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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Mostafa Rachwani and Amy Remeikis and Martin Farrer (earlier)

Sydney trains delayed due to ‘communication issue’ – as it happened

RBA Lidia Thorpe Philip Lowe
Sydney trains ground to a halt shortly before the afternoon peak and commuters were advised to make other arrangements.
Sydney trains ground to a halt shortly before the afternoon peak and commuters were advised to make other arrangements. Photograph: Roni Bintang/Getty Images

The day that was: Wednesday 8 March

And that’s where we’ll leave you this evening. Here’s a wrap of the main events today:

  • The Reserve Bank is “closer” to pausing its record series of interest rate rises with Australia’s modest increases in wages so far leaving the nation “in a better position than some other countries”, governor Philip Lowe said.

  • The entire Sydney train network was halted and commuters were told to avoid train travel after a communications fault.

  • British high commissioner to Australia, Vicki Treadell, rebuked opposition leader Peter Dutton for his Aukus submarine comments.

  • Peter Dutton accused the government of ‘beating the drums of class war’ over superannuation changes.

  • In response, treasurer Jim Chalmers derided Dutton’s ‘hyperventilating hyperbole’ over super changes.

  • Australia has led a group of 38 countries in demanding a “swift, impartial, credible, and transparent investigation” into the Beirut port explosion that killed more than 200 people and injured a further 7,000 people.

  • After complaints from Liberal politicians about the state of the Australian flag flying atop Parliament House, the president of the Senate and speaker of the house say it will be replaced as soon as possible.

  • Tabcorp has committed to reducing advertisements on television even if the federal government doesn’t act.

Updated

AAP is reporting that northern Australia is awash with intense rainfall, threatening Queensland’s gulf country communities with more flash flooding.

Doomagee, Burketown, Normanton and other towns in the region have endured near-constant rain since mid-December.

Meteorologists are warning locally intense rainfall up to to 150mm in six hours could hit the northwest, which may lead to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding, from Thursday.

People living in Winton, Mount Isa, Cloncurry, Julia Creek, Camooweal, Dajarra, Duchess, Mckinlay and Lawn Hill could be affected.

The Bureau of Meteorology says 24-hour rain totals of 250mm are possible “once again” after record falls on Wednesday.

“Already saturated catchments are likely to respond quickly to any heavy rainfall and exacerbate the flash flooding risk, while leading to further isolation of communities and disruption to local road networks,” the BoM said in an alert.

Burketown recorded its highest daily rainfall total in eight years when 173mm fell on Wednesday and a record 314mm drenched Century Mine near Lawn Hill.

Trucks of essential supplies have come from as far as Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns to service communities still reachable via road.

Carpentaria mayor Jack Bawden has asked for disaster relief payments for residents from the state and federal governments.

The Salvation Army has brought forward plans to activate a shop-front service to support members of the community in Normanton.

Updated

Demands that National Australia Bank employees work long overtime hours without pay in order to meet targets or to be considered for promotions will be examined in a union test case, AAP reports.

The Finance Sector Union of Australia has filed federal court proceedings against NAB and subsidiary MLC on behalf of four managers allegedly required to work up to 16 hours a day.

Some managers had to work weekends without pay and sometimes without meal breaks to avoid being fired, said FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano.

These relentless long work days are affecting the health of the managers, leading to them suffering stress, anxiety, fatigue and exhaustion.

The excessive hours are having a profound impact on the lives of our members, affecting their health, their relationships, the time available to spend with their families and their overall quality of life.

The FSU is asking for court-ordered compensation payable to the four managers plus penalties paid directly to the union.

If the union wins, it will ask NAB to repay up to 10,000 staff who also worked for similarly excessive hours, Angrisano says.

This case is just the start. We know the culture of the big banks exploits workers and we will be going after them as well.

In what the FSU describes as “serious contraventions” of Australian employment law, NAB and MLC required staff to work more than the 38 hours a week stipulated in the bank’s enterprise agreements.

Angrisano said this was a “systemic cultural issue” that stemmed from understaffing within the bank.

Big banks have reaped the benefit of implementing a culture that encourages and expects workers to perform high levels of unpaid work as a career development tool and a way to demonstrate their commitment to the company.

Working hard should not be equated with working excessive, unreasonable, unpaid hours.

NAB group executive of people and culture, Susan Ferrier, said the bank’s priority was the health and wellbeing of its staff and its employees were not expected to work unreasonable additional hours.

All leaders are expected to proactively monitor workloads and act when they identify an issue or when concerns are raised.

We take any instance where workload impacts a colleague’s health and life outside work seriously.

Updated

Optus data hack carried out by an expert, says CEO

A “skilled criminal” was behind the Optus hack that was one of the largest cyber attacks in Australian history, according to the telco’s CEO.

Speaking at a business summit in Sydney today, Optus boss Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said the attack was specifically crafted for the company, and that a motivated individual was behind it:

The cyberattack was not a casual crime of opportunity. The skilled criminal had knowledge of Optus’ systems and cycled through many tens of thousands of internet protocol addresses in an attempt to evade our automated cyber monitoring.

You can’t assume the hacker was actually planning to do a ransom in the first place. It looks like a bit of an odd attempt. The most likely scenarios were SIM swaps and phishing, which was shut down by going public so quickly.

Of course, in the immediate aftermath, there were customers who decided to leave us and that is understandable.

But I think some reports were greatly exaggerated. We are already back in a position of being net customer positive, or growing our customer base.

Optus shop front with sorry sign
Optus boss Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said last year’s cyber attack was specifically crafted for the company. Photograph: Richard Milnes/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

Time Use survey to return

The Australian Bureau of Statistics will begin conducting its Time Use survey regularly from 2024, providing a measure of how many hours Australians spend on things like unpaid domestic work.

Time Use data is collected in most developed countries and is not only useful in revealing the gender gap between unpaid labour and caring duties but how much time people have for recreational activities.

The survey has been conducted on a sporadic basis, only being held in 1992, 1997 and 2006 before a 16-year hiatus. The most recent survey took place in 2020-21 during the exceptional environment of the Covid pandemic.

In 2018 the Labor party promised to restore the survey, with then shadow minister for women, Tanya Plibersek, saying: “the Australian economy [and] Australian society rests upon women’s unpaid work”.

Now the ABS is set to re-establish itself as a global leader in time-use surveys, introducing a new regular collection that will use a digital approach to allow results to be released more quickly after the conclusion of the survey.

Assistant minister for competition, charities and Treasury, Andrew Leigh, said time use data is a valuable tool for policy development in several areas including gender equity, health and social services.

Leigh said he hoped it would be conducted annually, to provide a full snapshot of how Australians are spending their time.

“Australia used to be a world leader in measuring time use, but in recent years other countries have outpaced us,” Leigh said.

“Conducting the time use survey more regularly will provide insights into unpaid work, leisure activities, travel and more.

“Wellbeing isn’t just about money – it’s also about using our time in ways that bring meaning and fulfilment to our lives. Measuring our hours as well as our dollars will help governments craft policies that boost wellbeing for all Australians.”

The last survey revealed that in 2020 Australians spent an average of three and a half hours a day on unpaid work activities, with females picking up the brunt of unpaid labour.

“On average, females spent 4 hours and 31 minutes a day doing unpaid work activities. Males spent over an hour less on these activities, averaging 3 hours and 12 minutes a day,” the director of social surveys and statistics, Lisa Scanlon, said at the time.

“Less than half of males (42%) spent time on housework, compared to 70% of females.

“Mothers spent an average of 3 hours and 34 minutes participating in childcare activities a day, while fathers spent 2 hours and 19 minutes”.

Of those who spent time doing employment-related activities, males spent 8 hours and 13 minutes in a day on these activities, compared to females who spent 7 hours and 12 minutes.

Updated

RBA governor Lowe is, gasp, mortgage free and enjoyed a discounted rate

The Reserve Bank is copping a lot of flak lately after 10 consecutive interest rate rises, and it now might be collecting a bit more.

It turns out that once upon a time, staff benefitted from cut-rate loans, as part of the RBA Officers’ Home Advances Scheme. That scheme was wound up in 2001.

Anyway, Sky News Australia has reported that governor Philip Lowe was a beneficiary. “Up to $241,000 was loaned by the Reserve Bank to Dr Lowe at the heavily discounted rate and another $151,000 was borrowed directly from the Commonwealth Bank, reporter Olivia Caisley stated.

An RBA spokesperson tells us: “The governor did participate in the scheme and repaid the loan a number of years ago.”

“There are currently 11 loans remaining, totalling $300,000,” she said.

Personally, it’s hard to get too wound up about that. An institution like the RBA would need to offer perks for its staff to hang around rather than defect to better-paying lurks in the private sector.

Gripes may be better directed at current pay levels for senior staff if we think the RBA is missing its KPIs.

According to the RBA’s annual report, the “remuneration reference rate” for governor was unchanged in 2021/22 from a year earlier at $1,061,210 (superannuable salary of $774,683).

Lowe’s term ends in mid-September and with few politicians likely to back an extension, the governor may soon learn if he can top those payments elsewhere.

Sydney train services resuming after radio communications failure

The train network is slowly coming back online after all services were halted due to a radio communications issue.

Sydney Train chief executive, Matt Longland, said a backup system had been engaged and trains had “progressively recommenced”.

Commuters are being warned there would still be significant delays across the entire network and to avoid trains until the morning when services are expected to resume fully.

Longland apologised to commuters and said the communications fault would be investigated.

He said:

Trains have progressively recommenced operations across the Sydney Trains network. We will see significant delays for the remainder of the pm peak period. We will fully investigate the root cause of this particular incident.

He said it was not believed to be a cyber attack or a result of a software update conducted over the weekend.

Services to Newcastle, Wollongong and the Blue Mountains have also been affected.

Updated

Sydney Trains CEO gives an update

The chief executive of Sydney Trains, Matthew Longland, has just given an update, saying trains have “progressively” recommenced operations from around 4:00pm.

At 2:45pm this afternoon we experienced failure of our critical train radio system across the Sydney rail network. For safety reasons that meant we had to bring trains back to platforms so that customers could safely hop off those trains.

Engineers have tried to reset the system. Unfortunately they weren’t able to reset the train radio system. As a result we cut the system across to our back-up site.

That switching took place around 30 minutes ago. And about 15 minutes ago at around 4:00pm this afternoon, trains have progressively recommenced operations across the Sydney Trains Network.

Whilst trains are running again, we will see significant delays for the remainder of the peak period.

