packets.”
The harsh reality is that staff and students have become expendable cogs in the machine of a corporate campus where staff and students are suffering, while the executive class is splurging on consultants and largesse.
Decades of neoliberal policies by governments and universities have made a mockery of universities as democratic institutions of public good. We need an overhaul of university governance to shift the balance of power away from the managerial class and corporate executives back to staff and students.
She said the Greens support the NTEU’s call for a parliamentary inquiry.
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Government slowly ‘mopping up’ vape stores, Butler says
Australia is becoming a “much less attractive export market” for vapes, the health minister, Mark Butler, says. However, he acknowledges the government is slowly “mopping up” stores across the country still selling them.
Speaking with ABC Gold Coast Breakfast Radio this morning, Butler said:
We’re hearing from source countries like China, for example, that they’re now thinking of Australia as a much less attractive export market because all of their products are getting seized. So that’s good and some of the vape stores are shutting down, some of the vape stores are shutting down as well.
Asked about a store down the road from the radio station that still sells vapes with a sandwich board out the front, the health minister responded:
Yeah, far too many of them still open. We’ve had hundreds of operations between commonwealth authorities and state government authorities going around the country and slowly we’re mopping it up. I have been clear, at some point, we’re going to have to prosecute someone.
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Continuing on from our last post, the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, said during Victoria’s treaty process there would be “regular updates along the way” about the negotiations:
There will be opportunities for the entire community to follow on with negotiations.
Allan said she would not rule in or rule out the subject matter of the negotiations.
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Victorian First People’s Assembly to begin negotiating state-wide treaty in coming days
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is talking to reporters about the commencement of the state’s nation-first Indigenous treaty negotiations.
The First People’s’ Assembly – the democratically elected Indigenous body – will begin negotiating a statewide treaty with the Allan government in the coming days. A ceremonial event will be held today in Melbourne to mark the opening of treaty talks.
Allan said treaty needs to “reset the relationship between the state of Victoria and First Peoples”:
We’re about to embark on treaty negotiations that will make our strong state even stronger, even fairer. Since colonisation, First Peoples in this state have been excluded from opportunity.
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King alleges in parliament that Liberal backbencher filmed conversation between them on GoPro
The infrastructure minister, Catherine King, has alleged in a speech to parliament that Liberal backbencher Tony Pasin filmed a conversation between them on a GoPro, and has asked for the issue to be referred to the parliament’s powerful privileges committee.
Making the claims in the House of Representatives last night, King said Pasin – the member for Barker – had attended her ministerial office earlier in the afternoon for a “drop-in session” the minister regularly holds to allow politicians to speak to her about infrastructure issues.
King said Pasin and a staff member had visited her office, to give her a letter about a project in Pasin’s electorate. King told the chamber:
I started an interaction with him but he left very quickly. I also had to go to the Federation Chamber. As he was leaving the office, my staff observed that he had been filming the interaction on a GoPro in my ministerial office and I asked one of my staff to go around to the member for Barker’s office to confirm this was the case.
A member of my staff followed the member for Barker and his staff member into his office and saw that they were downloading a film on to a laptop. My member of staff said, ‘Have you been filming, did you film that interaction with the minister?’ The member of staff confirmed that it had been filmed and that filming had been undertaken in the ministerial corridor.
We have contacted Pasin’s office for comment and response.
King went on to claim in her speech that it was “a significant breach of the rules … a significant breach of the way in which we conduct ourselves in this place and the respect I believe should be shown to each other”.
The speaker of the House, Labor’s Milton Dick, said he would consider her statement and claims, and would report back to the chamber.
I reserve the matter for further consideration and, once considered, I’ll report back to the House as soon as possible.
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Albanese says ‘no place for antisemitism in Australia’ after vandalism overnight
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has issued a statement after up to a dozen cars have been graffitied with anti-Israel messages in Woollahra, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
I have seen the images of last night’s act of antisemitism in Sydney. These are disturbing scenes and deeply troubling to all Australians.
There is no place for antisemitism in Australia. Conflict overseas cannot be made a platform for prejudice at home.
I have trust in our law enforcement agencies to deal with this.
The prime minister arrived back in Australia this morning, after attending the Apec and G20 summit’s overseas.
