What we learned, Tuesday 27 September
That’s where we’ll leave you this evening. Thanks for sticking with us. Here’s a sample of what we learned today:
Anthony Albanese has held a bilateral meeting with Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, while he is in Tokyo for Shinzo Abe’s funeral.
Labor is facing a backlash from the crossbench over its decision for the national anti-corruption commission to hold “most” of its hearings in private with public hearings limited to “exceptional circumstances”.
The fallout from the Optus data breach rolls on, as states set up schemes to help affected people replace their driver’s licence.
The chief executive of Optus, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, said federal police were “all over” a post on an online forum which purported to have released 10,000 customer records from the data breach and threatened to release more until a $1m ransom was paid. The post was later deleted, along with a claim the writer had deleted the data and would not sell it to anyone.
The Senate will be sitting late tonight to deal with the government’s cashless debit card bill.
Senior former government officials will be called before a royal commission to give evidence explaining their roles in the robodebt scandal, which may include Scott Morrison and Alan Tudge.
Amy Remeikis will be back with you in the AM. For now, goodnight.
Updated
Coal should 'play a role for many years', new Hunter MP says
New Labor MP Dan Repacholi has used his first speech to parliament to say the government wants coal to “continue to play a role for many years to come in powering the world”, and that his electorate of Hunter would continue to supply such a market.
Repacholi apologised to local branch members in his electorate for a controversial selection process that saw him chosen as Labor’s candidate, admitting it was not “through the normal processes”.
Making his first speech on Tuesday afternoon, the member for Hunter said he left school at 15 to start an apprenticeship as a fitter and turner. A five-time Olympian and Commonwealth Games champion pistol shooter, he was elected at the May election after spending several years as a coal miner then being handpicked to replace outgoing MP, Joel Fitzgibbon, in the Hunter Valley seat.
Repacholi attracted controversy a year ago when then opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, chose him as a “captain’s pick” instead of letting local branch members run a normal preselection process.
Repacholi said he was excited about the renewable energy opportunities the Hunter region is beginning to embrace.
He noted that during his campaign for the seat, “a common theme from discussions with blue collar workers was that all politicians are all dodgy, on the take, on the gravy train and are only in it for themselves.”
Repacholi praised the looming introduction of the Labor government’s federal anti-corruption body.
Updated
States respond to changing drivers’ licences for people affected by data breach
States are announcing responses to the Optus hack, offering to replace the drivers’ licences of those affected.
Here’s Queensland:
RE OPTUS HACK -
— Mark Bailey MP (@MarkBaileyMP) September 27, 2022
Good news for Queenslanders.
New licences, with new numbers, with be provided free of charge to Queenslanders impacted by the Optus breach.
Please attend a @TMRQld Customer Service Centre with documentation during open hours… 1/2
And New South Wales:
3. People in NSW with a digital driver licence will have an interim card number issued instantaneously via the Service NSW app. A new plastic licence card will be issued within 10 business days. Information can be found here: https://t.co/okWx8j4mog
— Victor Dominello MP (@VictorDominello) September 27, 2022
And Victoria:
A Department of Transport spokesperson says Victorians affected by the data Optus breach can replace their licence on the VicRoads website, the department has requested Optus repay the cost of new licenses to the Victorian Government @abcmelbourne #springst
— Bridget Rollason (@bridgerollo) September 27, 2022
I would expect others to follow suit if they haven’t already.
Updated
Racism discussed in Senate today
Penny Wong delivered a speech in the Senate today denouncing racism, following a censure motion against Senator Pauline Hanson. Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi moved the motion after Hanson tweeted she should “piss off back to Pakistan”.
Speaking after Faruqi, Wong reflected on her own experiences of racism and asked “how long do you have to be here and how much do you have to love this country before you are accepted?”
Watch the video here.
Updated
Senate backlash to public hearing 'exceptional circumstances' threshold
Backlash is growing to Labor’s “exceptional circumstances” requirement for public hearings of the national anti-corruption commission.
The Greens, senators Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock – whose votes will be needed if the Coalition doesn’t pass the bill – have all expressed concerns.
Lambie told Guardian Australia:
Obviously this was news to us, and it caused a raised eyebrow or two. We’ve asked the government to explain this, and they haven’t given an answer as yet. The ball is in their court now to say why this is necessary.
Pocock said:
We still haven’t seen the legislation. That in itself is concerning. It’s been through the Labor caucus, there’s no reason not to release it more broadly ahead of introduction in the House of Representatives tomorrow.
The independent commission should be able to make hearings public if they believe it is in the public interest, not be constrained to do so [only] in ‘exceptional circumstances’.
Updated
Opposition frontbenchers to be called before robodebt royal commission
Senior former government officials will be called before a royal commission to give evidence explaining their roles in the robodebt scandal.
The commissioner, Catherine Holmes, said on Tuesday that although much was now known about how the failed scheme operated, little had been revealed about the government’s response “behind the scenes” to warnings and criticism.
The Coalition started the robodebt scheme in 2015 and it ran until November 2019 when the government accepted the method used for raising Centrelink debts was unlawful.
That concession followed sustained criticism from activists, social services groups and opposition parties in parliament.
The saga concluded with a $1.8bn federal court settlement between the government and a class action with 453,000 victims.
Holmes said in her opening address:
Many people at different levels of government will be asked to give an account of their role in the devising, implementation and continuing of the robodebt scheme.
But the focus, appropriately and in accordance with the terms of reference, will be on those in senior positions who had or should have had oversight.
The former prime minister Scott Morrison, current opposition frontbenchers Alan Tudge and Stuart Robert, and former ministers Christian Porter and Michael Keenan, all held portfolios with oversight for the scheme.
Read the full story here:
Updated
Three Sydney ferries withdrawn from service
Three second-generation Emerald-class Sydney ferries have been pulled from service on the harbour and a review of the fleet ordered, after two vessels developed steering issues in recent days.
The immediate review of the Emerald-class fleet has been ordered by the New South Wales transport minister, David Elliott, who said Transport For NSW would provide him with a report within two weeks:
The review will determine the cause of the issue and whether it is linked to the issue affecting the Clontarf on Sunday.
The Office of Transport Safety Investigations and Australian Maritime Safety Authority have also been notified.
The premier, Dominic Perrottet, said on Tuesday that occasional public transport issues are par for the course, with disruptions to ferry, bus and train fleets expected from time to time.
There are always mechanical challenges with fleets.
My expectation is that those ferries are back on the water as quickly as possible, and that there is minimal disruption to that service.
The full report, from AAP, is here:
Updated
That weather I mentioned? This is a little snippet of it, according to 7News.
WEATHER ALERT: A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for South East Queensland. This video was taken at Boonah this afternoon. Send your weather videos to https://t.co/zu63Sm7OTf. #qldweather #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/Fx3C5KjlHu
— 7NEWS Brisbane (@7NewsBrisbane) September 27, 2022
Greens to pursue senate inquiry into abortion access
In the Senate on Wednesday, which is International Safe Abortion day, the Greens will seek support for a Senate inquiry into abortion access in Australia.
It is unclear if the government will support the inquiry, which Queensland senator Larissa Waters says will look at what can be done federally to “alleviate the physical and financial barriers to accessing contraceptives, sexual and reproductive healthcare and termination services”, as well as options to improve the quality and availability services, particularly in regional and remote Australia.
Waters says:
Abortion remains expensive and inaccessible for many, especially those who already face massive healthcare barriers, including First Nations people and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
In the wake of [the overturning of US finding in the case of] Roe v Wade, the federal government should look at what it can do to eliminate Australia’s barriers to accessible and affordable abortion.
Access to safe, legal abortion remains a postcode lottery in Australia, with different rules, costs and availability depending on where you live. Some people are having to travel for hours at significant expense to access this basic healthcare service.
The Greens are calling for national consistency on abortion laws based on best practice, which they say would best be ascertained through the inquiry.