Customers are advised to avoid travel until we can bring trains fully back into service. We apologise to customers for the interruption to services this afternoon.

Updated

I thought I would throw in some tweets on the rail shutdown in Sydney, to get a sense of how this is affecting people:

Updated

Sydney rail network shut down after radio system failure

The entire Sydney train network has been halted and commuters are being told to avoid train travel following a communications system fault.

Transport for NSW has confirmed the radio system on the network failed this afternoon and the network was shut down.

A department spokesperson said:

At 2.45 pm we were notified the Digital Train Radio System (DTRS) had failed on the Sydney Trains network.

This is the digital radio system that connects the train crew with the signaller and our Rail Operations Centre.

As a result for safety reasons we have had to halt trains at platforms until we can reboot the system.

All trains have since been moved to platforms and people allowed off.

Engineers are now working to determine if a backup system located at Homebush can be activated to get the network back up and running.

The spokesperson said:

Air conditioning and public announcement systems are working.
We are advising people to avoid train travel now and we will update when the system is back up and running.

Updated

Good afternoon, Mostafa Rachwani with you this afternoon, to take you through the rest of the day’s news.

With the parliament winding down after one of the worst question time hours in recent memories, Mostafa Rachwani is going to take you through the rest of the afternoon.

A very big thank you to him and a very big thank you to everyone who followed along with the blog today. There was a lot to get through and your company absolutely made it worthwhile.

Please – take extra care of you, and those around you. There is a lot of pain and hurt out there at the moment, and a lot of people worried about how they are going to get through it all. We see you, and we are thinking of you.

See you tomorrow Ax

Updated

Sydney rail network delays expected through afternoon peak

Dipping out of politics for a moment:

Sydney rail commuters are being advised to allow “plenty of extra travel time” across the city due to a communication issue in the network this afternoon.

Sydney Trains has tweeted:

Allow plenty of extra travel time due to a train communication issue. Trains may stop on platforms or between stations for longer than normal while the issue is ongoing. We expect this to continue through afternoon peak services.

The issue appears to be affecting services on the T1, T2, T3 T4, T5, T7 and T8 lines.

One commuter told Guardian Australia they had been waiting at Milsons Point station for 40 minutes before they were informed of the issue.

Updated

Tabcorp in favour of less prime-time TV gambling advertising

One of Australia’s biggest gambling companies has committed to reducing advertisements on television even if the federal government doesn’t act, arguing the community has had enough and families don’t deserve to be bombarded.

A parliamentary inquiry led by the Labor MP Peta Murphy is considering whether gambling advertisements should be restricted amid concerns children are overexposed to wagering and vulnerable people are being harmed.

Tabcorp’s chief executive, Adam Rytenskild, said the gambling industry needed to listen to concerns from politicians, health experts and harm reduction advocates and do more to protect vulnerable Australians:

Australian families should be able to watch live sport without being bombarded with by gambling advertising. As a bookmaker, we can put our head in the sand and pretend change is not happening or we can embrace and lead the change.

The number of complaints about gambling advertisements almost doubled last financial year, prompting Australia’s media regulator to warn current restrictions are failing to meet community expectations.

Rytenskild said Tabcorp was prepared to reduce its advertisements even if the federal government decided the current restrictions were appropriate:

We would like to see gambling advertising stopped between 6.30am-8.30pm on free to air television – as a first step. We believe this is a sensible step to reduce the impact of gambling on vulnerable Australians.

If restrictions cannot be agreed to by government after the current online gambling inquiry, Tabcorp will voluntarily stop advertising on prime time television, between these times.

Rytenskild’s comments are a stark contrast to statements from the peak bodies for major sports and free-to-air broadcasters, which have argued the current restrictions are appropriate.

Many major sporting clubs are also uncomfortable with the level of gambling advertisements associated with the AFL and the NRL and have sought to remove gambling advertisements from their stadiums.

High AFL profile players including Collingwood ruckman Brodie Grundy have also spoken about the importance of children learning to separate their love for the sport from gambling, amid concerns the league is reliant on gambling money.

Last month, Tabcorp announced it will increase its online wagering profile in direct competition with Sportsbet and Ladbrokes after recording a $52m profit in six months.

Tabcorp, which is traditionally associated with in-store betting, launched its digital gambling app in September with advertisements airing during the Fifa World Cup broadcast. The company will now prioritise this online service and attempt to lure customers away from foreign-owned sports bookies.

Updated

After talking the cricket, his time backpacking in India, whether he likes spicy food (yes), the size of stadiums, GST for WA, cossie liv (cost of living for those who don’t live online) and inviting the hosts to the Lodge for dinner, we get to … Married at First Sight.

Because of course.

Anthony Albanese:

I’ve watched it a couple of times, I’ve gotta say, under sufferance.

Updated

Albanese talks Mardi Gras on pre-recorded Perth radio

The transcript for Perth radio Nova 93.7 interview with Anthony Albanese has been released and it’s mostly about … Mardi Gras. And what the PM wore.

Host: “I want to start by thanking you from the community for marching in the pride parade. I think that was amazing. And the fact that you are the only prime minister to have done it just shows the way that you look at the community, and also really surprises me that that never happened before.”

Albanese:

I’ve got to say that there are worse things to do than walking down Oxford Street and being cheered by 200,000 people. I don’t know why someone hadn’t done it beforehand.

Host: “A bit of criticism for your grey shirt … don’t own a sequin? What’s going on?”

Other host: “That was not a gay-friendly outfit.”

Albanese:

Well, that’s what it’s about, of course.

Host: “Tell me, tell me, talk to me.”

Albanese:

Is being who you are.

Host: “I know. But we could have cut the bum cheeks out of your pants.”

Albanese:

No one wanted to see that, my friend, no one.

Host: “I reckon there’d be a few.”

Albanese:

I got asked a lot about, ‘What are you going to wear?’ And it’s like, ‘I’m gonna wear my clothes that I normally wear, because it’s about respecting people for who they are.’

Host: “You know what, that would have been a bit of a conversation, wouldn’t it? What are you going to wear? Because like, for you, anything can like shoot back up in your face, you know?”

Albanese:

So I just did that. And then on Sunday, the pride walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge was just extraordinary. It’s the second time I’ve done it. The first time was for reconciliation, you know, more than 20 years ago. And so there were 50,000 people, and there was such a good feeling. People were so positive. And it says something about how people feel, the discrimination that’s still there for a lot of people, particularly young people coming to terms with who they are and dealing with those issues that come, that people were so grateful. All these people coming out and saying, ‘Thank you for being here’. It’s like, it’s fine. It’s not a big effort. But it made a difference and it made me feel really good.

Updated

Where is Mike Bowers?

I have had a few questions from readers on why I haven’t been putting any of Mike Bowers’ photos in the blog.

Mikey is busy with other projects at the moment, so we haven’t had him for sitting weeks (he is very much in demand).

As soon as he can return, don’t worry –he will.

Updated

Question time ends

Kylea Tink, the independent member for North Sydney, brings some decorum back to the chamber by making a statement on indulgence on International Women’s Day – pointing out that in the nine weeks that 2023 has thrown up so far, 11 women have already been murdered.

That is more than one woman a week. And the shocking truth is that intimate partner violence is the main cause of illness and death in women aged 18 to 44. But let’s make no mistake, these tragic deaths are preventable.

Tink says it is time to do more.

The Labor minister Catherine King and the Liberal deputy leader, Sussan Ley, also give their support to the motion.

Updated

In between all of that was an absolute mess. Just a complete rabble today.

One more day to go.

Dai Le has a question for Catherine King:

I understand that our current prime minister set up Infrastructure Australia under the previous Labor government. Recently, this authority listed the Metro-Link between Western Sydney Airport to Parramatta as a priority area. This critical line would have brought job opportunities to my Fowler electorate and reduce congestions. But Labor has slashed this line in favour of buses, which don’t connect the three major cities. What will you do to restore this critical transport link for my community? Thank you.

King:

Thank you very much to the member for her question. I know that she’s doing so as a strong advocate for her community in relation to public transport.

I visited Western Sydney International Airport just recently to announce that it’s now got its international code - WSI - and it’s well and truly progressing well.

The Albanese Labor government has committed over $5bn alongside the New South Wales government to Western Sydney Airport Metro and, in fact, I had the opportunity to dig the first sod on that rail line with minister Elliott not that long ago. It’s a very important rail line.

It’ll be providing important links. We obviously want to see that project to fruition. Of course, there is money for the New South Wales government that’s been put on the table for a business case for part of that line to Parramatta.

But no other funding has been committed. No other funding has been committed to that project. We will certainly, as a government who is committed to public transport, committed to the Western Sydney Airport Metro-Link, we will certainly consider the New South Wales new government any proposals that they put to us on the table, but no level of government has committed the money to build that project.

Updated

No wait, Stephen Jones is awarded extra time to answer and says:

The reason we are doing this is to ensure the integrity of the superannuation system. This is a matter that the majority of Australians seem to support but not the members opposite. It is also the case that under the existing law, the example that the honourable member opposite gave us would be in great difficulty because that type of asset in the fund described as the way the member opposite had described it would be in breach of the existing laws. It would be in breach of the existing laws. Members opposite make lots of noise but they may not understand the way existing laws operate.

Updated

The Coalition’s Rowan Ramsey asks Stephen Jones:

Minister, under the government’s super changes, if a family’s farm is owned in a super fund and increases in value during the financial year, will they pay tax on that gain even if they have not sold the farm?

There are a LOT of interjections in this one.

Jones:

I think we should deal with this in three parts, first, why are we doing this? The reason that we are doing this, the reason we’re doing this, Mr Speaker, is the government has inherited $1tn in debt from those opposite. And simply doing nothing is not an option. We also need to ensure that the superannuation system is operating ...

There are so many interjections that Milton Dick says he can’t hear Jones.

“Lucky you,” Paul Karp hears Peter Dutton say.

Jones tries again:

We’ve inherited a debt, we have to deal with it. We’ve also got to ensure that the system superannuation operates as it was intended and that there is integrity in the system. And that’s what these measures are all about it, ensuring that there is integrity in the system.

Now to the member’s question, he may not be aware but certainly the member for Deacon [Michael Sukkar] is aware and the member of Hume [Angus Taylor] should be aware that answer the current laws, there is a requirement for superannuation funds ... just be quiet, you might learn something, there is a requirement for superannuation funds including self-managed superannuation funds to have provision from equity events ... and ensure they have provision to draw down.

Now, I know that the member for Deacon knows this, I know that the member for Deacon knows this because when he was the minister responsible for the tax office, he had the tax office..