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Age ban legislation to set value that ‘accessing social media not defining feature of growing up’: Rowland
Wrapping up her remarks, Michelle Rowland said the government would ensure young Australians “retain access to services that primarily provide education and health services”.
[We will] work constructively with stakeholders to ensure that only services that meet the strict criteria under eSafety’s powers are able to be accessed by children under 16 years.
This bill seeks to set a new normative value in society, that accessing social media is not the defining feature of growing up in Australia.
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Rowland says age ban legislation will rule certain educational platforms ‘out-of-scope’
Continuing to speak in parliament, Michelle Rowland has been speaking about the exclusion of messaging apps and online gaming from the legislation:
We are not saying that risks don’t exist on messenger apps or online gaming. While users can still be exposed to harmful content by other users, they do not face the same algorithmic curation of content and psychological manipulation to encourage near endless engagement.
Further, the inclusion of messaging apps could have wider consequences, such as making communication within families harder.
Rowland said online games are currently regulated under the National Classification Scheme, and “imposing additional age based regulation for online games [would] create unnecessary regulatory overlap”.
This categorical rule making power is expected to deem out-of-scope services such as Facebook Messenger … and WhatsApp. The rule will provide for an out-of-scope status to also be applied to services like … Google Classroom, YouTube and other apps that can be shown to function like social media in their interactivity, but operate with a significant [education tool for] young people.
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Rowland introduces social media age ban legislation to parliament
The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, is introducing the social media age limit legislation before parliament right now. She has told the chamber:
The Online Safety Amendment Social Media Minimum Age Bill 2024 will amend the Online Safety Act 2021 by introducing a minimum age of 16 to have an account on age restricted social media platforms, protecting young Australians at a critical stage of their development.
The bill puts the onus on social media platforms, not parents or young people to take reasonable steps to ensure fundamental protections are in place.
This is about protecting young people, not punishing or isolating them, and letting parents know we’re in their corner when it comes to supporting their children’s health and wellbeing.
She said this was “one step among many” the government will be taking to keep young people safe online.
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Tanya Plibersek says youth mental health ‘dramatically worsened’ since introduction of social media
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, is speaking to Sky News ahead of legislation on a social media age limit of 16 being introduced today. She told the program:
We’ve seen that youth mental health has dramatically worsened since this online world became the prominent way of [talking to one another].
Plibersek said there is a “very directly observable benefit by seeing kids online less”, and that the government would seek to preserve specific apps for children, such as Kids Helpline and educational, age-appropriate sites.
Josh Butler had the latest details on the legislation earlier in the blog, here.
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Just circling back to news that up to a dozen cars have been graffitied with anti-Israel messages in the Sydney suburb of Woollahra (see earlier post).
Images show that the letters “PKK” were also graffitied on several of the vehicles, not far from the Turkish consulate.
The PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ party) has been fighting for autonomy in south-east Turkey in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people since the 1980s. It is considered a terrorist group by Turkey and the country’s western allies.
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Pocock welcomes Future Fund announcement
David Pocock welcomed the changes announced to the Future Fund overnight and said “it’s there to invest in our future [and] I think these are assets that are definitely part of the future”.
The $230bn sovereign wealth fund will be retooled to help build houses, improve infrastructure and combat global heating under a new investment mandate, as Paul Karp reports:
Pocock told the program that “providing guidance about what they invest in is a good thing.”
I don’t think the Future Fund should be investing in things like fossil fuels, we know that we have to transition away from fossil fuels. Despite that, we’ve got a few big companies here in Australia – Woodside, Santos – that are betting on inaction, and the Future Fund has been investing in them and I don’t think that aligns with what Australians want for our future.
We know that we have to get serious about things like climate change and that takes a government saying, these are the parameters for your investments, these are the things that are important.
Pocock weighs in on social media ban for under-16s as legislation set to be introduced today
Independent senator David Pocock was on ABC News Breakfast earlier, asked about the proposed ban for under-16s from social media, set to go before parliament today.
He said he hasn’t seen the details of the legislation but, in principle, supports the need to do something – but is “very concerned that this approach is not going to work unless we have a much broader ecosystem approach to how we are dealing with social media.”
Very worryingly, I’m hearing the major parties will potentially try and get this through parliament in the next week. We’ve got to be looking at the details of how is this going to work, what will it mean?
