What we learned today, Wednesday 9 February
With that, we will wrap up our live news coverage of the day.
The House of Representatives is still sitting late to finalise the religious discrimination bill package – which included an impassioned speech by the Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman in which he expressed his concerns about his government’s own bill.
He said he wanted to indicate he would cross the floor to support Labor’s amendments to the bill – noting specific concerns with aspects of the legislation regarding transgender children and the scope of the statement of belief clause.
Zimmerman said:
“I could not live with myself if I didn’t seek to address those issues.
We will still have all the news on the religious discrimination bill – just not in the blog.
These were the day’s news developments:
-
Anthony Albanese has warned if the religious discrimination bill is not fixed it will “drive us apart”, signalling Labor will insist on amendments to prevent religious vilification, discriminatory statements and protect LGBTQ+ students.
- Meanwhile, the New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, has questioned the need for the federal government’s religious discrimination bill, saying the proposed laws could cause more problems than they solve.
- Grace Tame has said in a speech to the National Press Club that she received a “threatening” phone call from a senior member of a government-funded organisation warning her not to criticise the prime minister, Scott Morrison, on the eve of last month’s Australian of the Year awards because there was “an election coming soon”.
- The spy agency Asio has warned more “angry and alienated Australians” could turn to violence after being exposed to “an echo chamber” of extremist messaging, misinformation and conspiracy theories during the coronavirus pandemic. Asio boss Mike Burgess also described the target of a recently disrupted foreign interference plot in the lead-up to “an election” in Australia.
- A police officer who was threatened with an axe by Kumanjayi Walker told the Warlpiri man’s family that if he did the same thing to another officer “he might get shot”, a court has heard.
- Nurses across NSW have overwhelmingly voted to walk off the job amid growing anger at staffing levels in the state’s hospitals, with more than 97% supporting a motion to hold the first statewide strike in almost a decade when NSW parliament resumes next Tuesday.
- A former soldier scheduled to give evidence against SAS veteran Ben Roberts-Smith is seeking to pull out, prompting claims in court that Roberts-Smith’s barrister spoke to a senior lawyer who then contacted the secret witness.
Thanks for following along, we’ll be back to do it all again tomorrow.
Updated
Independent MP Rebekha Sharkie:
After extensive consultation with colleagues across the political spectrum, I will support both the government and Labor’s proposed amendments to the religious discrimination package but cannot vote to pass the bill.
It is my belief that the government’s amendment to section 38 is both meagre and inadequate.
And while the opposition’s proposal represents a modest improvement, it does not do enough to protect teachers and contract workers from being subjected to discrimination on grounds of their sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or relationship status or pregnancy.
So, while I support these amendments as improvements on the original legislation, I still cannot support the bill’s passage.
Instead, I am preparing my own amendment which would delete section 38 in its entirety.
I implore the Government and Opposition to consider my amendment as sensible pathway forward to protect Australians from discrimination on the grounds of their religious beliefs and practices. https://t.co/rSvr8vm6lt
— Rebekha Sharkie MP (@MakeMayoMatter) February 9, 2022
Updated
In his annual threat assessment speech in Canberra tonight, the Asio chief, Mike Burgess, disclosed that his agency had “recently detected and disrupted a foreign interference plot in the lead-up to an election in Australia”.
He said the nation needed to be on guard against foreign interference in 2022 given a federal poll was looming.
He would not identify which jurisdiction “because we are seeing attempts at foreign interference at all levels of government, in all states and territories”.
But Burgess said the case “involved a wealthy individual who maintained direct and deep connections with a foreign government and its intelligence agencies”.
The goal, he said, was “secretly shaping the jurisdiction’s political scene to benefit the foreign power”:
The puppeteer hired a person to enable foreign interference operations and used an offshore bank account to provide hundreds of thousands of dollars for operating expenses.
The employee, he said, “began identifying candidates likely to run in the election who either supported the interests of the foreign government or who were assessed as vulnerable to inducements and cultivation”.
Burgess said the puppeteer and the employee “plotted ways of advancing the candidates’ political prospects through generous support, placing favourable stories in foreign language news platforms and providing other forms of assistance”.
He said the political candidates had no knowledge of the plot. Asio intervened because of the “deliberate deceit and secrecy about the foreign government connection” and ensured “the plan was not executed and harm was avoided”.
Updated
The spy agency Asio has warned more “angry and alienated Australians” could turn to violence after being exposed to “an echo chamber” of extremist messaging, misinformation and conspiracy theories during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Asio boss, Mike Burgess, said on Wednesday the pandemic had sent online radicalisation “into overdrive” and he noted a “deeply distressing” trend of children – some as young as 13 – being radicalised online and in school.
Burgess, in a speech on Wednesday night, said:
As a nation, we need to reflect on why some teenagers are hanging Nazi flags and portraits of the Christchurch killer on their bedroom walls and why others are sharing beheading videos.
In his annual threat assessment speech in Canberra, Burgess also disclosed that Asio had “recently detected and disrupted a foreign interference plot in the lead-up to an election in Australia”.
He said the nation needed to be on guard against foreign interference in 2022 given a federal poll was looming – and he said foreign spies were attempting to cultivate government employees via social media.
Read more:
Updated
For those just tuning in to our blog, the House of Representative has agreed to sit late to finalise the religious discrimination bill package.
Earlier this evening, the opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, warned if the bill was not fixed it would “drive us apart”, signalling Labor would insist on amendments to prevent religious vilification, discriminatory statements and protect LGBTQ+ students.
If you’re keen to get up to speed on what’s happened today in relation to the religious discrimination bill, Guardian Australia’s Paul Karp has filed this report:
After Scott Morrison urged the Coalition to vote together on the bill, the Liberal MP Warren Entsch revealed on Wednesday he would not oppose it, claiming parliament needed to “bank the successes” of improvements to the bill despite his remaining concerns.
The government still faces substantial opposition to the bill, with Liberal Bridget Archer, independent Helen Haines and Centre Alliance’s Rebekha Sharkie indicating they do not support it in its current form, and Liberal Trent Zimmerman reserving his position.
Updated
House of Representatives has reordered Government business for this evening to vote on the Religious Discrimination Bills #auspol pic.twitter.com/kv0VQELeDg
— Political Alert (@political_alert) February 9, 2022
MPs agree to sit late to finalise religious discrimination bill
The House of Representatives has just agreed to sit late to finalise the religious discrimination bill package, by agreement between the government and Labor.
There are 24 speakers on the last list I’ve seen for the religious bills, which could be up to six hours of debate, before amendments are voted on and the final bill. Hopefully speakers don’t use their full 15 minutes.
It’s important for the government to get through this if it wants a genuine chance to pass the bill in both houses before the election.
The Senate sits Thursday, but then is in budget estimates next week, back for budget day, two more days of estimates, and by then the election should be called.
Updated
The independent MP Zali Steggall is speaking against the religious discrimination bill, describing it as legislation designed “to score political points” and warning of the possibility Labor could “roll over” for political reasons.
Steggall said the core of the bill – the prohibition on discrimination on the ground of religion – is “sound” and “not up for debate”.
She said:
It would’ve been so good if this bill stops there. But unfortunately it goes on to sanction discrimination ... It goes beyond a shield, it’s weaponising, legalising the right to discriminate.
Steggall said the parliament should “not be codifying the right to discriminate” against 30% of the population (LGBTQ+ students), suggesting she will go for Labor’s amendment to the Sex Discrimination Act.
Steggall expressed condolences to Labor’s Stephen Jones on the death of his nephew, and thanked the Liberal MP Bridget Archer for her speech expressing concerns about the bill.
Updated
Almost three quarters of voters in the four byelections taking place in New South Wales this Saturday want it to become legal for terminally ill people in the state to end their life, with polling showing frustration at the premier and opposition leader for opposing the laws.
Voluntary assisted dying laws exist in other states but NSW is yet to pass such legislation, with a polarising bill passing the NSW lower house late last year with a raft of amendments, however it still needs the approval of the upper house before it becomes law.
The premier, Dominic Perrottet, and opposition leader, Chris Minns, voted against the bill in the lower house.
Ahead of the byelections in Willoughby, Bega, Monaro and Strathfield, polling carried out on behalf of advocacy group Go Gentle Australia has found that voters in the seats overwhelmingly support the laws – a sentiment that transcends political allegiance.
The poll found that 72% of respondents support voluntary assisted dying laws, with 69% wanting to see the laws passed through the upper house without any further delay.
Additionally, 63% of voters said they were more likely to support the leader of a political party who “puts aside personal beliefs to vote in accordance with community sentiment”. About 74% of voters want terminally ill people in NSW to have the same rights as Australians in other states.
Andrew Denton, founding director of Go Gentle Australia, said “community support for voluntary assisted dying legislation in NSW has never been stronger and transcends political divides”. He added:
People expect their elected representatives to offer the same protections for terminally ill people in NSW that are available in every other state.
This means passing the law – already debated and voted through the Lower House with a thumping majority – without delay and without amendments.
The message to Upper House MPs is clear: Don’t play political games. The people of NSW must not be left behind.”
Updated
Former Victorian government minister Adem Somyurek’s motion to refer Labor’s “red shirts” scheme to the Ombudsman has passed state parliament’s upper house after a Labor MP crossed the floor to support it.
Kaushaliya Vaghela, a close ally of Somyurek, now faces suspension from the Labor party for breaking its rules after she crossed the floor to support the motion. It carried 19 votes to 17.
It means Victoria’s Ombudsman, Deborah Glass, has been asked to reconsider the “red shirts” scheme, with a view of referring it to the state’s anti-corruption watchdog.
In 2018, Glass found 21 Labor MPs had misused almost $400,000 worth of taxpayer funds to pay for campaign work, in what is now referred to as “red shirts”.
Labor repaid the money and all MPs involved were cleared of any criminal activity.
Somyurek, who quit the Labor party after it moved to expel him following allegations of branch stacking, claimed Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, facilitated the scheme.
Somyurek, under parliamentary privilege, said:
He was desperate. He did something well beyond what he should have. He crossed the line. He designed this system. He told me personally that you’ve got to take part in this process.”
He said he was “very scared” of the motion passing. “I’ll be going home and not being able to sleep at night. But there’s a principal on the line.”
Last year Vaghela admitted her own husband may have been performing factional work out of electorate offices including Somyurek’s. She was dumped by the Labor party during preselection late last year.