There is a point of order on relevance from Peter Dutton:

Jones then gets into a back and forth with members from the opposition over what the current laws are and how they are deliberately misunderstanding things.

There is no resolution and Jones finishes with:

It’s important that the opposition members who are gathered and in fact all Australians understand exactly why the government is introducing these changes. The process is that we intend to do to consult with stakeholders to ensure that we get the absolute detail right and to ensure that we explain to members opposite how it fits in with current arrangements. The reason we are doing this is that we have inherited over $1tn debt.

Updated

The energy minister, Chris Bowen, takes a dixer so he can talk about the safeguard mechanism and has a crack at his opposition counterpart, Ted O’Brien, for never asking him a question.

Paul Karp, who is in the chamber, tells me O’Brien fires back “Why did you break your promise on $275?”

To which Bowen returns “back from his movie tour with classics like, ‘What we can learn from Fukushima?’”

Updated

The independent member for Wentworth, Allegra Spender, asks Jim Chalmers:

Australians wants the government to focus on the long-term, the new cycle. They understand we need economic reform because the present arrangement is unsustainable. The past government has not delivered that for long-term growth and prosperity. With $1tn of debt, high inflation and low productivity, the choices have only gotten harder. When will we see a real tax and spending reform agenda from this government?

Chalmers:

It is true, that governments are called to deal with the long-term opportunities in our economy and at the same time as we deal with some of the nearer term pressures as well.

And if you think about the 2020s as Australia’s defining decade and how we set ourselves up for another generation of respect the like that which was delivered by the reform agendas of the 80s and 90s, will need to be thinking about how do we manage the big shifts when it comes to the energy transition, how do we manage data and digital shifts and the opportunities there, how do we make sure that we’ve got the workers that we need for the care economy and the services of economy, how do we broaden and deepen and diversify our industrial base in ways that so many of the cabinet ministers over here are engaged in.

And so, it is crucial right now, in the 2020s that we have the capacity to work in the longer term agenda while we deal with this inflation challenge in our economy.

The National Reconstruction Fund is part of our efforts, the safeguard mechanism is part of our efforts, there has in Australia Future Fund, part of our efforts, all these things which are before the parliament will help determine whether we succeed in the 2020s and into the 2030s, whether we can reform and change our economy so that we are managing the ships in the economy that maximising the opportunities that flow from those changes at the same time and we do need to be able to do that while we deal with this near-term inflation challenge in our economy in ways that are outlined in the answer to other question.

When it comes to tax reform, which I understand was the main feature of the member’s question, we are reforming the tax system in modest, methodical but meaningful ways. When it comes to superannuation, tax concessions, when it comes to aligning the off-market and non-market treatment of share buybacks. When it comes to multinational tax reform, one of the key thing that we discussed with international partners at the G20 and on other occasions as well. And these tax reforms, these modest, methodical but meaningful changes to our tax system will make our budget more sustainable over time and it will make a more sustainable than it would be without these tax changes.

And in addition to that, we do have the whole bunch of other priorities when it comes to our economic plan, fixing our supply chains, lifting the speed limit on the economy so we can grow without adding to inflation, tax is part of the but it’s not the only part of that. I look forward to working closely with the crossbench, the member for Wentworth and with anyone who understands that we’ve got a big opportunity in this country to turn the difficulties of the last few years into immense opportunities for our country and more importantly, its people. Economic reform is part of that and we are up for it.

Updated

The LNP member for Dawson asks Stephen Jones:

My question is for the assistant treasurer. Can the minister confirmed that farmers holding their farmland or family businesses holding their assets in self-managed super funds could be forced to pay tens of thousands more in taxes under labour’s superannuation changes? Do you do nothing more than fluctuations, and volatile commercial property prices. Isn’t this another on their new tax on family farms and family businesses?

Jones begins with the usual spiel of how Labor created super and it is for retirement. After 90 seconds of this, David Littleproud raises a point of order on relevance.

Dick tells Jones to get back to the question:

The reason we are doing this as we want to ensure that superannuation is operating as it is intended to provide a retirement income stream. The member opposite asks me about self-managed superannuation funds that have illiquid assets in the my property. It is a requirement under the current law, it is a requirement under the current law that superannuation trustees have provisions within their accounts to account for liquidity events. That is a requirement under the current law.

… The current law requires that superannuation trustees, including the trustees of self-managed superannuation funds, including the trustees of self-managed superannuation funds have provision within the fund for liquidity. We understand a change such as this is going to present a challenge for some funds which is why we are consulting about the implementation of it and we will ensure that there are transition arrangements. This might be difficult for members to understand.

Updated

The Liberal MP for Lindsey, Melissa McIntosh has taken to yelling her questions, in order to reflect the seriousness of it all. As my drama teacher, Mr Gehrke, always told me, show don’t tell.

“My question is to the treasurer, at a press conference in Homebush on 29 April 2022, the tractor is that on every shop in every shop in suburb and he can name one, is a reminder of the cost of living crisis. This government has an excuse for everything and one stock about international comparisons, aliens couldn’t give a stuff what inflation is in the United States. Will the treasurer apologise to families in Western Sydney who have had nine rate rises under this government making it even harder for them and their children?”

Jim Chalmers:

Thank you very much to the honourable member for her question. Isn’t it interesting when those opposite talk about interest rate rises that they say there has been nine in a row, there seemed to conveniently left off the fact that there has been 10 in a row and they again before governments changed hands in May.

… I thank the honourable member for reminding the House that the most acute quarter when it came to inflation our economy was the March quarter of last year when those opposite were still in office. And as for the comments I made, as for the comments I made then I think it remains the case, it remains the case that in every part of our economy is a reminder that people are under pressure because the cost of living is unacceptably high.

The answer goes on, but you get the point.

Updated

Angus Taylor has the next question and it is for … the acting prime minister, Richard Marles.

There is the beginning of a groan, but Milton Dick shuts the Labor benches off.

Can the acting prime minister confirm telling the Australian people weeks before the last election on 6 May 2022, Labor has a plan when it comes to the cost of living. We are going to ease the pressure on power bills. Can the acting prime minister name a single suburb in Australia where power prices have been reduced?

Taylor directs his question to the chamber cameras, prompting Josh Burns and other in Labor to ask who he is looking at, given Marles is right in front of him.

Marles:

When those opposite were giving an opportunity they voted against it.

And when the shadow treasurer had an opportunity to be upfront with the Australian people about the increase in power prices under his government, he hid it. That is what they do when it came to power prices. We have made really clear that we are focused on cost and particularly on reducing the pressure on power prices.

What we brought the Parliament back for in December is working. When you look at the forward electricity prices, as they were presented in February this year, they are half of what they were in November. Half. They made a difference and those opposite voted against it.

Updated

Big polluters, offsets and agriculture

Helen Haines has the first crossbench question:

My question is for the minister of climate change and energy. Under the government’s [plan] big polluters will seek to offset, but farmers say this could lock up productive land and it relies on the availability of credits they need to insert their own emissions for carbon neutrality and avoid hefty tariffs on international markets. How will the safeguard mechanism work if it cannot rely on offsets from agriculture?

Chris Bowen:

I thank the member for her question and recognise her leadership in climate. The honourable member asked a number of very important questions. Firstly, in relation to the safeguard mechanism. There has been debated across the public sphere in recent days and weeks about the use of offsets and whether government has proposed such an ambitious scheme to see 4.9% reduction in emissions each and every year it appropriate that we provide flexibility to businesses as to how to do that on offsets are very important part of that.

Offsets are the net in net zero which all parties are effectively committed to or meant to be committed to. And agricultural offsets play a very important role as well. In relation to safeguards mechanism that is an important degree of flexibility for big industrial emitter. There will be debate in this parliament when the bill comes forward for a vote and there will be one in the other house and when I issue the appropriate regulation.

I have interacted with some members of the crossbench and happy to have further interaction about the issue. In relation to the setting and the proposal and concept that the honourable member refers to – I am aware of those that the National Farmers’ Federation are interested in it, Farmers for Climate Action are interested - and it is a concept that has been acted on.

It is one of the options available to farmers going forward potentially. I am reminded the honourable member in the House of the minister’s carbon offset scheme of $20m over four years to provide farmers and agriculturalists with all the information and best detailed advice they could possibly access to give them the choices, informed choices that they can make to ensure that they are maximising their involvement in the way that they choose to.

I’m aware of the honourable member’s concerns about some misinformation that is common in agricultural areas about some of the benefits of carbon credits as opposed to some of the risks. Pharma should be able to make those choices themselves but in a fully informed way. I am more than happy to engage further with the honourable member about any sensible suggestion she chooses to make.

Updated

There is a moment of bipartisanship for International Women’s Day.

Back to normal programming.

Updated

Bill Shorten takes it and focuses on “dishonesty” – making it an answer on the robodebt royal commission.

I have one prepared about honesty and government in my portfolio. The royal commission into robodebt is one of the low points of honesty in government. And in our portfolio where cleaning up the mess but one important point, which goes, thank you to the robodebt question Sussan.

One important point which goes to the question of honesty in government is really this.

There have been a lot of witness statements given by lots of victims of robodebt in the royal commission. And they do make harrowing reading. I’m not sure that the member ...

Paul Fletcher complains that the question was about franking credits. Milton Dick says the question is broad.

Shorten continues about robodebt and Paul Fletcher complains that Shorten can’t draw conclusions about the royal commission, only quote from it.

Tony Burke says that the question was so broad, the answer could be about anything the previous government did.

Shorten continues:

The reason why we are having the royal commission and the reason why members of parliament should was sent to some of the stories we’re hearing now is it went on for 4.5 years. I don’t think any government is immune from making mistakes. I understand that. But surely we need to have the conversation both on the side of the house and outside of the house, how could you keep breaking the law and that is not a matter for the royal commission.

The Commonwealth Solicitor said the scheme was [unlawful]. That’s already a fact. Has anyone on that side stopped to think, ‘How did we keep breaking the law for 4.5 years?’ I have counted the number of times the Coalition minister ... How did we keep breaking the law? Coalition members may see this as just a partisan issue. But if we don’t understand why it happened and how it happened, so probably have had is a lot of people saying they don’t recall. But I can trust the honesty of the victims who are bravely retelling the stories. [Compare that] with the cowardice of the government minister [at the time].