My broader concern is that we’re not seeing [plans] from the government to actually ensure that social media companies are showing us, what are they doing with their algorithm? Why are they making products that are so addictive … that’s clearly harming young people’s mental health?
Pocock said he would wait to see the details of the legislation and “then engage in good faith”.
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Cars and unit complex vandalised with anti-Israel graffiti in Sydney
Politicians have reacted with outrage after up to a dozen cars have been graffitied with anti-Israel messages in Woollahra, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
NSW police said they were called to reports of a car on fire before 1am, and in the aftermath discovered multiple cars had been graffitied, and a door of a unit complex.
Police said there were no reports of injuries and officers had established crime scenes which are being examined by specialist police.
The local MP Allegra Spender said she was “deeply concerned” by the reports of “appalling antisemitic graffiti” and “completely unacceptable damage to cars and a local business.”
This sort of violence has no place in our country or our community. Antisemitism and racial hate has no place in our society.
Greens senator David Shoebridge also said he was deeply concerned, and wrote on X:
Attacking the cars of ordinary people like this is frightening and unacceptable.
The shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, said the incidents appeared to be “a shocking act of political violence” that “must be met with the full force of the law”.
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Sydney Trains chief executive speaks before expected shutdown tomorrow
The chief executive of Sydney Trains, Matthew Longland, spoke with ABC News Breakfast earlier about tomorrow’s planned shutdown of the network as the union and state government continue negotiations over pay.
He said Sydney Trains was “planning for a normal rail timetable on Friday, and again on Saturday”.
But that obviously won’t be possible if this industrial action goes ahead. We’re asking passengers across Sydney to plan for the worst if trains aren’t operating tomorrow. Avoid any unnecessary travel, roads will be very busy, other public transport modes will be busy. It will be a very difficult period for commuters.
Longland said he was “hopeful of a breakthrough” as talks continue today, saying it is a “rapidly moving situation”.
Are they closer than yesterday in coming to some form of common ground? Longland replied it was a “complex process”.
The negotiations have been under way for a number of months across five different unions. It’s a complex agreement. We are obviously approaching it in good faith. We’re hoping that we can avoid the industrial action because we know the consequences. A million people each day rely on our services cross Sydney and industrial action of this scale would be very, very inconvenient.
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Daniel urges government to enact ban on gambling ads
Zoe Daniel was asked if the government has given her any indication we will see gambling reform? The independent said: “I have absolutely no idea.”
I ask all the time. ‘It’s coming, we’re working on it, we’re doing our due diligence, we’re trying to do it properly.’
My community wants a gambling advertising ban in its entirety. That’s very simple, and all the surveys show that roughly three-quarters of Australians want that.
She argued a complete ban on gambling ads would “play very well in the electorate” and urged the government to “stop worrying” about the broadcasters and the sporting codes, and “think about communities”.
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Daniel says under-16s ban on social media not right ‘pathway to go down’
On the government’s push to ban under-16s from social media, Zoe Daniel said she doesn’t love the idea and believes it is “on the fringe of what we need to be doing”.
My biggest concern about it really is that it doesn’t substantively change what the platforms need to be doing on their platforms, and there may be an unintended consequence that the platforms actually become less safe.
If you were to create a system where the platforms have to take responsibility, mitigate risk and be transparent about how they’re doing that and what tools they’re using, then that sort of provides – potentially – an environment where everyone can be in a safe space. What we’re doing is saying, ‘Well, we’re going to lock everyone under 16 out, and then everyone else can do whatever they want in there.’ And also, we know that some people under 16 will get in. I don’t think that that’s really a good pathway to go down.
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Zoe Daniel says electoral reform likely to pass Senate
The independent MP for Goldstein, Zoe Daniel, is also speaking with ABC RN this morning – first up, on the government’s proposed electoral reforms.
She repeats criticism the crossbench has been making in recent days – that it doesn’t keep big money out of politics and entrenches the power of the major parties, and incumbency.
Daniel said she accepts this will probably pass the Senate, and she believes this is “not only incredibly inappropriate, but really disrespectful to democracy to do that”.
Asked if she believes the Liberals are more concerned about independents than Labor, she responded:
Look, maybe, but I think, to be honest, it’s a little bit like the game of Whac-a-Mole … just put a hammer down on anything that’s going to threaten you.