My statement regarding today's motion. pic.twitter.com/dlbGJsXNFo
— Kaushaliya Vaghela MP (@KaushaliyaMP) February 9, 2022
The anti-corruption investigation into Somyurek is ongoing.
A spokesperson for Glass said the parliament “can refer any matter to the Ombudsman to investigate”.
“Should the Ombudsman receive a referral, she will determine how any investigation will be conducted and will report to Parliament in due course.”
A government spokesperson said “anything referred to the Ombudsman is a matter for her”.
Updated
The Liberal MP, Warren Entsch, has been on a journey with the religious discrimination bill - but appears to have watered down his initial dissent to the point he thinks parliament should “bank the successes” and vote it through.
Entsch said:”There is no way, in good conscience, I can vote for legislation that strips people of religious rights or any other rights as well. It’s the right of all Australians not to be discriminated against, including on grounds of faith.”
Entsch said he had long advocated for the rights of LGBTQ+ Australians and has “concerns with a number of elements” with the bill.
He said:
Quite frankly I don’t believe the bill before the house is necessary. There has been a lot of focus from what I can see on gay and gender diverse adults. A lot of these issues won’t be able to be addressed through this bill, but through the Sex Discrimination Act.”
Entsch said his first instinct was to reject the bill outright, but now says he wants to “bank the successes” of improvements to the bill, he cites removal of the Folau clause and the conscientious objection clause.
Entsch said he still has concerns with the statements of belief clause, but by improving the SDA it could address these concerns. Entsch said government amendments to prevent expulsion of gay students “is far too narrow”.
Entsch notes the attorney general has agreed to broaden the scope of the Australian Law Reform Commission review to all forms of discrimination against LGBTQ+ children.
Entsch said to reject the bill will prevent “capturing the positives we have achieved” and a future government may not step in to protect gay kids which is odd, because this is now bipartisan between the major parties - the only disagreement is whether to do MORE to help LGBTQ+ children.
Entsch concludes he will not be blocking the bill, and acknowledges this will disappoint some.
Grace Tame has responded to the government launching an investigation into her claims of a “threatening phone call” from a “government-funded agency”, tweeting that the probe “misses the point entirely”.
Scott conducting an investigation into who made the phone call is THE VERY SAME embedded structural silencing culture that drove the call in the first place and misses the point entirely
— Grace Tame (@TamePunk) February 9, 2022
“Stop deflecting, Scott. It’s not about the person who made the call. It’s the fact they felt like they had to do it,” she tweeted on Wednesday evening.
Social services minister Anne Ruston and prime minister Scott Morrison’s office both said they were unaware of Tame’s claims before she included it in her National Press Club speech this afternoon.
“My understanding is that no one else in government was aware of that until that time,” Ruston told Sky News.
“Obviously it is an unacceptable thing for any agency that is funded by government who is seeking to do that, to anybody.
“I think we need to find out the circumstances around exactly what’s happened and transpired here but obviously the consequences need to match up with the action that’s been taken.”
Grace Tame, responding to the news that the government will investigate her claim that a “senior member of a government funded organisation” called her asking her not to criticise Scott Morrison.
She tweeted:
Scott conducting an investigation into who made the phone call is THE VERY SAME embedded structural silencing culture that drove the call in the first place and misses the point entirely.
Stop deflecting, Scott. It’s not about the person who made the call. It’s the fact they felt like they had to do it.”
Scott conducting an investigation into who made the phone call is THE VERY SAME embedded structural silencing culture that drove the call in the first place and misses the point entirely
— Grace Tame (@TamePunk) February 9, 2022
Anthony Albanese says the government’s bill does not even prevent people being subject to vilification on the basis of their religion, religious dress or activities.
Albanese said:
The bill does not prevent a Muslim woman being abused in the street for being a Muslim, or a Hindu man for being Hindu.”
Albanese says the government changes “barely amends the Sex Discrimination Act”, and Labor will push for fuller protections, with a simple amendment to delete section 38(3) in full “to remove discrimination against all children, whether gay or lesbian, bisexual, transgender”.
He said:
All children should have a right to be who they are - and there are consequences for not doing that.”
Albanese said Labor recognises religious institutions’ right to preference members of the same faith, but it will need to be “carefully considered” by the Australian Law Reform Commission, so Labor will make amendments to protect teachers in government, because rights conflict.
Albanese references Stephen Jones’ impassioned speech last night about the suicide of his nephew and his fears for his son, and Bill Shorten’s concerns for people with disability.
He said:
We have an opportunity here to bend the arc of moral progress ... To fix this flawed legislation.”
Albanese said the bill - if not amended by the House or Senate - “will only succeed in driving us apart”... “We must change this bill, all Australians deserve nothing less.”
Anthony Albanese is giving a speech on the religious discrimination bill, which he has described as “flawed”.
Albanese said:
The idea there has to be a conflict between the rights of children, and people with disabilities who would be potentially hurt from this bill and people of faith who would be protected is a false dichotomy - we surely should be able to do both. Enhancing protections against discrimination without increasing discrimination against others.”
Albanese said that’s what all faith groups he’s met wanted out of the bill. He complains that Labor has had just 24 hours to see the full bill, and states and territories whose laws have been overridden weren’t consulted at all.
Albanese said:
This bill seeks to pit those groups against each other, I seek to defend all of them. We need shields from this legislation, not swords.”
Albanese is now getting on to instances of religious discrimination, people denied employment, abused, having their houses attacked for having a shrine out front - explaining why he wants increased protections for religious people.
He said:
I don’t support doing it at the expense of increasing discrimination against others.”
Albanese is quoting Scott Morrison’s correspondence to him committing to prevent “any form of discrimination against a student on the basis of sexuality or gender identity”, which he says the bill does not do.
Albanese says if any of Labor’s amendments are passed in the House or Senate “we will insist on them”, and if they are not accepted “this bill is not good enough”.
Nurses across NSW have overwhelmingly voted to walk off the job amid growing anger at staffing levels in the state’s hospitals, with more than 97% supporting a motion to hold the first statewide strike in almost a decade when NSW parliament resumes next Tuesday.
The industrial action – the largest by nurses across NSW since 2013 – will come just days after the resumption of non-urgent elective surgery, which had been paused to free up staff during the Omicron wave.
Nurses to strike across NSW next week. Premier dismisses calls for staffing ratios. @mmcgowan #covidnsw https://t.co/3eq9u9ajWD
— Tamsin Rose (@tamsinroses) February 9, 2022
While a minority of the more than 200 branches of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association had yet to vote on Wednesday, the union’s general secretary, Brett Holmes, told Guardian Australia about 97% of the more than 10,000 nurses who had voted on the motion so far were in favour of the strike action.
Holmes said:
Frankly, our members are very conscious that in November the premier made a decision to proceed with opening up no matter what.
He kept saying our health system was passing the test and our members were saying no, it’s not. He caused untold levels of anger among our members by telling people that it was all OK and going well.
From our members’ perspective, that was so disrespectful and so tin-eared to what was really happening in our health system.”
Guardian Australia’s Michael McGowan and Tamsin Rose have filed this report:
Updated
The PM’s inability to answer what a loaf of bread costs may have been a hot topic last week, but politicians are still tripping up on the question. Well, sort of.
Rewind to last year, when Labor senator Kristina Keneally announced she would be switching chambers at the next election – she was preselected to run for the safe Labor seat of Fowler in western Sydney, parachuted in ahead of local lawyer with Vietnamese heritage Tu Le.
The electorate boasts a significant Vietnamese community, and the preselection of Keneally – who did not live locally – attracted criticism.
Well, this week Keneally appeared on the Betoota Advocate’s podcast, and copped this curly question:
Host: “...I’m going to finish this interview now with potentially your bread and milk moment.”
Keneally: “Well, I don’t eat bread, so.”
Host: “Well, you’re lucky because the cuisine we’re about to talk about doesn’t involve that much gluten. Lastly, Senator Keneally, can you please tell us the key ingredients in the iconic Vietnamese cuisine known as Gỏi Cuốn?”
Keneally: “No, I can’t.”
Host: “Rice paper rolls, ladies and gentlemen!”
classic @BetootaAdvocate pic.twitter.com/w6yBnAh0Q8
— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) February 9, 2022
Updated
Pauline Hanson has told The Australian that One Nation will vote against Labor’s amendments to the religious discrimination bill, and in favour of the bill - despite earlier threats not to vote for government bills.
Hanson reportedly said:
I challenge Anthony Albanese to have the courage of his convictions and move Labor’s amendments in the lower house instead of relying on the Senate to do the dirty work for him ... I’ve been assured by senior religious leaders that these students [LGBTQ+] are not expelled by religious schools. Labor’s amendments are a solution looking for a problem which doesn’t exist.”
Hanson reportedly said One Nation would support the bill “despite its lack of support for my Covid-19 discrimination bill” because “it is consistent with our fight to protect the democratic rights and freedoms of the Australian people discarded or ignored during the Covid-19 pandemic”.
Updated
This daily infographic provides the total number of vaccine doses administered in Australia 🇦🇺 as of 8 February 2022 📅
— Australian Government Department of Health (@healthgovau) February 9, 2022
Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccine information here 💻 https://t.co/lsM33j9wMW pic.twitter.com/MV4bukGByK
Speculation that official interest rates are going to rise isn’t just a plaything of investors.
They’ve been pencilling in the first move by the RBA by June to 0.25%, and a further percentage point of increases in the cash rate by December.
Anyway, that expectation is starting to spread to consumers, and dimming their confidence, if the latest Westpac-Melbourne Institute survey is any guide.
Their gauge of consumer sentiment fell by 1.3% to 100.8 in February from 102.2 in January, with family worries about rising costs a drag on confidence.
Rising petrol prices were one factor, but so was the growing view that interest rates will be on rise. The ‘finances vs a year ago’ sub-index dropped 9.2% (more than reversing the surprise 7.5% advance in January) while the ‘finances, next 12 months’ sub-index extended its decline by 1.5% to be down by 4.3% since December.
Westpac said:
The proportion of respondents expecting an increase in mortgage rates over the next 12 months lifted from 55% in January to 66% in February with over one in four consumers now expecting rates to rise by more than a percentage point.
This is the most pessimistic consumers have been about the interest rate outlook since August 2011, although on that occasion, rate hikes actually failed to materialise.”
Let’s see if they materialise this time around.
Another aspect might be the realisation that wage rises aren’t going to keep up with consumer prices. I explore in some detail here why those hoping for incomes to keep pace with inflation and then some might again be disappointed.