Updated

Sussan Ley is up next, with this question:

I refer to the minister for government services comments yesterday on Sky News, about the attack on franking credits from this government. In the attack on franking credits he proposed in the 2019 election. Has the minister reflected more broadly across his portfolio responsibilities on the difference between his honesty in 2019 when he spoke about franking credits, which saw him lose an election and the prime minister’s dishonesty which saw him win an election.

There is a back and forth between Tony Burke and Paul Fletcher about whether it is in order.

Ley is asked to direct it to Bill Shorten’s portfolio, so she asks again:

I refer to the minister for government services comments yesterday on Sky News, about the attack on franking credits from this government. In the attack on franking credits he proposed in the 2019 election. Has the minister reflected more broadly across his portfolio responsibilities on the difference between his honesty in 2019 when he spoke about franking credits, which saw him lose an election and the prime minister’s dishonesty which saw him when an election. A dishonesty that covers every portfolio in this government!

Updated

There is a moment of bipartisanship, again, over India.

Moving on.

Don’t be surprised if the opposition makes a point of having women ask if not all, most of the questions today, for International Women’s Day.

I have no steer on this – just a hunch based on obvious political tactics.

Updated

Question time begins

The Liberal MP for Flinders, Zoe McKenzie, gets the first question – for Tanya Plibersek:

The prime minister said gas must play a key role in providing picking and burning power for Australian businesses and households. Does the minister agree that gas will play a crucial role in providing secure energy supply for Australians? And how many gas project has the minister approved since being sworn in?

Plibersek:

Yes it will play a crucial role and I’m not going to comment on individual assessments.

Updated

OK, question time is upon us. Richard Marles is in the big chair, as acting PM.

Updated

All votes in parliament count

Just a small note on the “not accepting a vote” debate.

Governments literally can not “not accept a vote” from an MP. Parliament does not work that way. Once a member is elected, their vote represents their electorate. A government can not strike their vote from the record. They can vote any way they want. A government can choose not to court a particular vote and it can choose not to negotiate with a member, but there is no option to say “no thank you” to a member voting.

All votes in the parliament count.

Updated

Matt Kean tight-lipped about preferences

The New South Wales treasurer, Matt Kean, has repeatedly refused to answer if the Liberals will preference the independent Gareth Ward in Kiama at the state election after last night preselecting the Holsworthy MP, Melanie Gibbons, for the seat.

Ward was the sitting Liberal member until he was ousted from the party and suspended from parliament after being charged with sexual assault. He has denied any wrongdoing and the case remains before the court.

Asked why the party had chosen to parachute Gibbons into the seat after criticising similar practices in the Labor party, Kean said he wanted to see more women run.

He said:

I will be campaigning for all Liberal candidates across NSW.

What I want to see is more female candidates across the board.

I welcome Melanie Gibbons as a strong female candidate running in Kiama.

He repeatedly refused to answer questions about a preference deal with Ward.

We are going to be fighting to win Kiama.

Updated

NSW Coalition says it can improve on drawing women to team

The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, has conceded his party needed to be better at getting women into parliament while defending the strength of his cabinet in a leaders debate on Wednesday.

The opposition leader, Chris Minns, also defended his shadow cabinet’s ability to lead the state if Labor forms government, with just one having served as a minister previously.

He said while his team had far less experience running the state, it had “an energy and a commitment and focus” on NSW.

Minns said the number of Coalition ministers retiring at the election was of concern:

We don’t know who will fill those positions if the government is reelected on March 25. We don’t know their competencies. We don’t know their experience. At least with Labor, we have a team in place that is disciplined and united and focused on you.

The premier insisted the team remaining after the election was still strong:

We’ve got an incredibly strong and energetic team with the experience to deal with the economic challenges we face. This is a team that can deal with the economic challenges in front of us to ensure our state continues to move forward. Labor doesn’t have the experience.

Perrottet could not tell the debate moderator, Amelia Brace, what percentage of candidates preselected were women after nominations closed today.

He said:

We’ve made a lot of headroom (sic) I think in that in that area. We certainly improved in relation to attracting more women and more people from diverse backgrounds into our team … There are always areas where we can do better – I accept that. I know from my experience, the more diverse cabinet is … the better decision-making we have.

Asked how Labor would represent the people of Western NSW where the party’s presence is light, Minns said he would “represent every single corner of this state” before switching to discussing the importance of police rescuing.

The men agreed on multiple areas including mandatory prescriptions for vapes, not accepting Gareth Ward’s vote should he be re-elected and serving a full term in opposition if they were returned to parliament but were unable to form government.

Updated

Treadell on Aukus

There have been a lot of questions on Aukus that Vicki Treadell can’t answer.

So it has made this Q and A a little difficult. To the last question:

Would you support an extension of Aukus to include Japan for its advanced technology?

Treadell:

Look, on pillar two, there are technologies that we know a number of like-minded partners are keen to be part of. So until we get into the detail of how that moves forward and who may have the technology or an opportunity to work with us, we shall see.

Updated

Treadell on the voice

At the Press Club, Vicki Treadell is asked about whether she would support an Indigenous voice to parliament.

I will share a little story with you. Not long after the Aukus announcement, an Australian reporter said to me, ‘Is this the Anglosphere ganging up?’

I pointed out to the journalist that he is Australian with the oldest living culture in the world, and this country by definition therefore is not part of the Anglosphere.

I think I have made my points about my own country.

So coming back to your question, I think it is absolutely correct and Australia has been going through this process of recognising its history before the white man came. This is part of that evolution and I think that is absolutely for Australia to determine its path going forward.

… I think it is important that all the people, but particularly the First Nations of Australia are recognised in this country’s constitution.

Updated

Daniel Hurst up next at the Press Club

… Just following on the point of the information you sent back home about factual information about Australia’s [asylum seeker] policy, you also reported back about the consequences of people who have spent a decade in indefinite detention, people who have had severe health impacts and deaths in detention, and just to further the point, what is the risk, what advice have you given about not demonising asylum seekers as part of this stop the boats rhetoric?

Vicki Treadell:

Look, the British government wants to make sure that when asylum seekers come to our country they can be properly looked after, have a decent environment. The issue is with the influx of the level we are having at the moment, we’re not giving the humanity necessarily, you know, when they land with nothing. So I really don’t want to be drawn on this. The bill was introduced, it is the position of my government as a way to better manage this and to make sure that asylum seekers have a safe passage to the UK.

Updated

Does Vicki Treadell think the Australian government could have handled the decision to not put King Charles on the $5 note better?

Treadell seems annoyed she is wasting precious voice time on this:

Why should Australia tell Britain what it wants to do with its own currency when you are in your own right. It is none of our business.

There is a small smattering of applause in the room.

British high commissioner rebukes Peter Dutton for submarine comments

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, warned against Australia buying from the British submarine fleet recently, saying he preferred the US offering:

The beauty in my mind with the American model, of the Virginia class, was that it was a proven design, it gave us interoperability with the Americans and there will be more American subs in the Indo-Pacific than there will be British submarines.

Dutton said he was relying on advice he received as defence minister:

The advice to me at the time was very clear: that Rolls-Royce didn’t have any production capability left, no headroom; Barrow-in-Furness is obviously landlocked, it didn’t have the ability to scale up.

Vicki Treadell has made it clear she does not want to talk about Aukus, but she is asked about Dutton’s comments and says:

I told Mr Dutton last night that they didn’t agree with his view.

Q: Why did you do that?

Because he is commenting on an outcome he doesn’t yet know.

Q: And is that inappropriate for him to do so?

There is a lot of speculation. Everyone is entitled to speculate. I was simply pointing out that I did not think such expressions were helpful on what is a genuine trilateral partnership started under his government.

Updated

Vicki Treadell’s speech continues …

The British high commissioner Vicki Treadell’s voice has held up and she is finishing her speech. Towards the end, she included a mention of Aukus:

What I can say is this – our historic Aukus agreement reflects unique trust between the UK, the United States and Australia.

It reflects our share values and our joint commitment to peace and security in the Indo-Pacific.

In the face of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, it perhaps would have been an understandable for the UK to pull focus.

Instead, we have doubled down on our commitment to the Indo-Pacific.

Our unwavering support for Ukraine as happened in parallel with the strengthening of our presence and our engagement in the Pacific. These are not separate issues. These are sides of the same coin.

We recognise China poses a systemic challenge to our values and interests.

We also recognise these views may not necessarily be shared by others. Of course we also recognise China’s significance in world affairs.

So diplomacy and engagement has never been more important. But let me also use a sporting analogy.

Because we know how you Aussies love your sports. A fair competition can only exist within a fair framework respected by all players.

Competition between nations is healthy. Coercion is not.

We will uphold the international rules-based system, including modernising and reinforcing it in the light of experience and new global challenges on climate change.

We will support Australia and our allies across the Indo-Pacific and anywhere the rules-based international order is threatened.

This is the modern Britain that has been shaped by the world. This is the global Britain that understands the legacy and responsibility of empire.

This is my Britain.

Updated

The program Sally Sitou volunteers with was started by Alexander Downer.

But this is what some of the hysterical reporting around China can lead to for people of Chinese heritage in Australia:

For those who didn’t hear it before he left, here is Anthony Albanese on his upcoming meeting with the US president, Joe Biden:

Q: Prime minister, you spoke yesterday of the growing importance of renewable energy in India. Australia also exports a lot of coal to India, how do you reconcile those two things when you talk to prime minister Modi about his concrete moves to reduce emissions? And you just said just then you’re going to have a bilateral meeting in the US? Is there a trilateral element to that at all?

Albanese:

I’ll be meeting with president Biden in the United States. We’ll have further announcements about details soon about the arrangements that will be taking place. On India, it is important to recognise that prime minister Modi, like the other leaders of the G20, is a strong supporter of shifting the energy focus, including in India. That’s important to lower emissions, but it’s also important on issues like pollution in India as well. It’s something I know prime minister Modi is very conscious of. We will be talking about the new industries and opportunities that Australia has, whether it be provision of lithium and other materials that are important for the shift to renewables. The growth of areas like green hydrogen present enormous opportunities. India is a driver of new technology and innovation. And there is a great scope for Australia and India to cooperate as we both transition for clean energy from an assist on trade.

Updated

Vicki Treadell was born in Malaysia (at the time, known as the Federation of Malaya) to a Cantonese mother and a father with French-Dutch ancestry.

(Treadall’s voice is going and she has warned she may not be able to complete the speech herself)

She opened her speech, as Dan has already highlighted, with a gentle rebuttal to some of the reporting of Penny Wong’s comments about the British need to reckon with its colonist history (I am paraphrasing)

Foreign Minister Penny Wong recently made headlines, as [National Press Club president] Laura [Tingle] has referenced, in her speech at King’s College in London

As is often the case with headlines, and even today, and I appreciate I’m on dangerous ground by making this point at the National Press Club, some of the nuance was lost. I agree with Penny Wong, we must frame ourselves for who we are today.