The impacts of poor sexual health literacy, lack of access to contraceptives and quality reproductive healthcare are clear. This inquiry would provide an invaluable insight into the barriers people are facing and ways to fix them, and we urge all other Senators to support it.
Updated
NAB responds to Optus data breach
The bank’s tech boss, Patrick Wright, has also responded to the Optus data breach, saying the bank is “closely monitoring the situation”.
He said the bank was “in conversation with government, Optus and the banking industry on how we can support to keep our customer’s accounts, money and data safe.”
We constantly monitor customer accounts for any signs of unusual activity. We also recommend that any Optus customer with a NAB account also keeps a look out for any unusual activity and contact us immediately on 13 22 65 if they believe they’re the victim of fraud or a scam.
Updated
Labor minister outlines ‘journey of independence’ towards republic
Matt Thistlethwaite, who is the federal assistant minister for the republic, is talking to ABC now about about how he plans to take the country forward to that state.
We see Australia on a journey of independence, maturity and confidence. The first step in the journey, rightfully, should be the Voice to Parliament, finally giving Indigenous Australians the right to be consulted and guaranteed in the Constitution about matters that affect them. We see that as an important first stepping stone. If that is successful, we are hopeful that it will be during this time, we can then move on to serious debate about becoming a Republica and having one of our own as the head of state in the second term.
… We have come to the end of an era. The Elizabethan era is over. It’s now time to move into the era of Australia … When Queen Elizabeth took the throne, we were very much a British [nation], we all had British passports, we sang God save the Queen, we didn’t have Australian citizenship, and most of us had a British origin. Australia of today is a very different nation and different identity, unique culture.
He said something at the end there about having our own head of state but my transcription is a bit garbled, sorry.
Updated
AEC to appear at electoral inquiry
On Wednesday the Australian Electoral Commission will appear at parliament’s inquiry into the 2022 election.
As Guardian Australia reported in July, the special minister of state, Don Farrell, has said after the inquiry Labor will look to legislate spending caps, truth in political advertising and improve adherence to the one-vote one-value principle.
The chair of the joint standing committee on electoral matters, Kate Thwaites, said:
The AEC delivered the 2022 election for more than 17 million voters. This is a huge logistical exercise, that was made more complex by the pandemic. The committee will hear from the AEC about what worked well, as well as areas that might need reform for future elections.
The committee will also look to hear from the AEC about areas it’s examining as part of this inquiry, including funding of elections, truth in political advertising laws, and Indigenous enrolment and participation in elections.
The committee’s inquiry into the 2022 Election is an important part of keeping our democracy strong and helps ensure the conduct of our elections is accountable and transparent.
Updated
Shadow treasurer says Australia in much stronger economic state than US or UK
Angus Taylor is asked about the risk of a global recession. His answer seems focused mainly around shoring up perceptions of the previous government’s economic management:
It is clear that there is particular countries who are at high risk of recession now. The markets think that the UK is and the US. Much less so here. We are in a strong position. It is unfortunate that the Labor government is not accepting this, relative to the rest of the world, they have inherited an incredibly strong economy, a very strong budget and the critical thing now is that we see the right plan and the right policies in place to ensure that we stay strong. It is a high-risk environment. There is no doubt about that. You make the wrong steps, you will see dire consequences for the economy. That is what we don’t want to see.
Updated
Angus Taylor wants to see details of federal anti-corruption body legislation
Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor is speaking to ABC TV. He’s talking about the coalition’s “alternative economic agenda”, but he’s asked first about the anticorruption legislation. He says:
We support introduction of the legislation but it has to be right. The detail has to be right. I haven’t seen the detail of the legislation yet. We don’t want to see show trials and we have seen in the past there can be dire consequences if you get this wrong. We have seen suicides and very unfortunate outcomes. It is important that this be the right legislation, done the right way.
Updated
Let’s start with a little weather break. Bit of it about the east coast.
A Severe Thunderstorm Warning has been issued for the Northern Rivers, Illawarra and parts of the Mid North Coast, Metropolitan, Central Tablelands, Northern Tablelands and Hunter districts
— NSW SES (@NSWSES) September 27, 2022
For more information on the latest weather warnings visit: https://t.co/I4qsVXcFKG
⚠️⛈️ Severe thunderstorm warning update: damaging winds, large hail and heavy rainfall a risk with storms moving east in #SEQld. Details and updates: https://t.co/ihvCSmCty6 pic.twitter.com/gPfTZoG7Em
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) September 27, 2022
Thanks so much Amy for all your work this arvo. I’ll be with you into this evening.
Stephanie Convery will take you through the rest of the afternoon.
The Senate will be sitting late to pass the cashless debit card legislation and then it is back tomorrow for the last day of the make-up sitting, and then that is it until the budget.
But we will deal with that when it comes. A very big thank you to everyone who followed along so far today – make sure you stay tuned for further updates.
And in the meantime – take care of you.
Updated
CBA blocks account used for funds potentially scammed from Optus users
The Commonwealth Bank has blocked an account into which SMS spam messages asked victims of the Optus data breach to deposit $2000 in order to get their personal information deleted.
It comes as the prudential regulator ordered banks to immediately “harden controls on high-risk processes and transactions where possible, eg. digital customer on-boarding, setting up first time payees etc”.
Entities should also appropriately communicate to their customers to raise awareness and direct customers to reputable sources such as ACSC, Moneysmart and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, which outline additional steps customer can take to limit the risk of fraud,” the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority said in a note to banks.
As Guardian Australia reported earlier today victims were told that if they failed to pay “your information will be sold and used for fraudulent activities within 2 days”.
Guardian Australia understands the account, which is registered to the CBA’s Martin Place office in Sydney, has not received any money as a result of the SMS demands. The block also makes it impossible to transfer money out.
A CBA spokesperson said:
CBA has become aware of an SMS seeking to solicit funds and referencing a CBA bank account following the Optus data breach, and we have identified and blocked this account.
We continue to work closely with the Australian Federal Police and other investigative, government and regulatory authorities to limit the impact of any fraud and scams resulting from the events over the past few days.”
The bank emailed customers this morning advising them that it had “heightened our ID theft monitoring” and was “constantly monitoring for any customer information associated with data-breaches, including the recent Optus breach”.
On top of that the bank says it is offering a free service called SavvyShield that makes it easier for customers to ban access to their credit report and stop applications for credit under their name if they think their identity has been compromised.
Yesterday, ANZ told its customers that it was aware of the Optus breach but “has not been provided with details of which customers are impacted or the personal information which has been compromised”.
Updated
New federal funding for live performances
The federal government is kickstarting a new national Live Performance Support Fund to help cover insurance for concerts, festivals and plays that could be affected by Covid-related disruptions.
The “demand-driven” fund, to be announced by arts minister Tony Burke this afternoon, is in recognition of the huge financial risks that event organisers are dealing with, in light of Covid isolation requirements, with many events struggling to get insurance to run their performances.
The industry desperately needs confidence going into the summer events season. Organisers still face enormous financial risks putting on events that cannot be commercially insured against Covid,” Burke said.
To run from November 2022 until February 2023, the fund will allow event organisers to access coverage up to a defined percentage of their anticipated revenue.
Burke said such a scheme “should have been set up years ago”, complaining many events had been forced into cancellation due to Covid issues.
He said further guidelines and application processes would soon be shared.
Updated
AEC to appear before parliamentary committee
The AEC will be appearing before the parliament’s Electoral Matters committee to discuss any issues which may have popped up at the last election.
Committee chair Kate Thwaites said:
The AEC delivered the 2022 election for more than 17 million voters.
This is a huge logistical exercise, that was made more complex by the pandemic. The committee will hear from the AEC about what worked well, as well as areas that might need reform for future elections.
The committee will also look to hear from the AEC about areas it’s examining as part of this inquiry, including funding of elections, truth in political advertising laws, and Indigenous enrolment and participation in elections.