Labor MP Peter Khalil – one of the opposition MPs who supported an unsuccessful caucus motion to oppose the government’s religious discrimination bill if his party’s amendments are unsuccessful – has accused Scott Morrison of “weaponising this bill for political purposes”.
Khalil, speaking to ABC TV, said the bill “should be done in a bipartisan manner”.
As a party, Labor have announced that if their amendments are not successful in the lower house, they will seek to amend the bill in the Senate.
Khalil said:
I want my Liberal colleagues on the other side who have good conscience of this matter, have been on the public record, to support these amendments.”
Liberal MP Dave Sharma – who has been vocal in his hesitations with the bill – is appearing on the ABC panel with Khalil, and was asked if he’ll support Labor’s amendments. He said:
Having not seen the amendments I certainly wouldn’t make a commitment on them, and like with every piece of legislation, I’ll study quite closely but I’m also very conscious that I’m a member of the Liberal party.
I was elected as part of the Liberal party, and I was elected on a platform of supporting a religious discrimination bill. So I’m not going to give you a straight answer today.
I have got concerns [about the bill]...I would like to find a way to make sure those concerns are addressed.”
Updated
A Japanese tourist crossing South Australia’s Nullarbor plain by bicycle took his own life, a coroner has ruled.
The body of Katsushi Ohata has never been found after his personal property was recovered in March 2015 near the Southern Ocean about 50km west of Nullarbor, reports AAP.
He had last been seen about 10 days earlier in Ceduna where he bought a bike while spending several nights in a cabin at a caravan park.
Deputy state coroner Anthony Schapel said the evidence presented to his inquiry supported a conclusion that the 51-year-old had taken his own life.
Items at the scene included $4,420 in cash along with credit cards in Ohata’s name, which had been cut up, and other personal possessions.
Schapel said it was “fanciful” to suggest that someone else may have been involved or that Ohata had faked his own death. He found “on the balance of probabilities” Ohata killed himself.
* In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14.
Updated
Government investigating Tame's claim
The federal government is already investigating Grace Tame’s claim that a “senior member of a government funded organisation” asked her not to criticise Scott Morrison, according to social services minister Anne Ruston.
Morrison’s office has called on the unnamed person involved to apologise.
Tame told the National Press Club that she got a “threatening phone call” from someone in August last year. Several journalists asked for further information following her speech on Wednesday afternoon, but Tame declined to share more details.
Tame said the person who called her had said “You are an influential person. [Morrison] will have a fear”.
Ruston told Sky News that the government was investigating.
A spokesperson for the prime minister called the incident “unacceptable” and maintains any such phone call was not made with their knowledge. The spokesperson said:
The first the PM or PMO (prime minister’s office) became aware of that allegation was during today’s Press Club speeches. The PM has not and would not authorise such actions and at all times has sought to treat Ms Tame with dignity and respect.
Ms Tame should always be free to speak her mind and conduct herself as she chooses. The PM has made no criticism of her statements or actions. While Ms Tame has declined to name the individual, the individual should apologise.
Those comments were not made on behalf of the PM or PMO or with their knowledge. The PM and the government consider the actions and statements of the individual as unacceptable.”
Updated
Porsche driver Richard Pusey is back behind bars after he was charged with four new offences, reports AAP.
The 44-year-old was arrested at Kurunjang in Melbourne’s west on Tuesday and charged with two counts of using a telecommunications device to menace and two counts of committing an indictable offence while on bail.
The charges came after an investigation into separate incidents from November last year and earlier this week, police said.
Pusey faced Sunshine magistrates court on Wednesday and did not apply for bail. He is expected to reappear before the same court on 22 February.
Victoria Police officers Lynnette Taylor, Kevin King, Glen Humphris and Josh Prestney were struck and killed by a truck while impounding a Porsche driven by Pusey in April 2020.
More than 1,500 people gathered at Docklands stadium last week to honour the four officers.
The tragedy marked Victoria Police’s single greatest loss of life with the truck driver responsible jailed for 22 years.
Updated
An interesting thread:
1/6 If the Religious Discrimination Bill goes through in its current form with the support of both major parties I will hand back my Order of Australia. https://t.co/xADFmu0xgO
— Rodney Croome (@RodneyCroome) February 9, 2022
Western Australia records 14 new Covid-19 cases
In Western Australia, there are 14 new locally acquired cases of Covid-19, and 80 among overseas and interstate travellers.
This is our WA COVID-19 update for Wednesday, 9 February 2022.
— Mark McGowan (@MarkMcGowanMP) February 9, 2022
For official information on COVID-19 in WA, visit https://t.co/zTYXZD1B7R https://t.co/t52CwtpCli pic.twitter.com/08OUaBwxrd
Updated
In case you missed it, you can watch video footage from Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame’s National Press Club address here:
Updated
Thanks to Tory Shepherd for bringing us the news so far today. You now have me, Elias Visontay, taking the blog through the rest of the day.
I’m just going to backtrack to defence minister Peter Dutton’s earlier remarks. He said:
If you’re worried about where China is and where Russia is, if you’re worried about the Ukraine, if you’re worried about the geopolitical circumstances, Mr Speaker, in this world, if you’re worried about the uncertainty in the Indo-Pacific, you wouldn’t vote for Labor at the next election.
So aside from the obvious sabre-rattling on national security, my colleague Daniel Hurst points out that it’s “Ukraine” not “the Ukraine”. “The Ukraine” is offensive, and it harks back to when Ukraine was part of Russia. Ukraine’s declaration of independence does not use the “the”.
There you go, and that’s today’s question time done and dusted.
Updated
Labor’s Kristy McBain is asking about those other texts, where a mystery minister and former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian were disparaging about prime minister Scott Morrison.
(Earlier today I would have bet Labor would focus on aged care this QT).
Leader of the house Peter Dutton calls it unsubstantiated gossip. (Insert barney emoji).
Morrison says if the leader of the opposition wants to have a character contest, “bring it on”.
South Australia reports 1,671 new Covid cases and two deaths
South Australian COVID-19 update 09/02/22. For more information, go to https://t.co/mYnZsG87wo or contact the South Australia COVID-19 Information Line on 1800 253 787. pic.twitter.com/zYGl56xDgc
— SA Health (@SAHealth) February 9, 2022
Updated
Labor’s Richard Marles outlines those texts from deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce that referred to prime minister Scott Morrison as a hypocrite and a liar.
The Speaker says “liar” is unparliamentary and asks if Marles wants to rephrase the question.
Now we’re back to the house leaders having a barney. It’s Tony Burke v Peter Dutton.
(I’m starting to wish I had a “barney” emoji I could just insert when they start.)
And now back to Marles, who asks whether Joyce “knew exactly what he was talking about”.
Joyce takes the opportunity to reel off a bunch of the government’s accomplishments, from battling the pandemic to defending the security of the nation. He said:
As I work with this prime minister, and I believe that he is quite obviously the better choice for the next election, to take Australia into a time [where] we have so many geopolitical issues, and we need a competent hand to be able to guide this nation through something that will be an incredibly complex time ... I absolutely stand by this person. This is a great prime minister doing a great job.
Updated
After quite a long lecture from Speaker Andrew Wallace (he said he’s done his homework and the orders do not “give the member answering the question cart blanche to under take a gratuitous character assessment”), Frydenberg returns to... undertaking a gratuitous character assessment.
Updated
The treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, asked about the government’s economic recovery, is rolling out a bunch of past, present and imaginary future greatest hits that Labor may or may not take on tax. Carbon taxes, inheritance taxes, unicorn taxes and many more.
“Every day that we have been in government, we have been looking for opportunities to cut taxes,” Frydenberg said. Seems like an appropriate time to revisit this fact check on which party taxes more.
Updated
The Speaker is threatening to boot out opposition members who are putting out a “wall of noise”. He says it’s hard to pick the culprits because they’re wearing masks.
Updated
Labor’s Catherine King is asking about what the prime minister’s office knew, and when, about Brittany Higgins’ alleged rape. (This is the subject of the Gaetjens inquiry.)
Speaker Andrew Wallace is reminding the chamber about the responsibility to choose words about criminal matters carefully to avoid potential (legal) consequences.
Morrison says there is an assumption that the inquiry has reached a conclusion, and says “any further comment on the inquiry could be prejudicial to these proceedings”.
Updated
Some lovely pics here from Mike Bowers:
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Don’t get me wrong, I support freedom of religion when it means not discriminating against people of faith. But I will not support laws that allow discrimination & hate speech in the name of faith. #politas #auspol #ReligiousDiscriminationBill @EqualityAu @Robin4Equality pic.twitter.com/hXZKtyQIzx
— Andrew Wilkie MP (@WilkieMP) February 8, 2022
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has asked about waiting time blowouts in Tasmania’s health system. The health minister, Greg Hunt, says the federal government has significantly increased funding to Tasmanian hospitals, “a doubling of funding and beyond in our time on our watch”.
He also says opposition claims there are not enough ventilators in Australia are “false”.
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Labor MP Anika Wells has asked why the federal government didn’t implement the recommendation from the Jenkins review to impose a duty on employers to safeguard their workers.
Morrison said:
42 of the 55 recommendations of the Respect@Work report are fully implemented and are fully funded with over $60 million in commitment, and work is underway on all of the recommendations.
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An unsavoury ending to the extraordinary Press Club speeches from Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins, with a small number of anti-vaccine protesters deciding to picket outside the building towards the end of the event.
Around 30 protesters – several wearing the Australian flag as capes or waving their “red ensign” flags – stood outside the National Press Club, some singing songs in opposition to vaccine mandates.
Several black Comcars were parked at the area, ready to ferry politicians from the speech back to Parliament House.
The protesters quickly moved on, and voiced plans to then head next to The Lodge. It’s unclear why they decided to come to the Press Club in the first place, but some demonstrators had attempted to picket outside various radio and TV stations across Canberra earlier on Wednesday.
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PM says plan to end violence against women and children to get $1.2bn 'down payment'
Albanese’s first question, sparked by Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame, is whether the government will adopt firm targets to end violence against women and children.
Scott Morrison says the government is funding the national plan, including $1.2bn as a “down payment”. He’s listing a range of other measures the government is taking – it’s sounding a bit like the women’s statement in the budget, where everything that even tangentially affects women gets shoehorned in.