We must not let others constrain us in a past reality. Just as brevity is the enemy of complexity, the story of modern Britain is distilled by distance.

A postcard of a painting that never was. To understand modern Britain is to understand we must project with pride our modern multicultural reality.

Our diversity and inclusive society we strive for is who we are today. This is our nationhood, a nationhood that demands equality and fairness - at home and abroad. Values we share with Australia.

Updated

The British high commissioner is speaking at the national press club today.

Daniel Hurst is there. You can read his preview here:

New WA Women’s Hall of Famer

The WA Greens senator Dorinda Cox has been recognised by the WA Women’s Hall of Fame:

It’s such an honour to be acknowledged by the WA Women’s Hall of Fame for International Women’s Day. I’m grateful for the recognition of the work that I have contributed to in justice, family and domestic violence, and child protection over my career, but there’s still so much work to be done.

As a senator for Western Australia, I’m just getting started. The Australian Greens have entrusted me with the responsibility for [the] First Nations, resources, trade, tourism and science portfolios. And there is so much opportunity in all of these areas for WA and for the country.

2023 is a particularly important year for First Nations people – we’re facing a referendum on constitutional recognition. I support the Uluru Statement in its entirety, so that means advancing Truth-telling and Treaty-making alongside progress on the voice to parliament referendum.

I’m proud to be standing alongside other First Nations women who deserve this acknowledgement, and to be representing the strong matriarchs in my family who have faced the trauma of being five generations of the Stolen Generation. It’s their resilience that carries me forward to do the important, yet difficult work that helps our community.

Updated

I am sorry – I am currently having a much needed laughing fit imagining Anthony Albanese shimmering his way up the 81m-high flag mast to immediately change the flag because Dan Tehan was upset.

Perhaps the PM can ask the plane formally known as Shark One to double back to Canberra, so he can rappel out of its belly, Tom Cruise-style, and get that flag changed before heading to India.

Updated

More on the flag’s ‘gaping hole’

After complaints from Liberal politicians about the state of the Australian flag flying atop Parliament House, the president of the Senate and speaker of the house say it will be replaced as soon as possible.

Sue Lines and Milton Dick, the presiding officers of the parliament, admit the flag is in “unacceptable condition” and blame a combination of recent wild weather and an elevator breakdown for its state.

Some background (Amy has a more succinct version below): Coalition MPs like Dan Tehan and James McGrath have this week criticised the giant flag flying from the pole on top of Parliament House, noting it had a “gaping hole” in it. Tehan, the shadow minister for immigration, called this morning for PM Anthony Albanese to fix it.

Albanese, as Amy just reported, is on a plane in Perth flying to India and the United States for a major week of diplomacy.

Nonetheless, Lines and Dick today admitted the flag needed to be sorted out.

“The national significance and the importance of the Australian flag cannot be overstated. We are aware of the unacceptable condition of the current Australian flag flying above Parliament House,” they said.

The officers said the flag is usually changed on the first Wednesday of each month, but noted recent “high winds and thunderstorms” in the nation’s capital.

“Changing the flag is a dangerous and complex undertaking due to the sheer size of the flag and the high wind conditions at that elevation. Weather conditions must be favourable to ensure a safe changeover can take place. Recent weather conditions have posed an unacceptable risk to the safety for personnel to replace the current flag,” they said.

“When there was an opportunity for staff to safely ascend the pole, the lift mechanism experienced a mechanical fault.”

Lines and Dick said the mechanism is being “urgently” fixed and that the flag would be changed as soon as possible.

Updated

Flag Facts with Amy: what’s up with Parliament House’s slightly ratty flag?

If you are in Canberra, you may have noticed that the Australian flag on top of Parliament House is looking a little less than its best at the moment.

A somewhat tattered Australian flag flying above Parliament House.
A somewhat tattered Australian flag flying above Parliament House. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

That’s because it has been too windy to change it. The flag, which is about the size of the side of a double decker bus (which is a fact on the parliament website that everyone who works at parliament house usually trots out when showing people the building) flies 24 hours a day (it is lit up at night, so it can be flown in the dark) and gets whipped around.

So it is usually changed on the first Wednesday of every month (there is a bunch of flags which are rotated). But the windy conditions have made that too dangerous. And when there was a gap to change the flag, the machinery lift broke down.

All of this is a very long explanation to say – yes the flag is looking a little ratty, yes the presiding officers are aware and yes the Department of Parliament Services is on it.

Updated

And he is on the plane. Acting prime minister Richard Marles, come on down.

Updated

PM: Australia to discuss security relationships with India, among other dimensions

Is Australia deepening its relationship with India in response to China?

Anthony Albanese:

The relationship with India is multifaceted. It is one of people to people relations, the growing diaspora that is there in Australia is an asset for Australia, but also those people-to-people links are so important. It is also about our trade and it is also about our security relationship and the operation Malabar [naval exercises] will be hosted by Australia for the first time.

It will be important … those security relationships are something that I will be having discussions with Prime Minister Modi on.

I met with the foreign minister in Kirribilli just two weeks ago. The relationships we have, because India is the host this year of the G20, means that we have already had visitors to India from our treasurer, our education minister, and other ministers will continue to have that engagement over the year and I will of course attend the G20 when it is hosted in India.

Before then I will host the Quad leaders’ meeting of Prime Minister Modi, [Japan’s] Prime Minister Kishida, and President Biden in Australia in the first half of this year.

Updated

Albanese off to India

Anthony Albanese is in Perth, about to leave for India, for what will be the first official visit of a sitting PM in six years.

But his tarmac doorstop is on International Women’s Day (just a reminder that “embracing equity” is not the official theme of the day – embracing equity is what an advertising agency which owns the IWD website came up with, the actual theme from the UN is “cracking the code”.)

I’m very proud to lead the first Australian government ever made up of a majority of women. Fifty-four women in our caucus of 103 members … And it is no accident that our government has already made significant reforms to advance the interests of women and therefore advance the interests of Australia.

Paid parental leave legislation passed this week. The childcare reforms that will come in on 1 July, boosting women’s workforce participation, boosting productivity, and taking pressure off families lupus budgets, 10 days’ [paid] domestic and family violence leave - families’ budgets.

The other measures including the adoption of the recommendations of the Respect at Work report, increase community workers, assisting those escaping domestic and family violence.

Our housing Australia future fund legislation that will reserve 4,000 out of the 30,000 places for women and children escaping domestic violence.

Updated

Labor releases gender equality scorecard to hold itself to account

The government has put out a gender equality scorecard (because it is International Women’s Day) and lo and behold, shiz isn’t equal:

And add in any intersectionality – women of colour, trans women, age, religion, poverty, English as a second language etc – and the results are even further apart.

Asked why the government has put out the score card, the minister for women, Katy Gallagher, told the ABC:

I think that’s why we’ve put out this scorecard. Because I think for many Australians some of these statistics aren’t well known. And I really wanted to, I guess, put front and centre on – as we’re doing our work trying to progress gender equality – what some of the areas are that we need to focus on.

And certainly, areas like sexual harassment, family, domestic and sexual violence, are really fundamental issues that we have to crack, we have to reduce the level of violence and harassment against women and children in this country, or we’re never going to have a gender-equal Australia, which is something that I think most Australians would want to see.

So, the scorecard’s there, we’re going to put it out once a year on International Women’s Day, to make sure that we are holding ourselves to account and trying to ensure that we are making progress each year against some of these really tricky issues.

But it’s also … when you look at the data in a whole … women earn less, they have less assets, less savings, women over 60 earn the least of all the demographics across society, and many of those women face issues around homelessness and things like that. So … there’s a broader picture here of issues that we have to tackle that the government can do part of, but it’s a broader national conversation that we’re trying to ensure we have.

The government could do a couple of things though – raise the rate of welfare above the poverty line, not send single parents onto Jobseeker while their children are still children, address the lack of superannuation for people on (unpaid) parental leave, dramatically increase the stock of social housing (working with the states) and address the issues of poverty, a leading cause of home insecurity and a risk factor in violence, at the cause – by lifting people out of it with money.

Updated

Dan Andrews defends using taxpayer funds for polling on public perception of Covid lockdown measures

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has defended his government’s use of taxpayer funds for polling that investigated the public’s views about the state’s lengthy Covid lockdown.

The Australian has reported that QDOS research undertook regular monitoring of Victorians’ views on Covid measures such as the 8pm curfew and 5km travel limit.

The report is based on documents released by the Department of Premier and Cabinet following a two-year freedom of information battle. The documents reveal that QDOS reveal was also probing public perception of Andrews’ leadership.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Andrews said being popular during the pandemic was “absolutely unimportant”:

When you’ve got a very difficult message to send and a very difficult story to tell and you want people to comply with rules that are deeply unpopular, deeply disruptive, then you need to test and make sure you’ve got your messaging right. Nothing more or nothing less.

Updated

‘I’m not … suggesting that women should raid their super funds’: Ley on proposal to allow women to buy homes with super

The ABC Radio AM host Sabra Lane also asked Sussan Ley about superannuation:

Lane:

Let’s turn to superannuation. A fortnight ago, you were talking up a possible expansion of Coalition policy to allow women to access their super to buy a house saying it had helped secure their financial independence. Have you convinced your colleagues to back that policy?

Ley:

If you heard Peter Dutton in the budget reply last year, we talked about backing in our first homeowner superannuation scheme, which actually allows people to use their super to buy the asset that will appreciate the most in their lifetimes.

When it comes to super, Sabra, we’re focused on supporting the choices of women, not making their choices for them.

Now, a sensible extension of this would be to allow women who need to buy their own home access to their super. At the moment as it stands, you might, for example, be a 58-year-old woman who has had marriage breakup or domestic violence. Only when the situation is extremely desperate, only then can you get your super; by then it is too late.

Lane:

So sorry, just on the question of your colleagues, are your colleagues supporting an expansion of that policy? And new research actually points out today that women will retire with $136,000 less than men. Won’t this idea just further diminish women’s retirement balances and push up the cost of housing?

Ley:

If you buy your house early, and you don’t withdraw all of your super you actually build your overall assets over your lifetime.

I have to be clear on this, Sabra: I’m not asking women or suggesting that women should raid their super funds to fund their own crisis management in an emergency, or to not actually have super there for retirement.