The committee’s inquiry into the 2022 Election is an important part of keeping our democracy strong and helps ensure the conduct of our elections is accountable and transparent.’
Updated
Health body urges government action on aged care
Dietitians Australia have responded to the latest Aged Care Quality Indictors report which found 13,490 residents had an unplanned weight loss in the quarter ending June 2022 to reinstate their call for malnutrition to be made a quality indicator.
The CEO Robert Hunt said:
In April this year, while in opposition, the now prime minister himself acknowledged that the Royal Commission into Aged Care found that up to 50% of residents are malnourished.
He said – “They’re literally starving, this is a crisis in this country, and this is what this election is about.”
We acknowledge this is a crisis the new government has inherited. Malnutrition has been a silent killer in aged care for decades. But now it’s well and truly on the Albanese government’s watch.
Every week this government waits to take action on fixing the food crisis in aged care is another week our loved ones are at risk of going hungry and winding up malnourished.
While residents continue to lose weight, we continue to see nutrient-poor food dominating the menus in aged care.
Updated
A reminder that school children are in the senate listening to this
Pauline Hanson just finished her ‘contribution’ to the censure motion her own words sparked, by offering to take the senator she targeted them at, to the airport.
There is audible shock across the chamber. But Hanson will no doubt be given several media spots to expand on these comments.
Hanson’s vote is irrelevant in this Senate. One Nation is not a power broker. And so the Queensland senator is falling back on time-tested ways to try and remain relevant within the media circles who courted her.
Hanson’s return to Australian politics and the Senate was launched off of rebounded popularity from appearances on ‘light entertainment’ programs such as Dancing with the Stars and breakfast television. She managed to hold on to her Senate spot in the last election because of preferences.
And here we are.
Updated
Rail union revives plans to switch off NSW’s Opal card readers
Dipping out of that depressing place for a moment to let NSW Opal card users know the threat to turn off the machines is back.
(via AAP)
NSW train commuters could be travelling for free as the rail union revives a plan to indefinitely deactivate Opal card readers.
Rail workers will vote on whether to shut down Opal readers at train stations after that plan was withdrawn when the government threatened legal action earlier this month.
It was revived with a fresh application to the industrial umpire to deactivate the readers as part of protected industrial action.
Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) NSW secretary Alex Claassens issued a message to union members on Monday informing them of a vote next week about turning off the readers.
“The government has already indicated that it will seek to challenge our industrial action in court, despite these orders for a ballot being made,” Claassens said.
“As usual, we’ll be ready and we’ll fight them every step of the way,” he said.
The ballot will open the week before the government and unions return to the Fair Work Commission for another hearing seeking to resolve their long running stoush over an enterprise agreement and modifications to a fleet of new intercity trains.
Premier Dominic Perrottet says people are not interested in the dispute and just “want to get on with it”.
“The reason (the union) have moved to shut down the machines is because by leaving the gates open, the majority of people in our city tapped on and tapped off,” he said on Tuesday.
The rail union took industrial action throughout August, which involved leaving Opal gates open, among other actions including area-based strikes and refusals to drive foreign-built trains.
Perrottet says the issues will be worked out through the industrial umpire.
The government and unions have been involved in conciliation in the Commission in recent weeks, in a bid to reach a resolution.
The final conciliation session is scheduled for Thursday, before a hearing set to take place on October 11.
Updated
Also in the senate:
JUST IN: I’ve just given notice of the draft bill to legalise cannabis across the whole country.
— David Shoebridge (@DavidShoebridge) September 27, 2022
This week has been a whirlwind of support for sensible laws which will no longer make 40% of the country criminals. Let’s bloody legalise it!
And as always, there are people, including children, hearing all of this:
It's fair to say the Senate is the less popular chamber. But today there are a number people in the gallery, including a lot of children.
— courtney gould (@heyycourtt) September 27, 2022
Pretty grim they have to witness this.
Mehreen Faruqi says no other workplace would tolerate racism, Hanson rejects claim of racism
The Greens senator made the point that she has the right to speak on any topic without being racially vilified and that no other workplace would expect people to be subject to racist comments.
Pauline Hanson speaks in response and has looked up the definition of racism and is using that as her defence. She says she can’t be racist as she doesn’t believe herself to be superior to another race.
Hanson has been smiling and scoffing throughout the censure motion.
Updated
This is not the first time the senate has had to condemn racism and bigotry after a statement from a member.
The last time was when Fraser Anning, a senator who was elected on One Nation’s ticket, before quitting the party, referenced the ‘final solution’ in a speech.
Labor amends Greens censure motion against Pauline Hanson
In the senate, a censure motion originally moved by Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi against Pauline Hanson, after the One Nation leader abused her on Twitter telling her to “piss off back to Pakistan”, has been amended by the government:
Faruqi had originally moved that the Senate—
(a) condemns all racism and discrimination against migrants and people of colour;
(b) assures all migrants to Australia that they are valued, welcome members of our society;
(c) affirms that, if Parliament is to be a safe place for all who work and visit here, there can be no tolerance for racism or discrimination in the course of parliamentarians’ public debate;
and (d)censures Senator Hanson for her divisive, anti migrant and racist statement telling Senator Faruqi to ‘piss off back to Pakistan’, which does not reflect the opinions of the Australian Senate or the Australian people.
The amended motion changes the first and last aspects to condemn all racism and discrimination ‘in all its forms’ and removes the censure of Hanson in particular to broaden it to “calls on all senators to engage in debates and commentary respectfully, and to refrain from inflammatory and divisive comments, both inside and outside the chamber at all times”
Updated
What’s behind Bob Katter’s shades in parliament?
Wait, the sunglasses may be part of a Bob Katter ‘bit’ – I have just seen this statement form his office:
Kennedy MP Bob Katter has come out as “Robbie Hood” for everyday, hard-working Australians.
It can’t be fathomed how Parliament can give $245bn in tax cuts for the highest income earners, while North Queenslanders are struggling to make ends meet and put food on the table,” he said.
Dressed in metaphorical Lincoln Green, Bob will wield a sword through the proposed tax cuts for the rich and give to the poor - joining the Crossbench in seeking to repeal Treasury Laws Amendments (Stage 3 Tax Cuts) Bill.
Updated
I have had a few messages about the aviator-style sunglasses Bob Katter appeared to be wearing in the chamber. We have asked his office if his eyes are OK and we’ll let you know what we hear back.
Question time ends
And after another dixer which could be a press release, question time ends.
For those new to this terminology, a dixer is a question government ministers, their office, or the tactics team write and then give to a government backbencher to ask a government minister. It is so the government can talk about its own agenda.
It is named for Dorothy Dix, an American advice columnist who wrote her own questions.
We have a policy of only covering the dixers where we learn something new. Otherwise, death to dixers.
Updated
Labor grilled on cost of electricity for businesses
Ross Vasta gets a question.
(I’d almost forgotten who the MP for Bonner was, so good timing)
Can the minister and House how much a typical small business electricity bill is and whether electricity bills are becoming more expensive for small businesses?
Julie Collins:
As I have said in this place we understand small businesses Australia have had a tough time we know they have had a tough time and energy bills are increasing, what we also know is that side of the house didn’t do anything about energy policy for more than a decade, we had a decade of denial and delay that caused energy prices to increase and we had the former Minister who had energy price increases from small businesses across the country because they wouldn’t tell small businesses before the election what their plans were for energy prices.
Vasta is back on his feet with a point of order on relevance.
Collins is brought back to the question and finishes it with:
We know small businesses are facing challenges and energy prices are one of them which is why we are working with small businesses and are busy implementing our energy commitment to small businesses.
(which is not what Vasta asked, but Collins was never going to answer that)
Updated
Dai Le questions treasurer on the end of temporary fuel excise cut
Dai Le has the third crossbench question today:
The government has seen a $50 billion windfall from Australia mineral and energy export royalties. And they are now asking ordinary hard-working Australians to pay more in fuel with increasing excise taxes this week. My constituents in Fowler want details on how part of that money will go towards fixing Australia’s cost of living crisis hitting everyone from students to pensioners and families, especially those in lower socio-economic areas.