He says:
We will join all others in this place in ensuring that we have targets set out collectively and agreed together. More importantly than that, [we are] putting in place the funding as we have demonstrated as government when first elected, and even in our most recent budget to ensure the federal government is doing its part to end violence against women and children in this country.
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Labor leader Anthony Albanese says Grimes “was one of the key reasons Australia managed [the AIDS crisis] so much more humanely than so many other countries”:
I believe our response was the best in the world. And countless lives were saved ... Don was too much of a realist to believe in utopia, but he believed in a better Australia. May his children Roger, Jan, Jenny, Sally and Ben, feel consoled by the knowledge that Don used his life to make such a positive difference. May he rest in peace.
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Labor will move amendments to remove discrimination in the Religious Discrimination Bill in the House. If they don’t get up we will move them in the Senate.
— Stephen Jones MP (@StephenJonesMP) February 9, 2022
If that fails we commit to removing discrimination if Labor wins the May election.
Scott Morrison is giving a condolence motion for former Labor senator Don Grimes at the beginning of question time.
The prime minister says Grimes implemented asset tests for the pension, established the Disability Advisory Council, and saved untold thousands of lives through taking action on AIDS. He says:
Don Grimes was a very practical man. A man of great consequence. His family and party can be proud of his contribution and we think his family especially for his great service to our country.
On behalf of the government I extend to his children, Roger, Jan, Jenny, Sally and his wider family, condolences of the government from the Parliament and the gratitude of the Australian people. May he rest in peace.
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A Victorian parliamentary inquiry is set to investigate the influence of the far-right in the state, following a push by the Greens.
The Legal and Social Issues Committee on Wednesday confirmed they will hold an inquiry exploring:
- The rise of far-right extremist movements in Victoria.
- Their methods of recruitment and communication.
- How the pandemic has affected the growth of far-right extremism in Victoria.
- The risks their plans and actions pose to Victoria, especially to Victoria’s multicultural communities.
- The violent potential of these movements, including the potential for targeted violence against politicians and public figures.
- The links between far-right extremist groups, other forms of extremism, radical populist right and anti-vaccine misinformation groups.
- What steps need to be taken in Victoria to counter these far-right extremist groups.
Leader of the Victorian Greens, Samantha Ratnam, said the pandemic had exacerbated far-right groups’ influence in the state:
There should be no place for far-right extremism in Victoria. Yet at the beginning of last year, we saw white supremacists openly gathering in regional Victoria. And throughout the pandemic, we’ve seen these groups play into the genuine fears and anxieties of Victorians in an attempt to mobilise and grow their movement.
Our inquiry will investigate the rise of these movements in Victoria and what we need to do to counter them, for the safety of all Victorians, especially multicultural communities. History has shown us what happens when we don’t act quickly.
The committee will report back to parliament by 31 May.
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Independent MP Helen Haines was in the lower house earlier explaining that she can’t support the religious discrimination bill, explaining it is “not just a shield against discrimination on religious belief – it also creates many swords”.
Haines said she was particularly concerned about the statement of belief clause, which she calls a “monumental steamroll of our anti-discrimination laws”.
She said:
It’s a step too far. I acknowledge there are some safeguards, such as the statement having to be made in good faith, but it is unclear to me how far this rollback will go.
Haines commits to “reassess this bill if it comes to the house in a better form” after Senate amendment, but warns “it will take a lot” to win her support.
Haines said the government amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act do not provide enough protection against LGBTQ+ teachers and students, because they will still “proactively” be able to discriminate with the exception of expelling gay students.
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Gambling harm is being overlooked in police investigations and coronial processes in possible cases of suicide, and tighter regulation is needed in Australia – including a ban on gambling advertising – to help prevent gambling-related deaths, a new report has found.
The paper, Gambling and Suicide Prevention: A road map for change, released by Suicide Prevention Australia and Financial Counselling Australia today, draws on personal testimony from families who had lost loved ones to suicide, from those who have experienced gambling-related harm, and consultation with state coroners and members of the police force, as well as banks, gambling companies, counsellors and more.
Lauren Levin, director of policy and campaigns at Financial Counselling Australia, said:
Every gambling financial counsellor I speak to knows of people who had taken their lives because of gambling. I quietly heard the same from those working in the gambling industry. We all know that it’s happening, but no-one talks about it.
Often the grieving families bear the burden of society’s shame and keep the deaths quiet. But the shame is not theirs. The shame rests on those that allow Australia to have the highest rate of gambling losses per capita in the world without proper gambling regulation.
The report calls for police and coroners to “consciously look for problematic gambling as a contributing factor” in their investigations of an unexplained death, and to change their systems to record that information.
Banks should also act to reduce gambling harm, including banning debt-funded gambling (with credit cards, for instance), and gambling companies themselves should establish “proactive harm minimisation, staff training and operational protocols”, the report says.
An urgent review into current gambling regulation and the establishment of “a coherent, adequately funded, national regulatory structure” is necessary – including a ban on gambling advertising, Levin said.
Advertising is a major contributor to gambling harm. People trying to stop can’t get away from it. Children and young people are getting damaged from the normalisation of gambling. It has to stop. We did it with tobacco.
We need government to step up. The fix is not a bit of tinkering. The fix is a cohesive gambling harm prevention plan. The gambling suicide problem is not going away. It is growing. We are calling on our political leadership to commit to a comprehensive gambling plan before the election, and beyond. Lives literally depend on it.
• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14 and Gambling Helpline is 1800 858 858
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And that is the end of a very intense National Press Club address from Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame. There was a lot of emotion, and a lot of laughter, and we just skimmed the surface here. The marvellously incisive Katharine Murphy is sure to bring a deeper understanding. Now, stay tuned for question time!
Higgins says the independent complaints process that has been introduced in parliament would have helped her, but still doesn’t go far enough:
I think it would have been helpful for me in my circumstances, as ministerial staffer, but I’m cognisant at moment it is very limited. It is only for serious complaints or what is deemed by a certain small team as serious complaints and it’s not an all-of-parliament mechanism. So it is still quite limited in scope.
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Higgins is asked how she felt during yesterday’s parliamentary apology. She says:
I felt an enormous moment of grief, obviously. I was quite emotional, and upset. But I recognise the significance and the importance of it. So I was grateful in the moment that it was happening. I was grateful that it was happening with multi-party support.
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Tame says she is hopeful other states and territories will follow the ACT and introduce affirmative consent laws:
The Grace Tame Foundation is actually launching a campaign, we’re calling it Stop Romanticising Child Abuse and the ACT introducing this reform is sort of the start of the ball rolling really and it’s not a huge reform to achieve.
It’s quite simple. And we can, I suppose, use federalism to our advantage in that it creates competition with the jurisdictions, you know, one does something and all the other jurisdictions go, ‘Oh, crap, we’d better do that too’.
Another moment that gets a laugh from the audience. Higgins and Tame are asked how the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, could do better than the prime minister. Tame says:
All Anthony would have to do is none of the things that Scott’s done.
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Higgins won’t “cast aspersions” on the prime minister about who knew what, and when. She adds she doesn’t have a lot of faith in the Gaetjens review to provide answers.
An optimistic reporter asked Tame if she would name the person or the organisation who was behind that threatening phone call. Tame has been very animated, very facially expressive. She clowns around with a faux-earnest look and says:
I reckon if I was willing to name either, I would have put them in the speech.
Higgins says quotas would make a “significant difference” in politics. She says:
I would encourage every woman who is interested in policy or national debate to get involved, because I fundamentally believe, post-Jenkins review, that it will be a safer workplace, but not only that, it is the most incredible job you will ever have.
And Tame says she won’t go into politics, because she thinks she can achieve more from the outside.
Higgins “just can’t see it”, but repeats that it’s an incredible job.
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Asked whether parliament is doing enough to protect gay, lesbian and trans students, Tame asks:
Why does one group of people have more of a right to be themselves than another?
Higgins says:
It’s a deeply triggering and difficult time for them ... So I can’t even imagine how they’d be feeling having to listen to all this play out right now.
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Higgins is asked about former Liberal staffer Rachelle Miller’s story.
She says she saw a lot of herself in the story:
It was this retraumatising thing, this idea that these women were letting down the team, and this frenetic gossip that went around the building ... it deeply impacted me.
[That] is why I think I am here today, because of the bravery of those women coming before me – 100%, I heard you.
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Julie Hare from the Australian Financial Review notes that few men are in the room, or asking questions. She asks if that’s a sign that men see sexual abuse as a fringe issue.
Higgins said men might feel uncomfortable around the issue, and agrees that to an extent it might be seen as a female issue.
Tame says when she first started talking about child sexual abuse, it was often men she was speaking to:
Men are not the enemy. It is abuse of power. It is behaviour. It is behaviour, that is the enemy.
Tame and Higgins are asked, in the context of a looming election, which party would be better for women, and whether either of them would be on the campaign trail.
Katharine Murphy says Tame then winked at the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese ...
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Tame is asked about her response to that phone call she talked about earlier. (And she’s doing a very exaggerated version of the side eye that attracted so much attention.) She’s asked why she chose to tell that story now.
“I act with integrity,” she says. “It doesn’t matter now.”
Higgins is asked about those texts that the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, apologised for (which Joyce had asked be forwarded to Higgins). She says there was a nuanced conversation about her alleged rape, and that the important thing was the implication that the prime minister didn’t know about the allegations.
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Journalist Laura Tingle asks Higgins and Tame what they want the major political parties to address in the election campaign. Higgins said a key recommendation from the Jenkins review has been overlooked:
We saw the Kate Jenkins Respect@Work report, and we shot down the positive duty which would have forced employers to actually take, you know, have a responsibility for the safety of their employees from sexual harassment.
And that was just something that was blown away and noted. But it’s never been brought up again. We talk extensively about the Jenkins review, but what about every other workplace in the country? And so I’m shocked that that was not more of a flashpoint moment for people to go, “This isn’t just about parliament, this isn’t just about the gallery within Parliament House.”
Tame agrees, saying you can’t “cherry-pick” from the report.
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Someone calls out: “Grace Tame for PM”.
“Noooooooo,” she responds.
Katharine Murphy says that, like Higgins, Tame “looks directly at the most senior women in the government as she critiques taxpayer-funded programs”.
Tame specifically talked about the nation’s planned $90b submarines, and contrasted that to the relatively meagre amount being spent to prevent violence against women and children. Tame says:
In 2019, the federal government announced it would spend just $2.8 million over a 3-year period, delivering a sexual and domestic violence prevention education program in schools called Respect Matters. But in reality, less than half of that amount was given, without explanation.