That statistic that you gave me then, that worries me. It worries me that women don’t have enough superannuation as they retire.

But you know, today’s not the day to finalise our policy. The statement I make is a values statement; women need financial independence.

Lane: So your colleagues aren’t on board yet?

Ley:

Oh, we will develop policy as we go forward as we will in a range of areas, and we’ve already developed policy for women. One was the ability to let older women use their pension bonus to spend more hours working, if they choose, and not be financially penalised.

That’s an important thing that Peter Dutton announced soon after we came into opposition and when I travel through small businesses in Australia, they really respond positively to it.

Updated

Sussan Ley says Liberals no closer to supporting no campaign in voice debate

The Coalition isn’t supporting the Referendum Machinery Act changes – it wants changes to the funding that the government doesn’t want to make.

Sussan Ley was asked this morning on ABC radio AM if that meant the Liberals were closer to supporting no in the actual referendum:

It’s not a sign of that. We need the detail that we’ve continually asked for and every day we hear more confusion from the government, so many different positions, particularly on whether the voice would have a role to the executive of government or to the parliament.

Very early on when we saw the desperation in Alice Springs one member of the government said the voice would fix that; another member, the prime minister, said it probably wouldn’t.

When I travel, as I do around the country, and I spent a week in Western Australia recently, people are actually asking me, how will it work in practice? And I’m unable to actually answer them.

The Greens’ new First Nations spokeswoman Dorinda Cox – I note that she said she was surprised Labor didn’t try to legislate the voice to give the model time to evolve and be tested and then take it to the Australian people with a referendum. Now that’s just a sensible idea.

Updated

‘Moral and financial black hole’: ASRC director criticises Labor and Coalition’s voting down of evacuation to safety bill

Jana Favero, the director of advocacy at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, has taken aim at Labor and the Coalition for voting down the Greens’ evacuation to safety bill.

Favero told Guardian Australia:

It’s disappointing but not unexpected. It was really telling what wasn’t said - I sat through all of those speeches – I didn’t hear a clear argument from either major party why vote against the bill. They were relying on fear and division again.

The Greens and David Pocock both spoke about people affected. Neither major party referenced the refugees impacted by the bill, nor did the Senate inquiry report. Thirteen pages – not one mention of the case studies. It shows it’s a political football, to make the people invisible to suit the political agenda … It’s disgraceful bipartisanship to play politics with people’s lives.

It’s ironic, on the same day UK is passing a law to set up offshore processing, that the Australian parliament considering a bill to urgently evacuate 150 people from offshore detention, recognising the harm it’s caused. It’s a moral and financial black hole and a policy failure.

Updated

Deakin University to become first foreign tertiary institution with campus in India

Australia’s peak university body has welcomed the news Deakin University will be the first foreign university to establish a Gift campus in India.

The $4m campus will be announced on an official prime ministerial visit to India this week.

Universities Australia chief executive Catriona Jackson is accompanying Anthony Albanese on the trip alongside vice-chancellor of Deakin university, Prof Iain Martin, and vice-chancellor of University of Melbourne, Prof Duncan Maskell.

Jackson said increased research collaboration would also be on the table as the Australia-India bilateral relationship moved ahead in “leaps and bounds”.

India’s goal of educating 500 million students by 2035 is nation-changing, and our universities are here to help. Another exciting development comes with the news that Australian universities are opening campuses in India. This will support India’s hugely ambitious education reforms.

Updated

On the evacuation to safety bill:

Chalmers derides Dutton’s ‘hyperventilating hyperbole’ over super changes

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has hit back at the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, for suggesting Labor is running a socialist agenda.

Chalmers told Radio National:

He’s getting more and more ridiculous every day. We’ve finally found someone more negative than Tony Abbott, more divisive than Scott Morrison, and more ridiculous with every passing day. He is the poster child for the sort of politics Australians rejected in May, and he seems to have learned nothing from that. These ridiculous scare campaigns, and this hyperventilating hyperbole every day [show he has] learned nothing from the last wasted decade of needless conflict.

Earlier, Dutton claimed that Labor’s super tax changes will “disincentivise young Australians from putting their money into super”.

He told the Australian Financial Review conference:

The government is beating the drums of class war. Whether you’ve got $30,000 dollars, $300,000 dollars or $3 million in your super fund is not the point. The point is that the government’s super tax is an attack on aspirational Australians who have worked hard all their life. Hard-working Australians put their money into super – from savings, inheritance and windfalls – to support their retirement. They do so based on assurances on taxation stability … If Labor can’t keep its promise to leave your super alone, any super tax cap will not be set in stone.”

Dutton also set a test for Labor to stick to its promise to deliver the stage three tax cuts in full, warning a backflip “would be an absolute betrayal of Australians’ trust” and “tantamount to economic incompetence”

Dutton took aim at Chalmers’s January essay in which he wrote of wanting to “build a better capitalism” and “reimagining and redesigning markets”, claiming this amounted to an “experiment with the same system of socialism which has devastated nations wherever and whenever it has been implemented”.

On the substance of income tax cuts, Chalmers noted that the July 2024 start date is “a couple of budgets away”. He said “we don’t know what the conditions will be at that time … at some point the Australian economy will shift from inflation to growth” and Labor would weigh up all the factors at the time.

Updated

What level of unemployment is acceptable to the Reserve Bank?

Lowe:

I don’t want to kind of put a figure on it. Our forecasts that we released a month ago have the unemployment rate rising to 4.5% or maybe a bit above that.

That’s a percentage point above where it is now. Before the pandemic we were above 5%.

And we wondered whether we could get in a sustainable way below 5. I think it’s possible – there’s still a lot of uncertainty – I think it’s possible we can sustain an unemployment rate below 5% in Australia. I certainly hope so. And if we can travel that narrow path we’ll do that. We want to minimise the rise in unemployment.

But acknowledge that slower growth does mean higher unemployment.

But if we can stay on that narrow path we can keep it below 5%.

Updated

What about the top end of town? Is Philip Lowe changing how he spends? Sending a message to the other 1% to do the same?

Lowe:

I’m just one person in 26 million. So, my personal circumstances, aren’t going to affect the aggregate, are they … ? It’s difficult because monetary policy is falling unevenly across the community and the people who have been most affected are people who have borrowed in recent times and [have] to pay a higher mortgage payment. So that’s where the effect is being most felt.

But, higher interest rates have diffused [inflationary] effects elsewhere. If we didn’t raise rates, the exchange rates would be much lower, we’d have more inflation. The higher interest rates do encourage people to save more.

If you shop around, and please shop around for deposits, you can [receive up to the high] fours [percent interest rates] on your savings.

So shop around, that increases the incentive to save. And housing prices have fallen, partly because of higher interest rates, and at least for some people the lower wealth they feel as a result of lower housing prices mean they spend less.

There’s diffuse transmission channels but the most direct one is on higher mortgage payments. I know it’s tough.

Updated

RBA governor meeting with Suicide Prevention and Lifeline next month

How much attention does Philip Lowe and the board pay to messages from people in financial distress, especially in light of the head of Suicide Prevention Australia asking for a meeting?

Lowe:

That’s a difficult message, it is, but it’s the truth. If inflation stays high, we know it will lead to higher interest rates, people losing jobs, and more pain. That’s the reality we face.

It’s an uncomfortable reality but that’s the reality and it’s a very difficult message for people to hear.

At yesterday’s board meeting I went through with the board the mail I’ve been receiving and … we discussed in quite a lot of detail the difficulties that many people are facing, who borrowed in recent times and are facing big increases in mortgages.

People write to me about how it’s affecting their families and mental health.

In the next month I’m meeting with Suicide Prevention and Lifeline so we’re very alert to that. It weighs heavily on my heart and the hearts of the board members.

But, at the same time, we know if we don’t get on top of inflation [it will mean] higher interest rates, more unemployment, more pain. We think we can navigate this narrow path and bring inflation down.

If we don’t get inflation down, we’ll be in all sorts of trouble. So that’s – it’s a difficult message at an individual level, and, it weighs on us a lot. I read the many letters and often I respond to them.

But it’s interesting, we’ve been receiving letters recently saying, since the first time I’ve been the governor, thank you for preserving the value of money. There are parts of the community who know how damaging inflation is. It’s a difficult time.

Updated

Lowe: More data changes meant changes to language on future rate rises

Why was the RBA’s language on possible future rate rises so different from February to March?

Phil Lowe:

This month was kind of a bumper month for data. For the first time ever we had the national accounts, inflation, wages, and the labour force all in one month.

Those data, on balance were a bit softer than we had expected. And it’s appropriate we modify our language as the data changes. We’re very much in a data-dependent world and when the data changes, we’re going to change the language.

But the underlying message has been the same. Inflation is too high, we need to keep raising rates and we will. When and how much remains to be determined.

Updated

What could the RBA governor be doing better?

He thinks “I could be communicating better” and that many people would probably think that.

Lowe:

I will be looking forward to their advice on how to do that better. I think the forward guidance we gave in the pandemic has come with costs, hasn’t it?

So, how we communicate with the market, that’s the main thing I would be looking for and there are a range of other issues I know the review committee is looking at those, but perhaps at a future event we can talk about those.

Updated

Unemployment rate plays balancing role with inflation

The bit there about keeping unemployment below 5% is because a certain level of unemployment is built into the infrastructure to combat inflation.

It’s called the Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment (the Nairu) and it’s “the lowest unemployment rate that can be sustained without causing wages growth and inflation to rise”.

So a certain level of the working population being unemployed is part of the plan. Which is just one of many, many reasons why the jobseeker rate needs to be raised. The economy relies on some people not working to combat inflation. They are taking one for team Australia, so they should be treated better.

Updated

RBA governor: We want inflation back to 3% by mid-2025 – any earlier means giving up jobs

The forecasts say inflation should get back to the RBA’s target range by mid-2025. Is that what the RBA governor thinks?

Lowe:

If inflation comes back to 3% by mid-’25, and we can keep the unemployment below 5%, that will be a fantastic outcome, won’t it? We discussed the case for being even more aggressive with from rates and trying to get inflation back to 3% before the end of ‘25.

It will be possible to do that, but it would come at the cost of forgoing many of the labour force gains, and our judgment at the moment is that the benefit we would get from getting inflation back to 3% six months earlier at the cost of a lot of job losses isn’t worth it. But I agree we want inflation back to 3% by ‘25.

Extending it beyond that is too long. To get it back more quickly, we give up jobs. I don’t think it’s worth it.

Updated

Dr Philip Lowe is taking some questions this morning.