And look, it’s self-evident that the most recent independents took blue-ribbon Liberal seats but, at the end of the day, Labor’s in government, and so I think it demonstrates a level of concern from the ALP as well about fragmentation of the two-party system.
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Bill Shorten says cap on international students ‘makes sense’
Asked if he agrees with the proposed cap on international students, Bill Shorten said he does.
I think that makes sense … The other thing is that … higher education policy is something which I’ll work on when I’m in higher education, and when I go and work at the University of Canberra I absolutely must make clear to people, including my colleagues, I’ll be working for the university, not for the government. That’s the team I’ll be backing then.
Shorten was also asked if international students have been scapegoated for the housing crisis? He responded:
I think you find that international students put some pressure, in some parts, on rental markets. We also do need international students. It’s an important export industry. I think what the Liberals should have done is sit down with Labor and just worked it through it. But instead, in the shadow of an election where they can sniff the fumes of conflict, they’ve decided to … just oppose.
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Bill Shorten says society ‘fracturing’ when asked about Labor disconnect with working class
Bill Shorten was asked about an apparent disconnect between the Labor party and working-class voters, and a trend that people who earn more are voting Labor – does that concern him? He responded:
You always want more people voting for you, so if people aren’t voting for you, that’s always a focus. But the way you get people to vote for is you focus on them, not yourself. I think there’s [disillusionment] with the major parties but there is … a range of factors for that.
He said part of this was where people chose to get their information from, and said:
I think we’re seeing, in parts, the fracturing of society into silos, into people who talk to people who agree with them and yell at everyone else.
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Bill Shorten to deliver valedictory speech today
The NDIS minister and former Labor leader, Bill Shorten, is set to deliver his valedictory speech to parliament today, before he leaves politics to take up the role of vice-chancellor at the University of Canberra next year.
He said his speech would include a lot of thank yous, and reflections on the “privilege” to serve in three public institutions: the Australian Workers’ Union, Labor party and the parliament itself.
I’m excited, though I have mixed feelings about going. I love my job [and my] portfolios, working with people with disability and [working with] people [who] need Centrelink and Medicare and child support, but I’m excited about moving to education.
Asked if it was a deliberate decision to move into the public sector rather than the private sphere, he said it was:
I don’t want to be a lobbyist … There’s completely nothing wrong with politicians going to work in the private sphere, the private economy is what generates Australian economic growth. For myself, I like serving people. I want to help people, and I think I’m going to want to do that for the rest of my life.
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New South Wales MPs condemned for ‘part-time’ parliamentary year
Scores of NSW MPs will earn the equivalent of more than $10,000 per sitting week in 2025 after a bid to increase the year’s 16-week calendar was rejected, AAP reports.
The Labor government’s lower house schedule for MPs earning $172,500 a year is several weeks short of the recent average, barring years affected by state elections or Covid-19. An opposition bid to add two extra weeks was rejected this week after Labor cited restrictions imposed by upper house events.
The change would have done away with six Friday sittings, which have been criticised for having no question time and depriving regional MPs of a weekday in their electorate with voters. The government’s leader in the lower house, Ron Hoenig, said holding Friday sessions in six of the 16 weeks allowed it more time to pass legislation and offered crossbenchers dedicated time to advocate for their electorates.
But Helen Dalton, independent MP for the rural electorate of Murray, said the minority Minns government needed to learn to “listen to, and work with the crossbench and even the opposition”.
To do this, government MPs have to turn up to parliament and discuss matters. Voters won’t be happy that government MPs would prefer to hide in their electorate offices rather than turning up to parliament, where they face scrutiny.
The 16-week schedule also prompted the Speaker, Greg Piper, to deliver a rare rebuke to the government, saying efforts to meet more often had met opposition from upper house Labor chiefs. He said 20 to 21 sitting weeks a year – as occurred many times in the past decade – seemed more in line with community expectations.
The opposition said allowing only 48 days with question time was “an absolute affront to democracy”. The lower house leader of opposition business, Alister Henskens, said Friday sitting days were “a complete and utter waste of time if they do not have question time”. But the bid to add two extra weeks, and six extra question time days, to the calendar was knocked back 51 to 36 votes.