As my friend Shanna Bremner, found of EndRape on Campus in Australia pointed out, there’s around 4 million students enrolled in schools across the nation, according to the ABS. So, from 2020 until 2022, if you divide the $1.36 million they actually gave by 4 million students, it works out that the federal government had planned to spend 11 cents per student per year on prevention education.
Tame is finishing up with three key asks:
The first is for a government that takes the issue of abuse in all its forms seriously. The second is for the implementation of adequate funding for prevention education to stop these things before they even start. The third is for national, consistent, structural change.
Tame calls for the crowd to make some noise, and they oblige – and then some. It’s another standing ovation, as Tame and Higgins prepare to take audience questions.
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Tame: I received threatening call from member of government-funded organisation
Interesting. Tame tells the crowd:
I received a threatening phone call from a senior member of a government-funded organisation, asking for my word that I would not say anything damning about the prime minister on the evening of the next Australian of the Year Awards.
Then I heard the words, ‘with an election coming soon ...’.
And it crystallised a fear – fear for himself and no one else, a fear he might lose his position or, more to the point, his power. Sound familiar to anyone? Well, it does to me.
I remember standing in the shadow of a trusted authority figure, being threatened in just the same veiled way. I remember him saying: “I will lose my job if anyone hears about that, and you would not want that, would you?”
What I wanted in that moment is the same thing I want right now, and that is an end to the darkness, an end to sexual violence, safety, equity, respect, a better future for all of us – peace, a future driven by unity and truth.
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Katharine Murphy says one of the most interesting element of this address is how Tame and Higgins are reflecting on the impact of their own commodification:
These women are both acutely conscious of how to use their power as advocates, and also the limits of the ecosystem that amplifies their words. It’s hard to convey just how comprehensively Tame is commanding this platform.
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Labor to pass religious discrimination bill in House if amendments unsuccessful
(We’ll take you back to the National Press Club in a second).
Labor caucus has concluded.
Guardian Australia understands Labor will move its religious discrimination amendments in the House of Representatives but Labor will not oppose the bill in the house if these are unsuccessful.
This was the recommendation of the shadow cabinet.
Then, Labor will seek to amend the bill in the Senate. If the Senate amends the bill, Labor says it will “insist” on its amendments, and keep sending the bill back to the House until it agrees.
However, other participants have said Labor reserve its rights about what to do if the House doesn’t agree - and Anthony Albanese promised another caucus meeting if this impasse develops.
So we could see an impasse between the two houses - and Labor won’t say if it will fold, there will have to be some further process to decide what to do.
Guardian Australia understands that Labor MP Josh Burns moved for Labor to oppose the bill in the House if amendments weren’t carried, but the motion was defeated on the voices. Ten or more MPs spoke in favour including Alicia Payne, Peter Khalil, Brian Mitchell, Peta Murphy, and Kate Thwaites.
In favour of passing it through the House (if amendments were not passed) were: Chris Bowen, other shadow cabinet ministers, Stephen Jones and Julian Hill.
This was not a left-right divide, MPs in this side were concerned to prevent giving Scott Morrison a political wedge to campaign on, and others argued the sooner the bill comes to the Senate the sooner beneficial amendments could be made.
The amendments are:
- To amend section 38(3) of the Sex Discrimination Act to protect students from discrimination on the grounds of gender and sexuality
- Amend the statements of belief clause so it can’t override state laws
- Prohibiting discrimination in provision of aged care services
- Banning vilification on the grounds of religion.
During the meeting, we got mixed messages on whether teachers would be protected, but Labor’s shadow education minister, Tanya Plibersek, has suggested they will:
BREAKING: Labor will change the law to protect schoolkids and school staff from discrimination.
— Tanya Plibersek (@tanya_plibersek) February 9, 2022
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Tame says many people already know her story:
I was targeted, stalked, isolated, groomed, and repeatedly raped as a minor ...
Child sexual abuse is the epitome of evil. It is also disturbingly common. Perpetrated not by monsters on the fringes of society, but by everyday citizens, hiding in plain sight.
One in six boys and one in four girls is abused before their 18th birthday. We tend to think of child sexual abuse in terms of physical acts but in reality it is mostly invisible, characterised by calculated, insidious, systematic psychological manipulation that leaves its survivors with lasting internalised complex trauma.
Trauma that is not only reinforced by negative social attitudes, but also, ironically, by the very systems and institutions, the structures designed to protect us, to bring justice – like the courts, like the press.
Such is the vicious cycle, or rather, tangled web, of abuse culture, and thus we see the effects of abuse persist long after abuse itself stops, and wherever they can, abuses will turn its survivors and their supporters against each other.
One of the key objectives of perpetrators and their defenders is to maintain control of the narrative by denying, twisting or completely rewriting the truth. As a result, survivors remain trapped in a seemingly inescapable estate of repeated self-justification. By design, those who are already exhausted and traumatised to become exponentially so.
Taking more power in the process. Our pain is their strength. But by the same token, our strength is their pain. The higher we rise, the hideout they try to regain control. Why, just the other day, someone online called me a horrible, horrible person who aggressively pursued her teacher and then blamed everyone else.
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Grace Tame begins National Press Club speech
Former Australian of the Year Grace Tame is up now.
Katharine Murphy reports that the most senior women in the government are directly in front of Higgins as she launches into the deficiencies of the national plan (below). They’re right in her eyeline.
Higgins gets a standing ovation, then resumes her seat. “She breathes in for five and out for five,” Murphy says.
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Actions are what matter, Higgins says:
And what will be the true test of whether the government is committed to creating system change – task forces are great. Codes of conduct are important. But only if it’s paired with institutional change.
There are 28 recommendations in the Jenkins review and, without their implementation, we will continue to see this toxic culture exist within our most powerful institution ...
Without these changes, women will inadvertently continue to be discouraged from taking up rolls within parliament, or take a seat at the leadership table. If we truly want a gender-inclusive society, we need more vocal women in rooms where key decisions are being made to ensure that there is a gender lens placed over national policy. This starts with the implementation of the Jenkins review. The question is, if this moment doesn’t spark change in our parliament, what will?
... That brings me to the National Action Plan. The release of the draft national plan to end violence against women and children has been hotly anticipated. More than a decade after it historic launch, rates of violence [remain] far too high. In fact, they’ve barely changed since the launch of the plan and, in some cases, they’ve actually increased. This lack of action at the national level has seen the states go it alone.
Victoria had the first royal commission into family violence, spurred on by the bravery of another former Australian of the Year, Rosie Batty. For women over the age of 15, 1 in 4 have experienced intimate partner violence. 1 in 2 women have experienced sexual harassment in their lifetime. I bet you’ve heard those statistics rattled off at White Ribbon breakfasts and at the top of ministerial statements for a decade. I know I have.
But recognising these horrific facts is no longer sufficient. Women with disability across Australia experience significantly higher levels of all forms of violence. For example, 9 out of 10 women with an intellectual disability report experiencing sexual assault. And Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 32 times more likely to be hospitalised, and 11 times more likely to die due to assault. Any single one of these statistics should challenge us. They should confront us. They should spur us to do whatever it takes.
But instead, they’ve become sort of this throat-clearing exercise that we all just kind of tolerate. A mumbled pro forma before we get into the same old talk about how slow and difficult change is. To its credit, the national plan doesn’t aim low. Unfortunately, its aims are so lofty and vague that it’s impossible to disagree with and equally difficult to examine. The plan talks about a future free from violence against women and their children, claiming that it will serve as a blueprint for change that sets out our collective ambitions, priorities and targets for how we will work to end violence against women and children over the next 10 years. It claims to integrate all we have learnt since 2010. These aspirational statements are, indeed, ambitious, and equal to the scale of the challenge.
But the question is - how will they be achieved? That is, unfortunately, where the draft plan has lost its way. Instead, it is largely a collection of statistics describing the problem, filled with warm sentiments and platitudes attached to noble outcomes which lacks the promised learnings from the past decade towards a future free from violence against women and children, and clear targets to that end. Without clearer action and firm targets, there can be no accountability.
Without accountability, we are back to a world where we are describing the problem being seen as sufficient. The draft plan does not even directly acknowledge the fact that we’ve failed on our first account. Our one single measure for success – a target to see a significant and sustained reduction in violence against women and their children during the next 12 years – we failed. How can you speak on drawing on everything you have learned without confessing the failure of the one test we have set ourselves?
Instead, we have monitored acknowledgements that rates of domestic violence have remained stable and rates of sexual violence have increased. In response, the planet laments wistfully that more needs to be done, but if it is more of the same compounded by a refusal to examine the past failures, let alone examine them, then this plan will not be worth the glossy paper it will eventually be printed on and Australian women and children will suffer through another decade of violence and abuse while politicians and policymakers ring their hands about the fact that we need to turn things around in 2040.
As I think you have gathered by now, my patience has run out. I want to close by saying that for all the fear and anger and sadness that my time in politics has brought me, it did not take away my belief in Australia, my faith in democracy. I know our country can do better for women and girls. I know our parliament will be a better, stronger place if more women are ministers and members and senators and staffers.
I know change is possible, and as long as there are people like Grace Tame and Rosie Batty ... I know that change is coming. It is up to us to keep those in power up to account. To take up the challenge, we each have a responsibility to one another and have a role to play in making things better for the next generation of women.
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Higgins is talking about the need for action, for change, and for justice:
The women and girls of Australia deserve so much better than an improvement in the way that we publicly discuss the dangers that they face at home and in their daily lives.
Put another way, last year wasn’t a march for acknowledgement. It wasn’t a march for coverage. It wasn’t a march for language. It was a march for justice. And that justice demands real change in our laws, as well as in our language, in our national culture, as well as our national conversation.
That starts with the prime minister – yes, some of his language last year was shocking and, at times, admittedly, a bit offensive. But his words wouldn’t matter if his actions had measured up.
Then, or since. I didn’t want his sympathy as a father. I wanted him to use his power as prime minister.
The crowd erupted into applause at this point. Higgins continued:
I wanted him to wield the weight of his office and drive change in the party and our parliament, and out into the country. And one year later, I don’t care if the government has improved the way that they talk about these issues.
I’m not interested in words anymore. I want to see action. Late last year, we saw the final report from the Jenkins review, commissioned by Australia’s sex discrimination commissioner, who very kindly is here today. It revealed what many of us in this room already know to be true. Sexual harassment and bullying is rife in the corridors of power, with over 51% of participants reporting incidents of this nature.