Jim Chalmers:
Thanks very much, Mr Speaker, and I thank the member Fowler for her question and for the conversations that we have been able to have about some of these important issues in some of these difficult issues in the Commonwealth budget. The final budget outcome which will be released for last year tomorrow in this place by myself and the finance minister, Senator Gallagher, and it will show a welcome temporary improvement in the tax receipts for last year.
Angus Taylor interjects: You’re making it temporary because you’ll spend it.
(It is temporary because it is largely based on higher than expected commodity prices, which were deliberately undervalued by the last government, as a sort of ‘oh my goodness, we have extra money’ surprise. The prices though, have already started dropping). There are also extra taxes because of the energy prices – also temporary.
Chalmers:
A big part of the improvement in the bottom line for last financial year is an increase in the tax take. Part of that, we should acknowledge, is the fact that the increase in world energy prices has meant that there has been an increase in taxes collected.
For example, for the benefit of honorable members and especially the member Fowler, the last budget papers including forecasts for the PRT for example show the receipts from the PRT will increase 110 per cent from 786,000,020 21 to 1.65 billion dollars in 21-22, and further 45 per cent increase in 22-23.
So the premise of the member’s question about an improvement in the budget to last year and the contribution made by world energy prices and some of our energy companies, I agree with.
Those are some of the issues that we have made clear, including in the course of the last couple of weeks. As the member for Fowler and I have discussed, and I have discussed with colleagues on this side of the house as well and publicly, in my own community and communities around Australia, is that the reason that the fuel excise relief will come off tomorrow night is because it would cost about $3 billion for every six months of extension, so $6 billion a year, to extend the fuel excise, relief that those opposite legislated to end tomorrow night, and we are being upfront with people about that.
We know that is a difficult decision and impact people who drive further, but our commitment to then all along is to manage the budget as responsibly as we can to provide cost of living relief where we can where there is an economic dividend in areas like childcare, cheaper Tafe, cheaper medicines and getting wages moving again. Nobody is pretending that the end of the fuel excise relief won’t make things more difficult, we understand that.
We are upfront about why it is ending and while we’re not able to extend but we are providing loss of living relief to the member for Fowler’s constituents and Australians all around the country, we will do that in affordable and responsible way that is right for the budget and write for the economy.
Updated
Linda Burney defends scrapping cashless debit card
Melissa Price to Linda Burney:
My question is to the minister for Indigenous Australians. (I miss the name but it’s a WA figure who has concerns about) Labor’s decision to scrap the debit card will unleash an avalanche of drugs and alcohol into communities. They fear the extra cash on the streets would lead to a spike in alcohol-related harm. He says I think it would be chaos. Will the government take full responsibility for any spike in domestic violence or child neglect in Indigenous communities as a consequence of abolishing the cashless card?
Burney:
Can I just say upfront that this commitment was an election policy, and it was an election policy that we take extremely seriously and an enormous amount of consultation with including (the person Price mentioned) who is in of course Western Australia. The Cashless Debit Card diminishes people’s self-worth. It is discriminatory and arbitrary. It is also very...
(there are interjections from the coalition)
Burney:
It is important to understand... If you want to hear this, then be quiet
…. It is also a piece of infrastructure policy that has been reviewed, and reviewed and reviewed. It was a piece of technology that was used by a private organisation for profit. That is the truth of it.
(there are more interjections)
And the other part of it is that mandatory income management across the board has been a failure. You seem to all forget that part of this legislation...
The other point is this, and this is very, very important. That this measure is voluntary. If people want to stay on the Cashless Debit Card or income management, that is their decision. We have made sure that within this piece of legislation, there is a voluntary component. There is also a component to the member for... Wherever you are from..
That there is also…within the legislation the component where people will be placed on income management if there is a court order against them, including child abuse. Including domestic violence. So get to know what the legislation is about before you start asking those sort of questions. We do not leave in mandatory income management. It is voluntary and there will be situations where there will be payable placed on income management because of the particular circumstances they find themselves in. That is this legislation. We have listened to the voices, we have consulted, and we will be going forward on this.
Updated
Crossbench not of one mind on ‘exceptional circumstances’ threshold for integrity commission
The crossbench is not of one mind on the “exceptional circumstances” threshold for public hearings of the Nacc.
The Greens, Zali Steggall and Kate Chaney are concerned:
❌Major red flag at the indication 👇🏼that public hearings of the Govt’s proposed National Anti Corruption Commission will only be in ‘exceptional circumstances’. This threshold is too high & could result in very few public hearings. A public interest test is better. #auspol #nacc https://t.co/xeZWtXyOiB
— 🌏 Zali Steggall MP (@zalisteggall) September 27, 2022
I asked @MarkDreyfusKCMP what exceptional circumstances would be required for a public hearing. He told me what exceptional circumstances would be required for a private hearing. The onus needs to shift. The public want public hearings whenever it’s in the public interest.
— Kate Chaney (@ChaneyforCurtin) September 27, 2022
Zoe Daniel, less so. She told Sky News she didn’t have a problem with the “exceptional circumstances” bar because “you do need a high bar to prevent damage to reputations”.
Helen Haines was more circumspect, saying she would wait until the bill is released.
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Linda Burney answers question on plans to make workplaces safe and respectful
Daniel Mulino, the member for Fraser, has a question on the Respect at Work report implementation.
Linda Burney answers:
I know that you have a deep commitment to respectful relationship and respectful workplaces, so thank you. I want to say also that the Albanese Labor government takes this issue, as we all do, extremely seriously. It is without question that everyone has a right to be safe, respected in their workplace. A commitment we should all have. The fact that some workplaces have not been safe, respectful for so many Australians, especially women, is completely, absolutely unacceptable. And it seems as outrageous both inside and outside of this place.
The Respect at Work report found two out of five women have experienced sexual harassment in the past five years. It is not a laughing matter. It is not. And that’s why, in the last five years, an absolutely appalling high number, and we all know that that must change. That is why we as a government will be introducing a bill to this house, to implement seven legislative changes recommended by the six discrimination commissioner, Kate Jenkins, and it will have proper oversight. This is a key part of our election commitment to implement the recommendations of the Respect at Work report, and we will do it.
The passage of this bill will move Australia forward in our efforts to prevent workplace sexual harassment from happening in the first place. And workplace sexual harassment isn’t just a safety issue, it is an economic one … the social and emotional cost doing nothing is costing the Australian economy not $3.8m but $3.8bn a year – the loss of productivity, staff turnover and absenteeism. This legislation means that workplaces must take responsible and proportionate measures to completely eliminate sex discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation as far as possible. I am proud to be a member of this government that will bring this legislation forward.
Peter Dutton associates the opposition with the comments.
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‘I’m a folder, not a scruncher!’ Michael McCormack shares how he uses toilet paper
I have just been told of this contribution from Michael McCormack, to the house yesterday.
For some reason, the former deputy prime minister, minister of the crown, leader of the Nationals and member of the Australian parliament, felt it necessary to have the parliamentary record note, for all time, how he uses toilet paper.
I don’t know why the toilet habits of Australian politicians needed to be part of our official record, but here we are.
McCormack:
We all remember how everybody thought they needed 10 rolls of toilet paper every time they went to the toilet. We remember how people were reacting. I won’t tell you I’m a folder, not a scruncher! The parliament needed to know that, didn’t it? But, indeed, these were panicked times.
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‘What are exceptional circumstances?’ Crossbencher asks about proposed integrity commission
Kate Chaney has another of the crossbench questions:
Public hearings are an essential part of a national anti-corruption commission to rebuild trust in government. You indicated they will only be held in exceptional circumstances. Why is the government setting the bar [so high] when it is in the public interest and what are exceptional circumstances?