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Wells says Future Fund changes will give business more certainty
Anika Wells was also asked about changes to Australia’s Future Fund. As Paul Karp reported overnight, the $230bn sovereign wealth fund will be retooled to help build houses, improve infrastructure and combat global heating under a new investment mandate.
Wells said the business sector is looking for more certainty and “this is one way that we can give it to them”.
We parliamentarians go to an election every three years to seek a mandate from the people and I think there’s no dispute that the priorities that people want from its federal government at the moment are … to do with the housing crisis … more certainty about our energy future and better infrastructure, and setting us up for a good future ahead. So I don’t think those tenets are controversial whatsoever.
What if it doesn’t actually return the funds that we need it to? Wells responded that there are “safeguards in there about this being a medium term … forecast”.
This is just saying if there’s stocks you can invest in, or if there’s a renewable energy or housing project you can invest in, pick the one with the public interest.
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Wells says $50m fine for social media companies ‘not silver bullet’ but will help
The sports minister, Anika Wells, spoke with the Today show earlier, where she touted the government’s proposed social media ban for under-16s – specifically, a move to fine social media companies which breach the legislation up to $50m.
Josh Butler had all the details on this earlier in the blog, here.
Wells told the program that this issue of social media a “serious problem” and parents are “really worried about it.”
They want their federal government to be pulling all of the levers available to them to try and address this issue. Is it a silver bullet? Of course not. Is this going to cure everything? No, probably not, but it is something that’s going to help and I think, for one, it’s a pretty big stick to be wielding for there to be $50m penalties for social media platforms doing the wrong thing.
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Full Story podcast: A look at the Kyle and Jackie O Show
Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O Henderson have dominated the breakfast slot in Sydney for almost two decades. But the show’s recent expansion into the Melbourne market has tanked.
And while they have a reputation for crude language and stunts, the conversations that are broadcast continue to raise questions about how the show skirts decency standards.
In today’s Full Story podcast, our senior correspondent Sarah Martin and reporter Kate Lyons tell Nour Haydar how Australia’s highest-rating radio program gets around broadcast regulations:
And in the second part of our special report on Kyle and Jackie O, we ask why they bombed in Melbourne. Is it because, perhaps, that Sydney sensibility is just a bit crass for Melbourne? Here’s our story:
Does Sky News documentary on ‘Real Cost of Net Zero’ stack up?
Trailed extensively in ad breaks and spruiked in the News Corp papers, a Sky News documentary this week purported to reveal “The Real Cost of Net Zero”.
Presented by former ABC political editor Chris Uhlmann, the thrust of the show was that “weather-dependent electricity generation” had been found wanting and was pushing up prices for consumers.
But do the claims stack up? In this week’s Temperature Check column, Graham Readfearn kicks the proverbial tyres. Read his piece here:
Australia is largest provider of financial aid to Pacific, Lowy Institute says
Australia remains the largest provider of financial development assistance to the Indo-Pacific region by far but China has re-emerged in second-place with a “more competitive, politically targeted model of aid engagement”, a new aid report shows.
The Lowy Institute’s 2024 Pacific Aid Map (view here) shows aid to the region dropped by 18%, according to 2022 figures, mostly owing to discontinuing Covid-19 support, and compounded by cuts to global aid budgets and resources diverted to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The figures also show infrastructure financing rose by 67% in 2022, while human development funding fell compared with the previous year.
Australia committed $2.2bn to the region in assistance over the year with $1.5bn of it going to Papua New Guinea and $116m to the Solomon Islands. While the US committed $311m in the period and China committed $262m, the countries spent $249m and $256m respectively.
Australia is driving a significant portion of regional infrastructure with commitments increasing by 60% in 2022 alone.
Looking at China, the report said Beijing had changed its tack following a “pandemic lull” and was now offering more grants and community-level outreach compared with its larger infrastructure financing projects. China has also increased its annual spending in certain countries, such as Kiribati and the Solomon Islands, while decreasing funding to PNG, Fiji and Samoa. The report noted:
Pressures on both donor and Pacific government budgets are likely to grow, meaning more will need to be done with less to secure critical development wins. The allocation of development budgets from the region’s major donors also appears increasingly shaped by geopolitical concerns, raising questions about the trade-offs and sustainability of the current course.