I earnestly thank the prime minister and the leader of the opposition for their statements of acknowledgement and apologies offered yesterday to victims of abuse in our national parliament. In addition, I’d like to acknowledge Zali Steggall, who enabled a handful of us to actually attend in person.
It was encouraging, and an important sentiment, but I am cognisant that, at this point in time, they are still only words.
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Higgins is saying platitudes and weasel words are not enough:
Nearly a year after the March4Justice made its way to the threshold of federal parliament, too little has changed. If you go back and read articles from March 15, there was a sense of a national moment of reckoning. A feeling of unstoppable momentum. An irresistible force. A raging current that would not be turned aside by tired old platitudes from fathers of daughters.
But I stand here today fearful that this moment of transformative potential, the bravery of all those women who spoke up and stood up and said “Enough is enough” is in danger of being minimised to a flare-up, a blip on the radar, a month-long wonder in the national conversation.
Or, worse, just a political perception problem neutralised and turned into a net positive. Even beyond that, I’m worried what too many people beyond the government and the media took out of the events of last year was that we need to be better at talking about the problem.
In a lot of cases, that seems to have meant trading off offensive, tone-deaf statements for a convoluted mix of appeasing weasel-words. In the national conversation, we have this passive, anonymous language vaguely talking about “wrongs done” as if sexual violence falls out of the sky. As if it is perpetrated by no-one. As if it is inflicted on no-one. For a start, recognising there’s a problem is 50 years short of what’s required.
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Katharine Murphy is down at the National Press Club, and says the atmosphere is “electric”. Liberal MPs Marise Payne, Anne Ruston, Jane Hume and Simon Birmingham are there, as is former MP Julia Banks. Labor leader Anthony Albanese is also in the room to hear Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame.
Former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins said:
I made my decision to speak out because the alternative was to be part of the culture of silence inside Parliament House.
I spoke out because I wanted the next generation of staffers to work in a better place. To take up a dream job like I did. And for it to live up to their hopes and not betray them. And above all, I decided to speak out because I hoped it would make it easier for other women to speak out too.
It’s become my whole life mantra right through the past 12 months – to make it easier for other women to speak.
So while I’m very grateful to take the chance to talk at the National Press Club, I want to stress that I don’t pretend to speak for all survivors. Not for a minute do I imagine that I could. Everyone’s trauma is personal.
I never wanted to be a spokesperson or a standard-bearer, but I do know that it’s easier to share your story if you recognise something of it in someone else’s. And above all, I believe it will be easier for women to share their story if they see it makes a difference in the workplace, in our national life, and in our parliament. That’s what keeps me speaking out – my determination to drive change.
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This could be confronting or triggering for some people. If you need help, call the National Sexual Assault, Family & Domestic Violence Counselling Line on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au.
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Brittany Higgins addresses the National Press Club
The National Press Club is just kicking off now. Apparently there was a bit of a palaver earlier, when a woman at the front of the room was knocked over in the initial rush of photographers. But she’s upright now. And Brittany Higgins is about to start speaking – she has been greeted with rapturous applause.
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Until the recent Omicron surge in cases, overall mortality in Australia has been lower than previous years, as the increase in deaths from Covid-19 has been more than offset by the reduction in deaths from other respiratory illnesses.
But the recent surge in Covid-19 cases has changed this. According to modelling released by the Actuaries Institute, the high cases and number of deaths is expected to result in a 10% increase in the total number of deaths, from all causes, in Australia during January 2022.
In January 2022, official Covid-19 deaths in Australia totalled 1,582. There were 909 official Covid-19 deaths in 2020 and a further 1,344 deaths in 2021.
Convenor of the Actuaries Institute’s Covid-19 working group, Jennifer Lang, said the model measures actual deaths against predicted deaths, adjusted as the population ages and grows, and allows for trends in mortality improvement. She said:
In general, our model shows expected deaths are increasing faster from demographic changes than they are reducing because of improvements to mortality.
For the month of January 2022, if there had been no pandemic, we would have expected around 13,500 to 14,000 deaths. However, the surge in Covid-19 deaths without any corresponding reduction in other deaths means that in January 2022 we expect to see excess mortality of around 10% once the complete death data is available.
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The foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, says Australia has had “no discussions” with Taiwan about the possibility of renaming its representative office in Australia.
Payne fronted the media at Parliament House alongside Lithuania’s foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis. Payne flagged that Australia would soon open an AusTrade presence in Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital. She also said she had secured Landsbergis’ support to progress the Australia-EU free trade agreement that was stalled last year amid tensions with France over the Aukus deal.
Lithuania has been embroiled in a row with China over the opening of a “Taiwanese Representative Office” in Lithuania, something that led China to downgrade the relationship and increase trade pressure against Lithuania. In Australia, Taiwan’s office is called the Taipei Economic And Cultural Office in Australia.
Asked whether Australia had had any discussion with Taiwan in the past year about renaming that office, Payne was clearly not keen to open a new front in tensions with China:
No discussions of that nature. Australia remains committed to our one-China policy.
Pressed on whether she ruled out a renaming of the office, Payne repeated: “No discussions.”
Last week legislators from both parties in the US proposed bills to rename the the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US.
On Russia, Payne did not specify particular red lines that would trigger Australia to introduce further sanctions.
Payne, who is also the minister for women, said she would head to the National Press Club to hear the address by Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins.
(We’ll be bringing you that address shortly).
Updated
National Covid-19 update
Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 68 deaths from Covid-19:
ACT
- Deaths: 1
- Cases: 475
- In hospital: 54 (with four people in ICU)
NSW
- Deaths: 20
- Cases: 10,312
- In hospital: 1,906 (with 132 people in ICU)
NT
- Deaths: 0
- Cases: 1,128
- In hospital: 174 (with four people in ICU)
Queensland
- Deaths: 24
- Cases: 6,900
- In hospital: 686 (with 44 people in ICU)
South Australia
- Deaths: 2
- Cases: 1,671
- In hospital: 210 (with 18 people in ICU)
Tasmania
- Deaths: 0
- Cases: 574
- In hospital: 15 (with one person in ICU)
Victoria
- Deaths: 21
- Cases: 9,908
- In hospital: 542 (with 71 people in ICU)
Western Australia
- Deaths: 0
- Cases: 94 (14 local and 80 ‘other’)
- In hospital: 1
Updated
The Labor caucus meeting was pretty easy and breezy when it came to ways to improve the religious discrimination bill, but has got bogged down in the procedural/tactical question of what to do if both houses won’t agree to amendments.
So far we understand the plan is to move amendments in both the House and the Senate – the question is what to do if the Senate amends the bill but the House does not agree to the Senate version.
The Labor caucus is currently debating whether to:
- Bitch and fold – that is, if it’s the House version or nothing, pass the House version in the Senate to get this off the agenda; or
- Insist on amendments, even at risk of impasse – ie refuse to pass the House version in the Senate, even if this means the religious discrimination bill ends in limbo land and the government blames Labor for not passing it.
Updated
Dominic Perrottet says religious discrimination bill is unnecessary
New South Wales premier Dominic Perrottet has labelled the commonwealth’s religious discrimination bill unnecessary, saying the legislation could create “more problems”.
Following Victorian premier Daniel Andrews’ criticism of the bill, Perrottet joined his southern counterpart in expressing caution on the bill on Wednesday and questioning why it was necessary.
Perrottet, a member of the conservative wing of the Liberal party, said he had long held the personal view governments should be “very cautious about introducing legislation in this space”.
He told reporters on Wednesday:
It’s obviously outside our jurisdiction here in NSW and I’d be reluctant to provide a commentary on it because I think that would simply be a distraction from the issues at hand [but] I’ve made it very clear that I don’t believe legislation in this space is necessary and I think it can end up creating more problems than it [solves]
It comes as the federal Coalition backed the bill despite a number of MPs threatening to cross the floor over the legislation. The government has recently confirmed it will move limited amendments to the bill which protect gay students from expulsion – but not other forms of discrimination – without protecting trans students at the same time.
Updated
Landsbergis is asked about China’s treatment of Lithuania (see Daniel Hurst’s post below for context). He said:
Well, for quite a while Australia was one of the main examples, when China was using economy and trade as a political instrument or one might say even as a political weapon. Now Lithuania joins this exclusive club, as we have discussed with the minister.
But it is apparent that we are definitely not the last ones. Especially if these practices are not stopped with the instruments that we have ... I think we need to remind countries like China or any other country that would wish to use trade as a weapon that the like-minded countries across the globe, that they have tools, they have tools and regulations that help withstand the coercion and not to give into political and economic pressures.
Payne agrees that there are like-minded countries “who are interested in openness and transparency and security, working together and being consistent in our approach on these issues”:
There are many colleagues with whom the foreign minister and I work and engage on these issues and the more that we are able to share our views and to articulate our views, the more we are sending the strongest possible message about our rejection of coercion and our rejection of authoritarianism.
Hurst is at the press conference, and will bring you a wrap of it a bit later.
Updated
The foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, is now speaking alongside Lithuania’s foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, as mentioned below.
Payne has welcomed the opening of Lithuania’s first embassy in Australia. The pair have been discussing the embassy, the Australia-EU free trade agreement, and other connections between the nations. Payne said of the embassy:
I think this demonstrates the warmth of the ties that Australia and Lithuania enjoy, underpinned by those shared values of democracy, human rights, the rule of law, gender equality and open markets.
Updated
ACT records 475 Covid cases and one death
A man with Covid has died in the Australian Capital Territory, bringing the territory’s death toll since the beginning of the pandemic to 31. Today 475 new Covid cases have been reported, 54 people are in hospital, four of them in intensive care.
ACT COVID-19 update (9 February 2022)
— ACT Health (@ACTHealth) February 9, 2022
💉COVID-19 vaccinations
▪ Aged 5-11 years (1 dose): 74.5%
▪ Aged 12+ (2 doses) 98.6%
▪ Aged 16+ (3 doses): 57.2%
▪ New cases today: 475 (281 PCR and 194 RAT)
▪ Active cases: 2,365 (1,242 PCR and 1,123 RAT) pic.twitter.com/tORsys98Sp
Updated
Tasmania records 574 Covid cases
Tasmania has recorded 574 new Covid cases. There are 15 people in hospital – the health department notes that 10 of them are being treated specifically for Covid symptoms, while five cases are positive, but being treated for unrelated conditions.