Does he think the US Fed inflation warning is something Australia needs to worry about?

Lowe:

Well, we are closer to a pause ... it’s a matter of logic. As you increase interest rates higher, you get closer to the point where it is appropriate to stop for a while and assess the flow of data.

We’ve done a lot in a short period and at some point it will be appropriate to sit still and assess the effects of that.

Before the next board meeting we will have important data on employment, we’ll have another monthly inflation indicator, we will have more data on retail spending and the business survey.

They are important pieces of data that we can look at before the next board rating. If collectively they suggest the right thing is to pause we will do that, but if they suggest we need to keep going, then we will do that.

We have an open mind about what happens at the next board meeting.

Updated

Philip Lowe says pause in rate rises is ‘closer’ after 10th straight increase

For those unable to access RBA governor Philip Lowe’s live speech (the webcast via the bank’s own site seems to be on the fritz), the key parts are also in this article we’ve just published:

As you can see, the RBA is poised to pause rate rises – we’re not quite sure when, and nor is he.

Lowe has highlighted that the rate rises already in the works (including yesterday’s) will lift mortgage payments to a record 9.5% share of household disposable income later this year. Housing values, meanwhile, were also declining but it was “difficult to determine the effect of this on spending as there had earlier been a large run-up in prices”, he said.

It’s notable that Lowe now refers to a prices-wages spiral rather than a wages-prices spiral, since we haven’t seen wages rise much at all. Price rises are the prompt, not the other way around, as the ACTU and others have been arguing for months (if not longer).

The data so far “suggest that the risk of a prices-wages spiral remains low,” Lowe said. “This is helpful as we navigate that narrow path and it means that Australia is in a better position than some other countries.”

By this, he particularly means the US, where wages have risen much faster. (They typically don’t have multi-year wage agreements and also had many more people as a share of the labour market affected by Covid, some fatally.)

“Notwithstanding this, we remain alert to the risks here given the combination of a tight labour market, the high level of capacity utilisation and the run of high inflation numbers,” he said. “If this risk did materialise, the costs would be very high.”

While a pause might be closer, the RBA would remain vigilant.

“Given these uncertainties, the board is monitoring the data very carefully month to month,” Lowe said. “It has the flexibility to respond as needed.”

Stats to watch for include jobs numbers on 16 March, which may show the labour market remains very tight.

Also to watch for will be the February consumer prices index due out on 29 March. We may see then whether inflation has peaked and continues to decline.

Updated

Peter Dutton accuses government of 'beating the drums of class war' over super

Peter Dutton delivered his speech to the AFR Business Summit in Sydney this morning.

The Fin had a preview (as you would expect) and for those who haven’t seen it, it included:

The government is beating the drums of class war.

Whether you’ve got $30,000 dollars, $300,000 dollars or $3 million in your super fund is not the point.

The point is that the government’s super tax is an attack on aspirational Australians who have worked hard all their life.

Hardworking Australians put their money into super – from savings, inheritance and windfalls – to support their retirement.

They do so based on assurances on taxation stability.

(I mean, there is a slight difference between having $30,000, $300,000 and $3m in your super account, but I say that as someone with below the average $150,000 in mine.)

And at the same time as criticising the government for not doing enough to help people with the rising cost of loving, Dutton has also accused the government of being “socialist”*.

This government wants to experiment with the same system of socialism which has devastated nations wherever and whenever it has been implemented.

Ignoring the lessons of history, Labor arrogantly thinks it can succeed where others have failed.

Without an economic plan – but with an ideological agenda – Labor is steering our nation towards a dark place.

*Which, lol. Actual lol.

Updated

Community detention for asylum seekers under consideration in Senate

The parliament sitting has commenced – in the house, it is all about the Financial Accountability regime legislation, while in the Senate is Nick McKim’s Migration “evacuation to safety” amendment.

That second one would “compel the government to offer transfer to Australia to all persons subject to offshore processing still in PNG or Nauru who are not subject to an adverse security assessment by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) under the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979”.

Persons accepting the Government’s offer will be transferred to Australia where they will remain until they are provided with a durable third-country solution with a state party to the United Nations’ 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees.

All persons accepting the Government’s offer will automatically be placed into community detention.

This Bill will compel the Government to make offers of transfer to all eligible persons within one month of the commencement of the Bill.

Updated

The minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, has responded and said it’s extremely disappointing that the data seems to be showing that some of the Closing the Gap targets are moving in the wrong direction.

More of the same isn’t good enough. We need to do things differently by working in partnership with communities to get better results.

Burney and assistant minister, Malarndirri McCarthy are urging all governments to “redouble their efforts” to improve the outcomes for Indigenous peoples across all these areas.

Closing the Gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and the wider Australian community is a top priority for the Albanese Labor Government. The gap is not closing fast enough. I know many people are frustrated by the lack of progress.

It is particularly disappointing to see the target for healthy birthweights for babies has gone from being ‘on track’ to ‘not on track’,”

The media release discusses what funds they have committed to addressing these issues with more than $400m being slated to close the gap including improving access to safe and clean water to communities who currently don’t have access to clean drinking water, new funding for remote housing, and tackling food insecurity.

Updated

Productivity Commission provides new data on Closing the Gap targets

New data by the Productivity Commission is looking at how the country is meeting or not meeting the Closing the Gap targets for First Nations people is out today, and it’s showing some mixed results in terms of closing the gap in disadvantages and inequities experienced in health, education, employment, and social and emotional well being.

Sadly, the rates of First Nations people dying by suicide in 2021, the most recent year, was 27.1 per 100,000 people. This is fewer than the past two years but it remains above the baseline recorded data which is 25.1 per 100,000 people.

There is no specified target to reduce suicide as anyone lost to suicide is unacceptable, but it’s hoped that the rate can be gradually reduced. Unfortunately, according to the current data, it appears to be getting worse.

In some positive data, more Indigenous students are enrolling in higher education and successfully completing their year 12 or equivalent.

Nationally in 2021, just over 68% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 20 to 24 years had attained their Year 12 or equivalent qualification, an increase from 63.2% which is the baseline year.

All governments have agreed to increase the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (age 20-24) attaining year 12 or equivalent qualification to 96% by 2031.

Nationally, based on progress from the baseline, the target shows improvement but is not on track to be met.

The data released today also shows progress in narrowing key targets in early childhood and health including increased maternal antenatal visits however Indigenous babies born at healthy weights are slightly below the data base year of 2017 with 89.0% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies born at a healthy birthweight in 2020, slightly lower than the previous year but an increase from the 88.9% in 2017, the first year it was recorded.

The Closing the Gap target of ensuring 91% of Indigenous babies are born at a healthy weight by 2031 is showing signs of improving with the gap narrowing, but unfortunately, it’s not going to meet the targets according to data projections.

The data is part of updated figures from July last year that showed that just four of the seven targets are on track to be met.

Updated

RBA closer to pausing rate rises as inflation on ‘declining path’, governor says

The Reserve Bank is “closer” to pausing its record series of interest rate rises with Australia’s modest increases in wages so far leaving the nation “in a better position than some other countries”, governor Philip Lowe told a conference in Sydney.

In his first public comments since Tuesday’s move by the RBA board to lift its cash rate for a 10th straight meeting by another 25 basis points to 3.6%, Lowe said inflation was “still too high”.

While inflation “looks to be on a declining path, it is likely to remain higher than target for a few years”, Lowe told an AFR summit. “If we don’t get inflation down fairly soon, the end result will be even higher interest rates and more unemployment.”

Even so, the “large cumulative increase in interest rates” totalling 3.5 percentage points since last May would have lagging effects, with the increase in borrowing costs already causing “difficulties … for many households,” he said, according to an advance copy of speech.

“With monetary policy now in restrictive territory, we are closer to the point where it will be appropriate to pause interest rate increases to allow more time to assess the state of the economy,” Lowe said.

Pundits will likely jump on the word “pause” which did not appear in Tuesday’s communique accompanying the RBA rates verdict.

They were already figuring some pause if not a peak rate might be in the offing after Lowe said in yesterday’s statement “the Board expects that further tightening of monetary policy will be needed”, replacing the previous month’s comments that the bank board expected multiple increases “in coming months”.

More soon.

Updated

Australia leads 38 countries in calling for Beirut blast probe

Australia has led a group of 38 countries in demanding a “swift, impartial, credible, and transparent investigation” into the Beirut port explosion that killed more than 200 people and injured a further 7,000 people.

Overnight, Australia’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Amanda Gorely, read out a statement to the Human Rights Council to raise concerns about Lebanon’s investigation into the cause of the 4 August 2020 explosion.

Gorely said the 38 countries were concerned that the investigation “has not yet concluded, hampered by systemic obstruction, interference, intimidation, and a political impasse, and in the context of severe financial and economic crises”. She added:

We urge Lebanon to abide by its international human rights obligations to take all necessary measures to safeguard, in law and practice, the full independence and impartiality of the Lebanese judiciary.

The statement further urged Lebanon to right the right of people to peacefully express their call for justice and accountability.

Human Rights Watch welcomed the move. The organisation said the joint statement led by Australia was “a significant step in the right direction, as it demonstrates that several governments, including many of Lebanon’s donors and supporters, are losing patience with the government”.

Lama Fakih, the Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said:

From Australia to Costa Rica to Japan, governments from around the world stood up today to defend the rights of the victims of the Beirut port explosion, but more work is to be done. Time is running out for an effective investigation. Member states should support a resolution at the Human Rights Council establishing a fact-finding mission as soon as possible.

Updated

Sussan Ley asks Labor to point out who is ‘too rich’ to receive stage-three tax cut

The opposition wants the government to do something to bring down inflation. But the opposition does not want anything to change with the stage three tax cuts.

A reporter asked Sussan Ley this morning:

You’ve spoken about the need to get inflation under control, on the stage-three tax cuts. Some economists have suggested that they are going to drive inflation up. Should there at least be a conversation around potentially winding some of that back?

Ley replied:

The stage-three tax cuts are legislated. They were legislated by the Labor party when they were in opposition, and we were in government. They have signed up to the stage-three tax cuts.

I want them to point out anyone in Australia who does not deserve a tax cut*.

Now, people are working incredibly hard. They’re working two jobs, they’re saving money. They’re putting money away for their retirement. And I want the Labor party to point out someone who is, in their words, is ‘too rich’ to receive the stage-three tax cut.

*Millionaires and billionaires come to mind pretty easily.

Reporter:

But if you wanted to tackle inflation, wouldn’t that help? Wouldn’t that be something you could do?