Mark Dreyfus:
I thank the member for Curtin for the question and I thank her for her interest, along with the rest of the crossbench and indeed the whole of the parliament in this very important piece of legislation that we will be introducing tomorrow.
The particular question that has been asked by the member for Curtin goes to the circumstances in which the commission will be able to hold public hearings.
The most important part of this is the commission will have power to hold public hearings, that will be when there are exceptional circumstances in the opinion of the commission, and when it is in the public interest to do so in the opinion of the commission.
There are a number of factors outlined in the bill which the commission may consider deciding to hold a public hearing. And it is appropriate, in the view of the government, that the discretion sits with the commission – we’re [not] going to be directing the commission as to when it should hold private hearings and when it should hold public hearings, but I think all of those in this house would be aware that there will be a number of circumstances which would dictate against holding a public hearing, it might be that the subject matter of the investigation is concerned with national security information, or it might be the subject matter of the investigation deals with matters that are either the subject of a current criminal trial or a projected criminal trial.
All of those will be matters that would suggest to the commission that no public hearing should be held at a particular time, but a time may come later in the investigations where a public hearing will be appropriate. But at all times, we think that this matter should be left to the discretion of the commission.
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Catherine King criticises Coalition over pork barrelling ‘mess you have left for us’
Catherine King gets a dixer on government programs, which is just an excuse to end her answer with this:
It stands in stark contrast to what these people did when they were in government; they took a very different approach.
Of course we see today the incredible lack of transparency, the pork barrelling that happened out of the community development grants.
We saw one project, a $25m grant to accompany that 70% is owned in the Cayman Islands.
We were left to clean up this absolute mess of pork barrelling and reports which have seen nine projects that date back to 2016, six projects where there is no component, $18m of projects with no actual location project, we had the minister, the member for New England, [Barnaby Joyce], the previous minister, write to the treasurer about two projects in to himself of which there is no actual record of any decision being made.
This is the mess you have left for us. I am very proud of our record in regional Australia, we are investing the regions and will continue to do so instead of the pork barrelling as was characterised by the last government and we will clean up this.
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Nationals MP asks if Labor will cut regional education infrastructure funding in budget
Pat Conaghan has a question for Kristy McBain:
Can the minister guarantee the government will not cut $340m out of regional education infrastructure funded in the 2022 budget? Specifically will the government support the $27.5m in regional development funding for the Southern Cross University, Coffs Harbour health services precinct?
McBain:
Thank you for the question. As you are aware we are doing a secondary budget, which isn’t something normal as part of the government process, but when we came to government there was $1tn in debt, and a range of programs ...
Eleven seconds in and there is a point of order on relevance. Milton Dick has NO TIME for this today and sits Conaghan down.
McBain:
As I was saying, we have come into government after a decade of those opposite, and after reviewing the processes the previous government went through, including announcing a range of projects we have contracted, sometimes when money wasn’t asked for, and we are in the process of reviewing that at this point in time.
We will put forward our own proposals going forward, and that project may form part of that, but there is a budget coming up in October and I ask the member to pay close attention to what that budget says.
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Canberra demonstrators rally over death of Iranian woman Mahsa Amini
There is a protest outside the parliament as this is all going on, in solidarity with protesters in Iran, following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini who had been arrested by Iran’s morality police. Since then at least 22 people have died and more than 1,000 have reportedly been detained.
The Greens senator Larissa Waters released this statement on the protests yesterday:
Two weeks ago, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody. Mahsa had been arrested by Iran’s morality police for failing to comply with a new national code requiring women to wear a hijab. She was allegedly beaten and died from her injuries.
Following Mahsa Amini’s death, women across Iran have taken to the streets to stand up to the oppressive regime, demanding freedoms that have been denied to them.
In a country with harsh penalties for public protest, this is an incredible show of bravery and solidarity. Human Rights Watch has described the scale of protest, particularly on issues of women’s choice and police accountability, as unprecedented.
The gendered impacts of authoritarian rule, whether by the Iranian government, the Taliban, Russia or others, cannot be ignored. The Australian Greens are in solidarity with the women of Iran.
We will always protect the right to protest. And we will always fight for women’s rights to choose their dress, their partner, their religion, their career, and what they do with their bodies.
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Coalition grills Labor on minister’s claim Optus breach was ‘a basic attack’
Karen Andrews to Richard Marles:
On ABC last night, the minister of home affairs said: “What is of concern for us is how what is quite a basic attack was undertaken on Optus.” The Optus CEO this morning said it is not as portrayed, our data was encrypted and we have multiple layers of protection. Does your government maintain that the Optus breach was quite a basic attack?
Richard Marles:
I thank the member for her question on what is a very serious matter, and one that is causing anxiety for millions of Optus customers today.
The truth is that what has occurred over the last week has been a wake-up call for corporate Australia. From the moment last Wednesday that it became clear that a breach had occurred, the government … has been working hand in glove with Optus, with a view to minimising the impact of the breach, but maximising the protection of the customers who have found their privacy breached as a result of what has occurred.
And we continue to work with Optus to make sure that that protection can be maximised.
The Australian federal police right now are doing everything within their power to pursue the criminal investigation. But what is really important for those Optus customers is the steps that they take now in terms of their own security.
It is really important that people do not click on links. It is really important that people check the sources of websites. It is really important that in having phone conversations, people do not divulge their personal information unless they are 100% confident about the circumstances in which that conversation is happening.
Now we will be continuing to work very closely with Optus and, indeed, other companies in the telecommunications sector and other sectors within the economy, including banks, to make sure that we can do everything to minimise the impact of what has been a very concerning event.
But it has been a wake-up call for corporate Australia, and I know now that cybersecurity is right there in the top echelon of issues which face corporate Australia, as it does government, of course, and we need to be doing everything we can to make sure that protection is in place, and that will be the entire focus of this government.
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Jim Chalmers hits back at Angus Taylor on question about spending and taxes
It is back to government questions and it’s Jim Chalmers’ Christmas time, which is also known as Angus Taylor asks a question.
Taylor:
Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is to the treasurer. I refer to the confirmation from the Parliamentary Budget Office that Labor has committed to additional spending of over $18bn over the forward estimates and $45bn of additional … spending. What new taxes will the treasurer introduce in order to pay for this and other new spending?
He had to say it twice because the government side of the chamber erupted so loudly no one could hear him.
Chalmers is very excited by all of this:
The member for Hume must not have been listening to the answer I provided a few minutes ago at the outset of question time. If the member for Hume, the shadow treasurer, is just now, after four months of others, getting a head around the commitments that we took to the Australian people in May of this year and won the election on, then he is even slower on the uptake than we feared.
Because we took a whole bunch of commitments to the election and many of the commitments that we look to the election are all about making up for the fact that over this wasted decade of missed opportunities and messed up priorities, there hasn’t been the investment that we need to see in training, and that is why we have got these rampant labour and skills shortages holding back the economy.
There hasn’t been any investment we wanted to see in working parents and we need to introduce today the childcare legislation that those opposite cannot support, even though it will be a game-changer for Australian parents and for Australian families, the Australian economy more broadly.
We are proud of the commitments we took to the election, proud of the responsible investments that we proposed to the Australian people for cleaner and cheaper energy and a better-trained workforce and cheaper childcare, and all the things made necessary by the economic failures of those opposite over the best part of a decade trying to push people’s wages down and making it harder to make ends meet.
Our position on the economy and taxes, on the commitments we took to the election, haven’t changed. We will tally them up in the budget next month in the usual way and present it from this place. In that budget I will be proud to hand down on behalf of the Albanese government, we will make some of the changes the economy [has been] crying out for some time, we will make responsible changes to the spending, to the money they sprayed around en route to delivering $1tn in debt when they were here to show for it. I tell you, I hope ...