One person is in intensive care.
Updated
The foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, is due to front the media in Canberra in about 10 minutes alongside Lithuania’s foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis.
Expect to hear messages about standing strong against “economic coercion” from China. Landsbergis is also in Canberra to open Lithuania’s embassy in Australia, and to address the National Press Club tomorrow.
Lithuania has been embroiled in a row with China over the opening of a “Taiwanese Representative Office” in Lithuania. In Australia, Taiwan’s office is called the Taipei Economic And Cultural Office in Australia. China objects to the renaming and downgraded the relationship with Lithuania.
The European Union has gone to the World Trade Organization to take the first step in what could be a formal challenge against alleged Chinese restrictions on the import and export of goods, and the supply of services, to and from Lithuania.
Australia has signalled it will join these WTO talks in order to back Lithuania’s position.
The federal government’s religious discrimination bill is “dangerous”, the Australian Council of Trade Unions says.
Union president Michele O’Neil called the bill “confusing and divisive” and said it would “increase discrimination and make workplaces less safe”. O’Neil said:
With less than 10 sitting days left of parliament the Morrison government is trying to rush through the religious discrimination bill before the election.
The mental health and rights of working people are threatened by the religious discrimination bill which will enable humiliating, offensive and harmful comments about women, LGBTQI+ people, people with disability, and anyone from a marginalised community.
Save the Children Australia want the bill withdrawn. Australian services executive director Matt Gardiner said all Australian children “including those that identify as LGBTQI or may do so in the future” have the right to live free from discrimination.
Queensland reports 24 Covid-related deaths
Twenty-four people have died in Queensland. Sixteen of the Covid-related deaths were in aged care. It’s the state’s highest daily death toll since the start of the pandemic. The state has recorded 6,900 new cases.
Updated
Lunch at the press club could be saltier than usual today.
@TamePunk and @BrittHiggins_ will address the #NPC today, 12:30pm AEDT. Watch it live on ABCTV and Sky.
— National Press Club (@PressClubAust) February 8, 2022
If today's event causes distress and you need assistance, you can call 1800 RESPECT or visit their website for support. If you are in need of immediate help, please dial 000. pic.twitter.com/NFUEw2RGKL
Timor-Leste passes resolution calling for Australia to drop Bernard Collaery prosecution
Timor-Leste’s parliament has passed a resolution calling for Australia to drop the prosecution of Bernard Collaery. The resolution, passed on Tuesday with cross-party support, also called for Witness K’s conviction to be quashed, according to local media.
Collaery, a former lawyer who represented intelligence officer Witness K, is facing potential jail time for his role in exposing a 2004 operation to bug the government offices of Timor-Leste during negotiations to carve up the resource-rich Timor Sea.
Alliance Against Political Prosecutions co-convenor Kathryn Kelly said the resolution was a “significant event”. Kelly said:
It is clearly not in the national interest for the prosecution to continue if this is the Timor-Leste government’s view.
The development comes amid new claims that former Australian foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer privately boasted in 2000 that Timor was an “open book” to Australia. According to an affidavit filed by Philip Dorling, a former adviser to the shadow foreign affairs minister, Laurie Brereton, Downer said:
You know. There’s not much back there [in Dili] we don’t know. We know what they’re saying about Laurie. They’re an open book to us.
Collaery’s case is also back before the ACT supreme court on Wednesday, where the parties are continuing to argue over secrecy issues. The attorney general, Michaelia Cash, wants to hand a judge super secret evidence, which Collaery himself would not be able to see, to justify why Collaery’s trial should be held partially behind closed doors.
Updated
Labor seeks amendments to religious discrimination bill
Earlier we reported on some amendments Labor is seeking, to amend the statements of belief clause and beef up protections in the Sex Discrimination Act.
Labor’s shadow cabinet also wants:
- Anti-vilification provisions – because as Tony Burke has argued publicly – the bill in its current form doesn’t prevent people being abused in public for their religion.
- No discrimination in provision of aged care services by religious organisations.
But it’s important to ask: and then what? Will Labor insist on the amendments and vote against the bill if they don’t succeed? Or is it more a case of (as my colleague Amy Remeikis would say) bitch and fold?
Guardian Australia understands that Labor’s shadow cabinet agreed to seek amendments in the Senate. However, Labor’s final position will be decided by the caucus.
Also – earlier we reported that shadow cabinet wanted to protect teachers and students, on sexuality and gender identity. We now understand this amendment will only protect students, not teachers.
Updated
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, addressed an ovarian cancer awareness breakfast this morning. At the teal ribbon parliamentary breakfast he acknowledged women living with cancer, calling today a day of strength and courage.
He said his government prioritises ovarian cancer and “will not blink” if the pharmaceutical benefits advisory committee recommends that new drug Zejula should be subsidised. Morrison also announced an extra $2m for the teal support program, which supports 420 women living with ovarian cancer.
Updated
Good morning. The House will resume at 9.30am. After the presentation of the Selection Committee's report, seven bills are scheduled to be introduced. There are also seven other committee reports scheduled to be presented throughout the day. Full program: https://t.co/pWJxbQEEHK pic.twitter.com/WAcaOPqRph
— Australian House of Representatives (@AboutTheHouse) February 8, 2022
Labor’s shadow cabinet has been meeting since 8am to discuss the religious discrimination bill, and related amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act.
Guardian Australia understands that one of the options presented to the meeting by the shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, is to move amendments:
- Removing the controversial statements of belief clause, that provides that statements grounded in faith or non-belief do not infringe other discrimination laws (including state laws); and
- Increasing protections in the Sex Discrimination Act to protect students on grounds of sexuality and gender identity
This was only described as an option - either because anything agreed in shadow cabinet will need caucus approval when it meets at 10:15am, or because there are other options still under consideration including amending the statements of belief clause rather than removing it entirely.
We’ll bring you more as we have it.
Updated
Liberal MP Bridget Archer has said she’s “horrified” at the proposed religious discrimination package. I have no idea what she’s discussing here with defence minister Peter Dutton, but I hope she is at least explaining how to wear a mask correctly. I think the wags of South Park call this a “chin diaper”).
Updated
The anti-vaccine mandate mob are still in Canberra. Rogue MP Craig Kelly brought a few protestors into Parliament House yesterday, where they milled about for a bit in his office. There are parallels with the situation in Canada, where truckers with similar anti-mandate messages have laid siege to Ottawa, Ontario. Arwa Mahdawi writes that they are funded by the far right and fuelling misinformation:
Canada may not be on the brink of civil war, but what is happening in Ottawa is one small front in a global information war. And the baddies, I’m afraid to say, are winning.
The blaring horns caused such disruption to residents that the truckers have been forbidden from honking.
Yes, it’s a honk ban.
Victoria’s opposition leader, Matthew Guy, says he will cooperate with police, who are investigating images of his MPs not wearing masks inside parliament yesterday.
He told reporters:
Whatever comes comes, [we] will obviously deal with that and cooperate with any questions that are put to us. But I say this again, these rules are confusing, mask mandates in non high-risk settings should be a thing of the past. It is time for all of us to move on.
Guy says several MPs were drinking coffee as Essendon legend Kevin Sheedy gave a motivational speech to the Liberal party room ahead of the 2022 state election.
Some took their masks off for the photos with Sheedy, he said.
Like any law abiding citizen who wants to do the right thing, if we’ve made a mistake then of course we’ll do the right thing.
In October 2021, Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, was fined $400 for twice not wearing a mask outside parliament.
At the time, Andrews told reporters if he was not fined he would donate $400 to charity.
Guy has offered to do the same.
Liberal MP Dave Sharma has done the full rounds of the media this morning, making sure everyone knows he is “still in discussions” on the religious discrimination bill.
Updated
In NSW, the premier, Dominic Perrottet, said yesterday it was “unlikely” rapid antigen tests would continue beyond the end of February, with the government “assessing what we’re going to do from week four [of term] onwards”.
AAP reports that the education department was distributing 17.5 million more tests to maintain testing protocols until then.
It came after more than 3,000 people – about 2,400 students and more than 600 school workers – tested positive to Covid in the first week of term.
The Teachers’ Federation NSW president, Angelo Gavrielatos, said the union would be “seeking further discussions with senior officials ... in order to see how things may progress beyond that four-week period”.
“There’s no doubt that the rapid antigen testing is identifying people who would otherwise be in schools infected,” he said on Friday.
Some 43.2% of primary school-aged children have received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
Updated
Victoria records 21 Covid deaths
Twenty-one people have died in Victoria, which recorded 9,908 new Covid cases yesterday. A total of 542 people are in hospital, 71 in intensive care and 27 on ventilators.
We thank everyone who got vaccinated and tested yesterday.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) February 8, 2022
Our thoughts are with those in hospital, and the families of people who have lost their lives.
More data soon: https://t.co/OCCFTAtS1P#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/ztEa85yzKg
Updated
NSW reports 20 Covid-related deaths
Another 20 people have died in New South Wales. The state has recorded 10,312 positive Covid cases. 1,906 people are in hospital, 132 in intensive care.
NSW COVID-19 update – Wednesday 9 February 2022
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) February 8, 2022
In the 24-hour reporting period to 4pm yesterday:
- 95.5% of people aged 16+ have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 94.1% of people aged 16+ have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine pic.twitter.com/xAzujLiTxj
Updated
I have had countless coffees today
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) February 8, 2022
(fact check: I have had two coffees today) https://t.co/9PWfsqVEI2
Government to press ahead with another two Jenkins recommendations
Following on from the statement of acknowledgement to parliament yesterday, and ahead of Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame’s appearance at the National Press Club later on, the government has confirmed it will press ahead with another two out of the 28 recommendations in the Jenkins report.
According to the finance minister, Simon Birmingham, the legislation to be introduced in the Senate will do three things:
- Amend the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984 to strengthen and clarify the employment rights of MoP(S) Act employees. The amendments implement recommendation 17 of the Jenkins Report.
- Amend the Work Health and Safety Act to clarify that parliamentarians are officers of the Commonwealth for the purposes of the WHS Act. This would clarify that parliamentarians must exercise due diligence to ensure the Commonwealth is fulfilling its duties under the WHS Act. The amendment also implements recommendation 17 of the Jenkins Report.
- Amend the Age Discrimination Act 2004 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 to clarify that these laws apply to persons employed or engaged under the MoP(S) Act to put beyond doubt that these employees have protection from age and disability discrimination. These amendments implement recommendation 24 of the Jenkins report.