Ley:

The principle measure to tackle inflation is to get spending under control. Now, taxing Australians at a time where they’re hurting the most, how is that possibly going to help the average family? How is that possibly going to help the economy? How is that going to help restore faith in this government where faith has been lost?

So far, the government is on a unity ticket with the opposition over the stage three tax cuts, so it is a moot point, but my goodness, discourse on tax reform in this country is depressing.

Updated

The gender pay gap is everywhere:

Updated

Sussan Ley writes IWD op-ed about ‘the forgotten women’

Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley has written an op-ed for News Corp, where she says her focus on International Women’s Day is on “the forgotten women”

So today on International Women’s Day I am pledging that I will not forget the women being left behind, I will not let their stories go untold.

Because today as the sun rises in Australia too many women are being forgotten and we all know it is going to get worse.

We can stand back and debate the urgency of the problem, or we can step forward and do something about it.

We can be like Dr Julie Jackson and open the door to help women through.

We can put in place protections for women in communities ravaged by alcohol fuelled violence.

We can help protect women terrified by rising costs and we keep help save their jobs.

We can help women get into their own homes with their own money.

We can prevent the damage that will be done to children when it all falls apart.

But that all starts with us making a choice.

A choice to not forget those women.

A choice to do what is right, not to do what is popular.

Because time is running out for too many women.

Updated

It is that time of year …

Updated

Women’s super falls $50,000 short of men’s on average at retirement, Industry Super Australia report says

Industry Super Australia says that women are retiring with, on average, $50,000 less in superannuation than men (according to its intergeneration report).

And they also found that without intervention the gender super gap will continue for another 40 years. Yay.

They’ve recommended a few things that could help to remediate the gap:

  • Combat unpaid super by mandating that super is paid on payday.

  • Pay super on commonwealth parental leave pay.

  • Increase the low-income superannuation tax offset so it aligns with income tax brackets.

So-called “feminised” industries, such as the care industry, usually have lower pay than male-dominated industries, which is another issue.

Updated

A word about interest rates …

The Australian dollar has extended its slide against its US counterpart overnight even after the Reserve Bank lifted its key interest rate on Tuesday for a 10th consecutive meeting.

As we noted yesterday, the cash rate rise by another quarter-point to 3.6% wasn’t a surprise. Instead, the focus shifted to what comes next, and the wording by governor Philip Lowe for merely “further” tightening rather than more rate rises “in coming months” that he stated in February.

In other words, perhaps Lowe is close to pausing or perhaps maxing out, or both.

Anyway, the dollar is now down below 66 US cents compared with 67.40 US before the RBA’s rates verdict.

Most of that dive came after the US Federal Reserve chair overnight Jerome Powell that the Fed was prepared to accelerate rate increases there if inflation didn’t abate. (If the gap widens between interest rates in the US versus Australia, more money shifts to where there’s a higher return.)

Investors, meanwhile, now consider the odds favour an RBA rate pause at the bank’s 4 April meeting. They’ve also pared back their views of how high the cash rate will go.

But there are reasons to think the RBA will be more inclined to lift the cash rate one more time, and then pause, as we muse here:

Lowe is due to speak at an AFR summit this morning from about 8.55am AEDT. (Follow his comments here.)

We may get more insights but he will be careful not to give too much away – no doubt he’ll say that the RBA board will be monitoring upcoming data (eg, the February CPI numbers on 29 March) closely.

Updated

‘We think inflation has peaked’

Jim Chalmers is now being questioned over the stage-three tax cuts.

Does he think they are inflationary?

Well, it depends on the broader economic circumstances at the time and in the middle of next year. We expect inflation to have moderated relatively substantially compared to the peak over last Christmas.

But even if inflation is lower, it is unlikely to be in the RBA’s target range of 2% to 3%.

Well, not in our expectation, not in the current forecast, but those forecasts will evolve as we learn more about the economy and get closer to that period. But it depends more broadly what you have what’s happening in the budget. And as you rightly point out, those tax cuts are still more than a year away.

Chalmers eventually says the standard “we haven’t changed your view on it”.

He then says it is important he says why:

We think inflation has peaked. There’s encouraging signs that it has remains to be seen, but we think it has peaked over Christmas.

Inflation will moderate over the course of the next 12 to 18 months. We would like it to moderate as quickly as possible. That’s the thing that’s putting pressure on households and pushing up interest rates.

We will update we will revise our forecasts or Treasury will for inflation in the May budget as well. It has been stubborn, and it has been higher than we’d like for longer than we’d like we expect that to continue. But when it comes to decisions around future budgets, we, you know, we haven’t changed our view on those tax cuts. We’ll make decisions as we go on this budget.

But what if the government receives advice from Treasury that the tax cuts are inflationary?

Chalmers:

It depends what else is happening in the budget and what else is happening in the economy.

Updated

Facing up to financial distress

It is not just academic though – there have been increased reports of people feeling distressed because of financial pressures.

Nieves Murray
Suicide Prevention Australia chief executive Nieves Murray. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Suicide Prevention Australia CEO Nieves Murray sent a letter to Dr Philip Lowe asking for a meeting to talk about the distress people are feeling and the RBA governor has accepted.

Jim Chalmers says he knows that these pressures are not just academic:

When people are under extreme financial pressure, that has implications for their wellbeing more broadly. I mean, I think that is understood. And I’m sure that the governor in accepting that meeting understands that.

What we want to do as government is make life a little bit easier for people where we can, whether it’s with energy bills, whether it’s with cheaper early childhood education, cheaper medicines, trying to get wages moving again, financial security is a big part of what we’re focused on, particularly when these cost-of-living pressures are so acute.

Updated

The ‘three best things that a government can do’ to ease cost of living

The treasurer says he knows people are doing it tough.

RN Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas says she has messages from listeners who say they are sick of hearing Jim Chalmers saying he knows people are doing it tough – they want to know what the government is doing.

Chalmers says:

We’re acting on three fronts. You know, the three main parts of our economic plan are all about trying to get on top of this inflation which is pushing up interest rates. The Reserve Bank takes its decisions independently and we’ve got a different job to do and our job is about providing cost-of-living relief where we can where we can do that responsibly and affordably and methodically without adding to inflation.

It’s also about repairing our broken supply chains. A big part of the story in our inflation, in addition to what’s coming at us from around the world is what’s happening in our supply chains and the national reconstruction fund before the parliament is a big part of that story. And thirdly, it’s showing restraint in the budget.

We are trying to be really responsible in the budget, only spending money investing money where we think there will be a decent economic dividend and we get genuine value for money. And that combination of relief, repair and restraint are the three best things that a government can do and circumstance and that’s what we are doing.

Updated

Peter Dutton is also spending the morning in Sydney, where he will also attend the AFR business summit to deliver the traditional opposition leader’s speech.

Updated

Who’s where today

RBA governor Dr Philip Lowe will be giving a speech this morning at the AFR business summit. That will be happening just before 9am.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers will speak to ABC radio RN Breakfast very soon.

And Anthony Albanese is about to touch down in India – he’ll be the first Australian prime minister to visit the country in six years.

Updated

Good morning from Canberra

Welcome back to parliament!

Thank you to Martin Farrer for this morning – we will switch to politics live now to take you through the sitting day.

You have Amy Remeikis with you – I’m on my third coffee, so it’s going to be that sort of day.

Ready?

Updated

Closing the Gap shortfalls

Productivity Commission data shows a number of key Closing the Gap targets are not on track and some are going backwards, Australian Associated Press reports.

Closing the Gap is a strategy that aims to achieve equality for Indigenous people by improving health, social, education and economic outcomes.

Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney said:

I know many people are frustrated by the lack of progress.

There are 19 socioeconomic targets in the national agreement on Closing the Gap.

The Productivity Commission has released data on nine of those targets, which shows:

• Two are on target: employment of Indigenous adults and land rights

• Seven are not on target, including babies with a healthy birth weight, finishing year 12, appropriate housing and reducing suicide rates.

Burney:

It is particularly disappointing to see the target for healthy birth weights for babies has gone from being on track to not on track.

Updated

University milestone

Anthony Albanese is due to arrive in India today. As part of his trip he’ll join senior Indian ministers to announce that Australia’s Deakin University will be the first foreign tertiary education in the world to establish a campus in India.

Last year India announced new regulations allowing foreign universities to set up there. Names including Yale and Oxford were aired. But Australian universities (Wollongong is also working towards approval) are in the vanguard.

But closer to home universities are under pressure, as a Guardian Australia investigation reveals concerns about quality and value for money in courses that they outsource to external companies:

Updated

Campaign to introduce menstrual and menopausal leave

Also in our IWD coverage, preliminary findings from a survey of Australia’s biggest unions reveal that a majority of women suffer period pain so great it affects their performance.

But three in four feel they can’t talk to their manager about it.

The unions are joining in a national campaign to introduce menstrual and menopausal leave. Read our story here:

Updated

Victorian MP wears her online harassment to work

Georgie Purcell joined the Victorian parliament at November’s election as an Animal Justice party MP.

When she walked out of the building after her inaugural speech, she opened her phone to find insults aimed at her gender.

On International Women’s Day, she writes for Guardian Australia about the online threats and harassment she experiences too many times to count.

And she’s donning a dress to work – Parliament House – adorned with just some of the hateful tweets, emails and comments she’s received.

Read her story here:

Updated

Welcome

Good morning and welcome to our daily politics blog. I’m Martin Farrer and, before Amy Remeikis gets fired up for the day, here are some of the main news lines from overnight.

We have a package of stories to kick off International Women’s Day, with our lead being a study showing that Australian women earn $1m less on average over their lifetimes than men and retire with $136,000 less in superannuation. According to research by the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work, women earning the median wage would accumulate about $393,676 in super, $151,000 below the level defined as a “comfortable retirement”.

Lidia Thorpe has denied in an exclusive interview with Guardian Australia that she ever dated the former Rebels bikie boss Dean Martin and instead alleged she was told by lawyers for the Greens to claim the pair had a relationship. Coming as she was cleared of wrongdoing for “possible obstruction” of the law enforcement committee – of which Thorpe was once a member – she said:

I got ridiculed for something that I didn’t do. I was advised by lawyers to say that I was dating that person.

RBA governor Philip Lowe may give more clues about any future increases in the cash rate when he addresses a business summit in Sydney today as a number of different scenarios emerge for the Australian economy. Lowe has been criticised all across the political spectrum for hiking rates 10 times in a row and heaping pressure on household budgets in the process.

With all that, let’s get going …

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