I hope that the author of that steaming little pile of platitudes today, I hope it continues to ask me questions about the cost of living. Having chased down wages for a decade, about tax, on their watch, their tax record was to hand down more taxes. He asked me about taxes …
There is an interjection on relevance, but Milton Dick barely allows the word to enter the air before he says no point of order.
Chalmers:
I think the camera must have a mirror in it the way that ... he is always looking down the barrel of that mirror, which is no surprise to anyone in this place. If he wants to ask me about tax, it should come to the dispatch box and fess up. A decade of the highest taxing government – taxes were higher per capita in total per year every way you want to cut the tax record of those opposite. He can deliver speech after speech, plagiarised from a Liberal party newsletter in the 1980s all he likes. That will not change that basic fact.
Updated
Mark Dreyfus says Optus customers have a right to know exactly what personal data has been compromised
Mark Dreyfus is given a dixer on the Optus breach.
He answers:
Australians expect that when they hand over their personal data, every effort will be made to keep it safe from harm. We know that millions of Australians have been impacted by the Optus data breach, and it is a data breach which should never have happened.
It involves the release of Australian citizens’ names, date of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, residential addresses and, for some customers, passport numbers and driver’s licence numbers being apparently for sale on the dark web.
We were concerned this morning about reports that personal information from the Optus data breach apparently also includes Medicare numbers – Medicare numbers were never notified as forming part of the breach.
I can say that Optus has a clear obligation to notify affected customers, affected individuals – which, of course, includes both past customers of Optus and present customers of Optus.
Optus has a clear obligation to notify both the affected individuals and the Australian Information Commissioner when a data breach involving personal information is likely to result in serious harm.
Consumers have also got a right to know exactly what individual personal information has been compromised in Optus’s communications to them.
While we will, of course, not go into the technical assistance and cybersecurity advice that is being provided to us, we can reassure Australians that the whole of the Australian government is working to address the consequences of this breach, in particular the Australian federal police is devoting huge effort with a large number of officers working on this. The Australian federal police is working with industry, working with state and territory police forces and also working with the FBI to address the consequences of this breach.
Updated
Sophie Scamps asks attorney general about independence of integrity commission
Dr Sophie Scamps has one of the crossbench questions today and it’s on the national integrity commission:
Is the attorney general able to give confidence to the Australian people that the National Anti-Corruption Commission will be set up to succeed by including a strong statutory oversight mechanism, that is not government-dominated [ensuring] its independence?
(A reminder that I am going off the Tveeder transcription while watching QT and not all questions and answers will be word perfect.)
Mark Dreyfus thanks Scamps for the question and repeats that the legislation will be introduced tomorrow and says:
It is the major piece of reform to the Australian integrity framework, and as I hope everyone is aware I consulted across the parliament including with the opposition and the crossbench in both houses on the formation of this legislation.
The Australian people believe in integrity and voted on a government that will deliver a powerful, transparent and independent anti-corruption commission.
On the question of oversight of the commission – and the bill is introduced tomorrow – members will see that it will have a joint statutory committee with senators and members of this house who will act as an oversight committee for the activities of the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
Members will also see when the bill is introduced tomorrow that there will be an inspector of the commission who will perform a similar role to the role that is performed by inspectors in the states and territories which have included that aspect in their anti-corruption arrangements.
Updated
Sussan Ley again tries to table Labor’s election policy on Powering Australia, which is available on the internet, so it is denied.
For the record, the election promise was a $275 saving by 2025.
Coalition grills acting PM Richard Marles on ‘bread and butter budget’
Oh goodie. Looks like the “bread and butter is all Australians will be able to afford” line is contagious.
Whichever Coalition staffer came up with it should get employee of the week. The prize is a loaf of Tip Top, obviously.
Sussan Ley:
My question is to the acting prime minister. Since the government was elected Australians are paying an extra $700 a month on an average mortgage, record inflation is forcing them to pay more for less at the supermarket and desperate families awaiting a $275 cut to their power bill, it’s a promise they repeated 97 times before the election but not once since. Acting prime minister, when Labor talks about bread-and-butter budgets is that because that’s all Australians are going to be able to afford this Christmas?
Richard Marles:
I thank the member for her question. We do understand that rising interest rates are putting real pressure on the budgets of Australian households. This government sees it as its first priority and we are doing everything we can to ease that pressure.
It is why we sought an increase in the minimum wage; that is why during this week we are introducing legislation which will reduce the cost of medicines, make childcare more affordable; it is why last week we saw the biggest increase in the pension for more than 10 years.
So on this side of the house we are completely focused on the effort to improve the household budgets of everyday Australians. But the issues we face today are fundamentally a function of a lost decade of government offered by those opposite.
I mean, we had insipid productivity growth, which defined the last 10 years, we had the greatest period of wage stagnation in the history of our country and that is a direct result of the fact what we had opposite is a bunch of economic bystanders.
It was a lost decade of economic activity came from those opposite. We are different, we are the ones who are economic managers and government under Labor will see economic management be a part of what we are about and we will do that in a way which will improve the budgets of households as a result.
Updated
Question time begins
It is straight into it today!
Zoe McKenzie, the member for Flinders, asks:
Yesterday he refused to rule out changes to franking credits and negative gearing. Will the treasurer rule out changes to taxes on superannuation?
Jim Chalmers seems to be feeling a bit spicy today:
I’m pleased to inform the house that on the question they asked me today and yesterday our position hasn’t changed. On the matter of taxes, our priority is to do something meaningful about multinational taxes. We have said that for some time now, and that’s our agenda when it comes to tax. But it’s a good opportunity, I’m asked about tax policy, to inform the house, that today, today the member for Hume gave a speech about tax at the Centre for Independent Studies and I’m asked about tax. What I notice or what I’m told, [is it was] straight from the yellowing pages of the young Liberal newspaper of the 1980s …
Paul Fletcher gets his university debater hat on to complain about relevance.
Milton Dick seems bored as he draws the treasurer to the last part of the question.
Chalmers goes on as he wishes:
We got a lecture on taxes from the mob who were the second-highest taxing government in the last 30 years – the last highest taxing government since the John Howard government.
We got a lecture on the cost of living as well from the mob that kept wages deliberately low for a decade and from [the] shadow treasurer who tried to keep secret 20% increase in electricity prices.
A lecture on debt from the mob that doubled the debt even before the pandemic and left us with rising interest rates on the trillion dollars in debt they left behind.
We got a lecture on productivity from the same people that gave us the worst decade of productivity in the last 50 years, Mr Speaker.
I don’t know what’s more concerning, that the shadow treasurer might not be the sharpest tool in the Liberal party shed, or that he might be the sharpest tool in the Liberal party shed.
Only in the Liberal party, so bereft of ideas and talent, could the member for Hume even get a look in and in a serious economic portfolio. So we won’t be copping lectures from the leftovers of the last government, not on tax, not on spending, not on borrowing, the cost of living, not from the dregs of a government which [presided over] a decade of missed opportunities and priorities which left us a mess which will take more than one budget to clean up.
Updated
David Littleproud dishes up bread and butter line again
David Littleproud has never been one to shy away from naff lines.
The Nationals leader loves to trot out the same quip (once called zingers) over and over again like he pays it rent.
His predecessor Michael McCormack was a fan of the practice too.
But hey – when you are struggling to work out your public personality, why not just repeat lines until brains start melting out of heads?
In this case, as one of my learned colleagues pointed out to me, it’s this one:
There are cost of living pressures and, I mean, what I’m concerned about is I don’t think Jim Chalmers quite understood that he’s saying this can be a bread and butter budget. Well, sadly, I think it will be because that’s all Australian families will be able to afford if he continues to take the actions and not look at where the real pressures are around childcare, around food.
He has now said it at least three times.
There is a long time between now and the end of the year. Plenty of time for us all to become gluten-intolerant.