Australia’s sex discrimination commissioner, Kate Jenkins, handed down her report on the culture of Australian parliament last year.
Updated
The Queensland government’s response to a gas seep “capable of posing risk to life or property” near Chinchilla included a briefing memo about the incident that described a local Knitting Nannas Against Gas group as a “risk”. Ben Smee reports:
'Robust discussion' on religious discrimination bill within Labor
Today’s focus now switches to what Labor will do on the religious discrimination bill.
Shadow cabinet is meeting right now, before a wider caucus meeting later on.
Labor has largely kept mum on where it will land on its final party position, but speeches from MPs on Tuesday revealed some reservations. Matt Thistlethwaite warned the bill was being “rushed” and that the contentious “statement of belief” clause may take Australia “in the wrong direction”. Stephen Jones’ emotional speech called for more protections for gay and transgender children.
Opposition MP Sharon Claydon, who will chair Labor’s caucus meeting, told a Parliament House press conference that the party believed there should be “no discrimination”. She said:
Stephen Jones made it very clear last night that we should always seek to get important vital legislation right.
We have always said people should have the right to practice their religious beliefs, but the whole point of anti-discrimination law is that the rights given to one group don’t override the right of others.
Claydon said there was “robust discussion” within Labor. The Coalition took two separate party room meetings to reach their final position yesterday; Claydon didn’t commit to Labor reaching a final decision today.
At his own press conference, Greens leader Adam Bandt pleaded for Labor to not “trade trans kids for votes” and oppose the religious discrimination bill, describing it as a “Trojan horse for hate”.
Independent MP Helen Haines told the ABC that she wouldn’t be supporting the bill, claiming it was “not ready to be passed”.
“I have serious concerns and most particularly I have real concerns about the safety and protection of our young gay students, our LGBTIQ+ students and transgender students,” she said.
Updated
Liberal MP Dave Sharma says he is “still in discussions” about the religious discrimination laws. The moderate member for Wentworth as asked this morning if he might cross the floor.
“I’m not going to telegraph in advance what I might or might not do,” he said:
I’m still listening to the debate on the bill and the points that people make, and I’ll consider my position when the bill comes to a vote. But I do have significant concerns about the bill.
I’m also concerned about other issues of discrimination – ongoing discrimination which aren’t connected with this bill, but that the inquiries into this bill brought out, particularly against gay and trans teachers and students as well depending on their sexual orientation, and I think we need to address those issues sooner rather than later.
Sharma also pointed out that protecting students from expulsion was not the only important thing. He said:
We need to bear in mind here that a student can quite easily be forced out of a school without being expelled. If they’re harassed or intimidated or bullied or made to feel unwelcome or unsafe, of course they’re going to leave. I’m aware of stories like that and students who have been in that predicament. I think that’s the sort of stuff we need to be addressing. I’d hope to do it in this bill, but if not I want to make sure that there is a process set up and underway that will address these things very quickly.
Updated
There was plenty happening yesterday on the religious discrimination front – if you need to catch up, Paul Karp can help. And here’s the video of Labor MP Stephen Jones’ speech:
The Coalition has been sitting on a major report into the state of the care workforce in Australia since September last year, Sarah Martin reports. The report “set out to examine the needs of the care and support workforce for aged, disability, veteran and mental health care”:
I mentioned the Health Services Union’s survey earlier, in the context of the opposition hoping to wound the government over the aged care crisis.
AAP has some more details – 71% of voters back a 25% pay increase for aged care workers.
That would mean an increase in the average pay rate from $22 an hour to $29 an hour.
I’m just going to repeat that. An increase in the average pay rate from $22 an hour to $29 an hour.
Anyway, back to how religious discrimination legislation will determine the outcome of the election.
Updated
Andrew Barr, the ACT chief minister, says “significant amendments” are needed to the proposed religious discrimination laws. Barr is a Labor politician, and the only openly gay government leader in Australia.
“As they stand, yes, I think they need to be amended,” he told ABC radio this morning.
“So if any of my colleagues are listening, have a look at the ACT government’s submission.”
That submission has 14 recommendations for amendments.
Barr said he opposes the bill as it stands, and that the Coalition is using it as a wedge against Labor, which has not yet decided on its position. He said:
If they wave it through without amendment and Liberal members are crossing the floor against their own government bill and Labor votes for it – that is problematic.
Updated
The trade minister, Dan Tehan, is travelling to India today – he says to try to make progress on a free trade agreement and to promote the reopening of Australia to students and tourists.
Australia and India had originally aimed to finalise an “early harvest” trade deal by the end of December, to pave the way for a broader agreement later – but that timeframe wasn’t met. Readers may recall Tony Abbott flew to India on a trade mission on behalf of the Australian government last year.
Tehan is scheduled to have “several meetings” with India’s commerce minister, Piyush Goyal, to “further negotiations” on the India-Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, to be known as CECA.
Tehan said the pair had been in regular contact over the Christmas/New Year period “because we are both committed to concluding an interim free trade agreement”.
In a statement issued this morning, Tehan said:
Nothing can replace face-to-face meetings to help speed up the process in the interest of both countries. Australia and India are important trading partners, and we share a strong desire to further enhance our bilateral trade relationship. A free trade agreement with India would be a boon for Australian businesses, farmers and workers, creating new jobs and opportunities with one of the world’s largest and fastest developing economies.
Tehan said CECA would be “a potential game-changer in opening opportunities for both Australia and India” and also “an important piece of our post-Covid economic recovery”.
According to his office, Tehan will also use the trip to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Indian government “to promote further travel and tourism between the two countries”.
Updated
The foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, is also, of course, the “prime minister for women”. The ABC asked her this morning what she thought of yesterday’s apology.
“I was pleased that this was the implementation of the first recommendation of the Jenkins report,” she said. “This is an important step.”
She also said she doesn’t agree with former Australian of the Year Grace Tame’s characterisation of it as a “stunt”, and says she’ll go to today’s National Press Club if a meeting with Lithuanian officials ends on time.
On religious discrimination, she says discrimination against kids on any grounds is unacceptable. She says “ultimately” she’d like to ensure transgender kids are protected, and says that is why the government is getting the Law Reform Commission to look at the laws, and make sure there are no “unintended side effects”. Asked what she’d say to transgender students, she said:
I don’t think the debate is particularly nuanced, to be frank, I think the debate is being held at peak volume and on social media ... I hope that those students are able to turn to their families, their supports and their schools and know that as a government we want to amend the legislation in the right way ... to ensure those students are also protected.
Payne has again called for Prof Sean Turnell’s release after a false report earlier this week he had been freed from detention in Myanmar.
He was working for leader Aung San Suu Kyi before he was detained during last year’s coup in February. He has now been in detention for a year.
Payne has canvassed a broad range of foreign affairs issues on ABC radio this morning, including Russia and tensions with Ukraine. “We need to see action on the part of Russia to de-escalate the situation,” she said, adding that any Australians in Ukraine should leave immediately.
Updated
Olympic legend Ian Thorpe has been campaigning against the religious discrimination bill. He told the ABC this morning:
This is actually going to treat some people in our community as not being equal to others. And that is the major concern of what can happen with this. It not only affects the LGBTIQ+ community, it affects women, it also affects people of faith and that’s why we actually have faith-based organisations that are actually against this bill. When I say it has no friends in parliament, this is a bill that we’ve seen three different iterations of, and they still haven’t got it right.
Updated
Still on prime minister Scott Morrison, and women, Katharine Murphy has looked at how Morrison finally said the hardest word. But what has he learned?
With impeccable timing, independent candidate for Boothby Jo Dyer has launched a book called Burning Down the House: Reconstructing Modern Politics. Boothby, in South Australia, is a marginal seat that Labor has its eye on – Liberal MP Nicolle Flint is stepping down at the election.
Dyer’s thrown her hat in the ring, one of the “teal” candidates hoping to unseat sitting members across the country.
She was on the ABC this morning. She said that, having observed his behaviour, she thinks prime minister Scott Morrison is “uncomfortable” around women.
“He shows again and again that he doesn’t really understand the issues,” she said.
Updated
Before your day unfolds, take the time to read this piece from Labor MP Stephen Jones, which I mentioned briefly below:
Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame to address National Press Club
Now it’s their turn.
As Sarah Martin pointed out yesterday, five men spoke first in parliament on its toxic workplace. The “statement of acknowledgement” recognised the bullying, harassment and assaults staff – predominantly women – had faced.
Former staffer Brittany Higgins, whose alleged rape lit a fire under the issue, wasn’t invited until the last moment. It was the same for the other women who had spoken out – former staffers Rachelle Miller, Chelsey Potter and Josie Coles, and sexual consent campaigner Chanel Contos.
They watched on as prime minister Scott Morrison said: “I am sorry”.
Today Higgins will take the stage at the National Press Club, alongside former Australian of the year Grace Tame.
It’s unlikely they’ll hold back.
On the legislative front, Labor faces a quandary today about the religious discrimination bill. The government wants changes to the sex discrimination act to protect gay students from being expelled, but is not extending that protection to transgender students. There will be shadow cabinet and caucus meetings today. Labor MP Stephen Jones gave a powerful speech last night about the effect of leaving trans kids in the cold:
Last week my family said farewell to my nephew Ollie. He was just 15 when he took his own life. He was a beautiful, creative, courageous young man. He was loved and accepted by his parents, brothers and friends. His mum and dad are in anguish. We all are. He was gay. He was uncertain about his gender and struggled with his mental health. Now he is gone and we will no longer be able to love him and support him on his journey throughout life. Clearly the love and acceptance of his family and friends was not enough.
Morrison told his party room yesterday that getting the religious discrimination bill through was the path to electoral victory. He’s trying to set it up as a vote for multiculturalism, but hasn’t even convinced all those on his own side.
Labor reckons aged care might be a vote swinger.
The text-based attacks on Morrison’s character from earlier in the week (was that really just Monday?) have faded from the headlines and Labor will use question time today to again hammer the coalition over the crisis in aged care.
The Health Services Union is in town, carrying survey results that show most Australians are keen to give health workers a 25% pay rise.
Meanwhile, those pesky anti-vaccine mandate protesters are still lurking around, threatening chaos.
Katharine Murphy, Sarah Martin, Paul Karp, Daniel Hurst and Josh Butler will steer you through today, with pictorial highlights from Mike Bowers.
Updated