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Good morning
And happy Thursday – thanks to Martin for kicking things off. I’m Emily Wind, and I’ll be taking you through our live political coverage for most of today.
You’ll have the whole Canberra team bringing you updates – Karen Middleton, Josh Butler, Paul Karp and Sarah Basford Canales, as well as Mike Bowers capturing all the action.
You can get in touch with any tips via email, emily.wind@theguardian.com.
Let’s get started.
Woolworths workers on stike
More than 1,500 employees across four Woolworths distribution centres have started an indefinite strike as worker representatives seek a “cost-of-living wage increase” and improved conditions.
The industrial action, which starts today, affects three warehouses in Victoria and one in New South Wales, and threatens to disrupt logistics before the busy Christmas shopping period.
The workers are seeking equal pay across distribution centres, bringing entry-level rates to at least $38 an hour. They also want to dismantle an efficiency system that warehouse staff have described as “bullying” and unsafe.
The national secretary of the United Workers Union, Tim Kennedy, said:
Woolworths are squeezing shoppers at the register and workers on pay and conditions, while making ever increasing profits. This is contributing to growing wealth inequality in Australia.
No one wants to see bare supermarket shelves in the lead up to Christmas. Woolworths can fix this by coming back to the table and negotiating a fair agreement.
A spokesperson for Woolworths’ supply chain Primary Connect said in a statement the company did not expect an immediate impact to stores in Victoria and NSW, while stores in other states would not be affected.
We have already put forward several offers with competitive pay that is above industry standards, above local market rates, and well above the award.
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Under-16s social media ban to include penalties for social media companies up to $50m
The controversial ban on social media for under-16s will be introduced into parliament today and will be accompanied by a proposal to massively increase fines on social media companies which breach the legislation – up to $50m.
The office of the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, sprinkled out some sparing details of the legislation overnight. Rowland said in some provided remarks:
This reform is about protecting young people and letting parents know we’ve got their backs. The legislation places the onus on social media platforms, not parents or children, to ensure protections are in place.
The government might try to push this through before parliament rises at the end of next week, with the support of the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, who wants it passed before Christmas. But Nationals senator Matt Canavan said yesterday the bill should get a proper Senate committee process and not be rushed through.
We understand the legislation will require regulated companies to take “reasonable steps” to prevent young people from having a social media account. What’s a regulated entity, you might ask? Well the minister will also get the power to exclude specific classes of services from those rules too, which could include messaging services, online games and services for health or education.
Tech companies will also be subject to privacy provisions, including obligations to protect and destroy any data they collect.
The government had flagged plans to boost penalties available under existing legislation, saying the current rules didn’t do enough to force big tech to take notice. We understand the new legislation will increase penalties up to $50m for systematic breaches of the rules.
Not mentioned overnight, but what we’ll be eagerly anticipating details on, is how the government thinks tech companies can enforce those rules, and how they will apply to all Australians. Communications department officials have already told Senate estimates that essentially all Australians will have to undergo some kind of age assurance or verification, in order to make sure those under 16 aren’t on those platforms – but the government hasn’t been forthcoming on that issue yet.
We’re also interested to know what data will have to be provided to tech companies, and how they’ll keep it safe.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live politics blog. This is Martin Farrer, bringing you the top overnight stories and then it will be Emily Wind in the hot seat.
The office of the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, has released some details overnight of the social media ban legislation that she will introduce to parliament today. The controversial ban will be backed by fines for social media companies which breach the legislation – up to $50m. “This reform is about protecting young people and letting parents know we’ve got their backs,” Rowland said. More coming up.
After it emerged yesterday that “Colesworth” was the ANU’s word of the year, describing the cost-of-living crisis, it is the turn today of Coles to front the consumer watchdog’s inquiry into supermarkets. We will be following developments as they happen. It comes as the other half of the portmanteau, Woolworths, will be hit by 1,500 workers going on an “indefinite” strike for more pay. More on that soon.
One of our top stories this morning reveals how hundreds of university executives are raking in more money than state premiers, a new report reveals, pointing to a “governance crisis” threatening the sector. In New South Wales, 89 executives earn more than Chris Minns’s $416,440 salary while in Victoria 62 make more than Jacinta Allan’s $481,190.