Updated
Question time is just about to begin, but here is everything Natasha May and Josh Taylor know about today’s movement with the Optus data breach:
Coalition reassured on ‘exceptional circumstances’ for integrity commission public hearings
The Coalition’s Perin Davey has been put up as the opposition’s panellist on the ABC’s Capital Hill and she has the talking points on how the Coalition is approaching the integrity commission:
The Coalition has always supported an integrity commission obviously*, we have seen the detail here but on what some of the minister has just announced, things like public hearings will only be in exceptional circumstances, that is reassuring because what we have seen in other jurisdictions is some dreadful outcomes, where innocent people, their reputations (have been dragged across the mud) in public and then later found there was nothing to see here.
We wanted to avoid that, we are walking into this open to negotiating because we want to see an integrity commission but we want to see an integrity commission that isn’t lamentable and is practical, and I am reassured by the announcement that the minister has made and I hope and I really look forward to seeing the outcomes of those further talks and negotiations.
Because it makes sense for the two parties of government to come together to support something that will impact every government going forward.
*not actually obvious. Scott Morrison once dismissed it as a ‘fringe issue’
Updated
Anthony Albanese asked question about children kidnapped in Japan
Anthony Albanese’s office has released the transcript of his press conference in Japan.
It was a quick one, so here’s what was covered:
Q: More than 60 Australian parents say children have been kidnapped in Japan. Did you raise this issue with Prime Minister Kishida?
Albanese:
No, but I am very conscious of this issue. And the Australian embassy here continues to provide consular assistance. This is an issue that relates, of course, to Japanese law. But we will continue to provide support and assistance when requested.
Q: Do you still have confidence in the Optus CEO given how they have handled this hacking scandal?
Albanese:
I have a policy of not making comments on domestic issues.* Clare O’Neil, our home affairs minister, is handling this issue. This is obviously a very serious issue which Clare O’Neil has made clear and unequivocal statements of the government and will continue to act as necessary.
*I assume he means while overseas
Q: Did you have any discussions with the US vice-president of possible acceleration of the US submarine program? And have you seen reports that suggest this could happen?
Albanese:
The US vice-president and I discussed our relations, including the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States, our joint cooperation through the Quad leaders’ meeting, through our alliance, through Aukus, and, of course, next year I will be hosting in Australia the Quad leaders’ meeting. We will continue to engage. Aukus is important. And the relationship between Australia and the United States and the United Kingdom is, of course, a long one and a deep one. And we will continue to engage on those issues.
Updated
Sexual harassment bill introduced in parliament
The sexual harassment bill has also been introduced to the parliament.
Tony Burke and Mark Dreyfus have described the Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Respect at Work) Bill 2022 as “delivering on an important election commitment to end sexual harassment at work”.
It includes some of what the sex discrimination commissioner, Kate Jenkins, wanted in terms of legislative changes, which the last government didn’t get to:
The bill will:
Place a positive duty on employers to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate sex discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation, as far as possible.
Strengthen the Australian Human Rights Commission with new functions to assess and enforce compliance with this new requirement, including the capacity to give compliance notices to employers who are not meeting their obligations.
Expressly prohibit conduct that results in a hostile workplace environment on the basis of sex.
Ensure commonwealth public sector organisations are also required to report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency on its gender equality indicators.
Updated
Anne Aly explains why government won’t bring forward early childhood education care subsidy
The minister for early childhood education, Anne Aly, has had a chat to the ABC about why the government won’t be bringing forward the early childhood education care subsidy – it needs time to prepare the sector, which is already going through a staff shortage (as the advocacy group the ParentHood pointed out a little earlier – as well as anyone who has ever had anything to do with any early childhood educators already can tell you).
There is a big job to get more people into this sector, given the level of burnout:
Aly:
The estimation of how many additional staff varies. Right now we know that there are around 7,000 extra staff needed in early childhood education and care sector. This is not an issue that is new, the sector has been bleeding staff for a number of years now primarily because it is an undervalued sector, so we are very cognisant of the fact that this is not about looking after children, it is not about babysitting children.
They are the people who care for our most precious asset are early childhood educators, so that is one thing. But we have got a national plan that we are implementing, we are working with states and territories on retaining, attracting and training more people in the sector.
Updated
Anthony Albanese will return to Australia in time for the last parliamentary make up day, on Wednesday, I believe.
Meanwhile in Japan:
And now all former PMs have arrived for their meeting, John Howard, @HonTonyAbbott and @TurnbullMalcolm #auspol https://t.co/6zXX0Q9OQy pic.twitter.com/hcj7OCnWFe
— James Oaten (@james_oaten) September 27, 2022
Updated
The Optus saga continues:
BREAKING: Optus has confirmed to me it has not paid a ransom to the person who stole 10 million customer records. #OptusHack #OptusDataBreach #auspol #infosec
— Jeremy Kirk (@Jeremy_Kirk) September 27, 2022
Updated
Peter Dutton tells Coalition party room negotiations with Labor on anti-corruption commission are continuing
In the Coalition party room meeting today, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, told his troops that negotiations continue with the government over the National Anti-Corruption Commission, with no word yet on where the party will end up on a final position.
Dutton also again accused the government of “making it up as they go along” on the Indigenous voice to parliament.
A spokesperson for the Coalition told journalists in a media briefing after the party room meeting that the party’s position on the federal integrity body was still the subject of internal processes. The spokesperson said it was too early in the piece for much else to have been discussed in the meeting.
(You might remember Paul Karp asked the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, whether the high bar of “exceptional circumstances” for public hearings was a demand that the Liberal party made in consultations. Dreyfus didn’t exactly answer.)
The spokesperson said Dutton had thanked his members for their contributions on the voice to parliament, and again criticised the government for not putting out answers to what he called “basic questions” on the body.
On the Optus data breach, we were told some Coalition members had raised concerns about their constituents and how they could help.
The opposition will seek amendments to the Jobs and Skills Australia bill, including obligations for the new agency’s director to report annually on what skills are needed in Australia each year, and for ministerial directions to the body to be tabled in parliament.
As Amy Remeikis brought to you earlier, we’re expecting the Senate to sit quite late tonight, to deal with the cashless debit card bill. The Labor government accused the Coalition of “filibustering” – delaying by using parliamentary procedural tactics to avoid a vote – but the Coalition spokesperson said members were simply asking questions they were entitled to ask.
There’s some talk around that the Senate could sit until 4am Wednesday morning. Labor sources are warning it will be a very long night, with the Senate to sit until the cashless debit card bill is finally voted on, and a long list of speakers to come before we get to that.
Updated
We are now in the downhill slide towards question time.
Yesterday was a shock – there were actual answers given to questions.
Will today follow suit? Only time will tell.
How the state anti-corruption commissions deal with public hearings
There’s been a bit of interest about the “exceptional circumstances” bar before the National Anti-Corruption Commission can hold public hearings.
This is the same bar as Victoria, and appears to be a lower bar than South Australia, which has no public hearings.
But it is a higher bar than every other jurisdiction:
NSW – inquiries are public when it is in the public interest.
Queensland – generally hearings for crime investigations are not open, but they can be if it would “be more effective and would not be unfair to a person or contrary to the public interest”.
Western Australia – the starting point is private hearings, but they can be opened if it is in the public interest to do so.
Tasmania – where the starting point is public hearings.
ACT – examinations can be public if it is in the public interest and “can be held without unreasonably infringing a person’s human rights”.
Northern Territory – public inquiries are generally open to the public.
Updated
Legal experts warn against high threshold for public hearings for National Anti-Corruption Commission
The Centre for Public Integrity isn’t thrilled with the high threshold for public hearings included in Labor’s National Anti-Corruption Commission legislation.
From its statement:
“Exceptional circumstances” is too high a threshold for the new National Anti-corruption Commission to begin public hearings, and will lead to corruption being hidden behind closed doors, according to former judges and corruption experts.
