The day that was, Tuesday 15 February
That is where we will leave the live blog for Tuesday. Thanks for following along.
Here’s some of what you might have missed today:
- Thousands of nurses and midwives gathered outside NSW parliament to fight for staff-to-patient ratios on all shifts and a 2.5% pay increase.
- Asio chief declared that his intelligence agency is “not here to be politicised”, vowing to defend its independence after the leak of details of an alleged foreign interference plot.
- Former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd said what Peter Dutton is “asserting about the Australian Labor party and China is a bald-faced lie”. Rudd also accused the Liberal party of hypocrisy on the issue.
- Attorney general Michaelia Cash confirmed in Senate estimates that the anti-corruption commission bill won’t be coming until after election.
- The prime minister said his wife could “speak for herself” after 2GB’s Ben Fordham suggested she had taken the tough questions in a 60 Minutes interview.
- NSW recorded 8,201 new cases and 16 deaths, Victoria recorded 8,162 cases and 20 deaths, Queensland recorded 5,286 new cases and 10 deaths, the ACT reported 455 cases, SA reported 1,138 cases, Tasmania recorded 513 cases and Western Australia reported 62 new cases.
- Novak Djokovic has said that although he is not against vaccinations, he is willing to sacrifice future trophies if he is told to get the jab.
We will be back again tomorrow with all the latest from the House and Senate estimates.
Updated
Speculation over Alan Tudge's future
Sticking with Alan Tudge and the Network Ten report, here’s a quick situation report. There is a lot of speculation about the minister’s future. The prime minister’s office says there is no decision yet about whether or not he returns to the frontbench – Vivienne Thom’s report is not yet finalised, so it sounds like the ultimate landing point is not imminent.
But I understand Tudge did lobby the then prime minister’s office for Rachelle Miller to be promoted (which was referenced in Peter Van Onselen’s news report tonight). I’m told there are records – correspondence or messages to that effect. But to be clear: I don’t know whether or not that information has been assessed by the Thom inquiry or what, if anything, she has recommended.
The prime minister at the time was Malcolm Turnbull. Turnbull has said previously he was unaware Tudge was in a relationship with Miller while she worked for him. He learned about it later, after Miller had moved to another office. Turnbull has confirmed those facts to me tonight.
To recap, Tudge, the education minister, stood aside in December while the Thom investigation into allegations made by his former staffer, Miller, was carried out.
Miller, who worked as Tudge’s press secretary while he was human services minister in the Turnbull government, first admitted to an extramarital affair with her boss in the November 2020 Four Corners episode Inside the Canberra Bubble.
Then, in December 2021, just days after the release of the Jenkins review into parliamentary culture, Miller revealed her relationship with Tudge was “more complicated”, saying it was defined by a power imbalance. She alleged it was at times “abusive”. Tudge has denied the allegations.
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