Victoria is the only state integrity commission that has the exceptional circumstances test and it inhibits its ability to expose corruption. Analysis comparing the Victorian and NSW agencies (attached) shows:
• NSW Icac has exposed more corruption to the public than the Victorian Ibac, with 42 public hearings and 39 public reports compared to 8 hearings and 14 reports from 2012-13 to 2019-20.
• The NSW Icac public interest test does not lead to overuse of public hearings, NSW Icac held 979 private examinations and 42 public inquiries over the examined period.
“Public hearings are a crucial part of investigating corruption. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and many corruption investigations would not be successful without public hearings,” said the Hon Anthony Whealy KC, chair of the Centre for Public Integrity.
“In legal terms, ‘exceptional circumstances’ has no real meaning and it will act as a brake on the public interest test.
“It will cause those investigated to challenge the decision in court which will require the integrity commission to reveal all of its information publicly before an investigation can be finalised. This delays investigations and can lead to evidence being interfered with,” said Mr Whealy.
The former Coalition government did not want public hearings. Their proposal was steeped in secrecy. It would be a shame if the current ALP government compromises with the opposition on this point.
Updated
Robbed at Sea report warns of exploitation of ship crew within Australian waters
On a different note, the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work has released a report into the conditions of those staffing the ships plying the waters between Australia and the rest of the world.
The Robbed at Sea report argues:
Because they work in waters that are not always subject to national laws and standards, and because their work is largely hidden from the view of government regulators, the media, and the public at large, international seafarers engaged on foreign-registered ships commonly experience widespread exploitation at the hands of their employers.
While it’s hard to oversee conditions for staff entering Australian waters, the Fair Work Act and awards system (in particular, the Seagoing Industry Award of 2020) are supposed to protect them once they’re inside them.
However, a 2009 regulation (during the Kevin Rudd government) allowed for a “temporary licensed” ship to avoid being subject to the Fair Work Act or industry awards for the first two of its voyages within Australian waters.
The report argues:
This allows the ship, in certain circumstances, to operate with an international crew under standards normally applying to international voyages, even though the ship is delivering cargo from one Australian port to another.
Among other weakness is the uncertainty over what precise wages and other entitlements apply to a seafarer, “due to poorly constructed ‘work agreements’,” it said.
The result: more than half of coastal freight is now carried under temporary rather than general licences (which have stricter rules). The proportion more than doubled to about 60% in just five years between 2013-24 and 2018-19.
@TheAusInstitute has an interesting report out looking at exploitation of crews on ships in Australian waters. Loopholes have also made it more likely international shipping firms operate shipping between Australian cities, dodging local labour laws. https://t.co/umz2iDoyGv pic.twitter.com/KG3Kffzj1S
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) September 27, 2022
The report says:
In short, international shipping companies have been given effective permission to operate in the coastal trade, while often avoiding the application of Australian labour laws.
Now that there’s a Labor government back at the helm in Canberra, will this industry’s conditions get another examination? Don’t set your watch for it ...
Updated
Senate to sit late to deal with cashless debit card bill
The Senate will be sitting late tonight to deal with the government’s cashless debit card bill, which has upset the Coalition, who tried to have the Senate sit on Thursday to extend the debate.
But the government said no, because there would be no way for the bill, which is likely to have an amendment in the Senate, to make it back to the house for approval in time, which would delay it being sent off for royal assent.
As usual, deals are being done all over the place in the Senate.
Updated
Bill Shorten says robodebt royal commission is ‘final chapter in a very sorry story’
Bill Shorten is in Brisbane for the opening of the robodebt royal commission:
The robodebt royal commission is about finding out why Australia’s greatest failure of public administration and social security occurred. Robodebt went from about July 2015 to November 2019. It was overseen by successive Morrison government ministers. It was a scheme which was said it was targeted at getting Centrelink cheats to pay what they owed. The truth of the matter is the scheme was unlawful. It didn’t have legal justification. It reversed the onus of proof. It said that once a machine, an algorithm, a faulty algorithm, had asserted that a debt was owed, then the onus was reversed and the citizen had to prove why the government was wrong.
These were David and Goliath struggles, but for four-and-a-half years, successive individuals, advocates, strong family members, the Labor opposition and others said the scheme was out of control. It was only with the advent of a class action and court cases that eventually the Morrison government was forced to cancel the scheme. But four-and-a-half years, despite the warnings, despite the hardship, despite the trauma, the robodebt scheme was relentlessly implemented by the Morrison government. So this royal commission is to find out how could there have been such a massive failure of public administration? How could the government of Australia unlawfully raise debts against nearly 400,000 of her fellow Australian citizens, alleging $1.7bn was owed to the commonwealth? The scheme was unlawful. The warning signs were ignored. Trauma occurred. We hope the royal commission will get to the bottom of why this happened and make sure it can never happen again. Why successive Morrison government ministers and Turnbull ministers ignored the warning signs. Why senior public servants didn’t do the proper checking to see if the scheme was lawful. Anyway that’s all before us. This royal commission is the final chapter in a very sorry story of public maladministration.
Updated
Do not respond to any SMS/calls/emails you receive like this.
Victims of Optus data hack are now receiving text messages from hackers demanding $2000AUD be paid into a CBA bank account, with threats their data will be sold for “fraudulent activity within 2 days.” @9NewsAUS pic.twitter.com/J57inlyyut
— Chris O'Keefe (@cokeefe9) September 27, 2022
People in the ACT are getting very excited by this:
#Breaking: Government senate leader Penny Wong confirms Labor wants the territory rights bill to be put to a vote before the end of the year.
— Dan Jervis-Bardy (@D_JervisBardy) September 27, 2022
It's happening.
Updated
Anthony Albanese meets Japanese PM ahead of Shinzo Abe funeral
Anthony Albanese has held a bilateral meeting with Japan’s prime minister Fumio Kishida while he is in Tokyo for Shinzo Abe’s funeral.
His office has released the public opening remarks:
Well, thank you very much for the welcome on my second visit to Japan as prime minister. It is important that Australia show our condolence to yourself as prime minister, but also to the people of Japan on the tragic loss of former prime minister Shinzo Abe.
He was very well respected. And as an international statesperson, it is clear that the Quad leaders’ dialogue would not have occurred without his leadership.
The relationship between Australia and Japan is so important and that importance is underlined by the fact that I am here as the sitting prime minister, even though our parliament is sitting.
I have brought with me as well the former prime ministers Turnbull, Abbott and Howard. So you have a very high-level attendance to pay our respects and show our respects to not just Mr Abe’s family but to the people of Japan.
We share such common interests, in particular for a free and open Indo-Pacific, which is so important that we continue to work together and to work with our partners as well to advance that common interest.
Updated
Review on Covid vaccines finds Coalition’s actions ‘consistent’ with other high-income countries
A review of Australia’s Covid vaccine procurement has found the former Coalition government’s actions were “consistent with other high-income countries”, and flagged that the federal government will end up with an over-supply of the Novavax jab and a potential shortfall in Moderna.
The review, by the respected public servant Jane Halton, has also warned the Labor government that Australia is “likely to continue to be challenged” by emerging virus variants, with concerns raised that the country’s “policy settings have not been updated to take account of widespread Covid-19 infections”.
Halton was in June commissioned by the health minister, Mark Butler, to investigate Australia’s Covid vaccine strategy. At the time, Butler said the review wouldn’t look to probe potential mistakes made by the former Coalition government, which came under fire for vaccines arriving late and not in high enough numbers in the initial vaccination period. Australia has since gone on to have one of the highest vaccine rates in the world.
Halton’s review noted she only investigated prior purchase plans in the scope of lessons that could be learned in future, and doesn’t make any critical findings of the Coalition. However Halton warned Australia was not “Covid-stable” and said the next two years would be critical to the recovery of health, economy and education systems.
Consideration should be given to the decision-making structures and advice required, and whether new and existing pathways for procurement and distribution of vaccines and treatments should be retained or adapted.
It is not possible to accurately predict the further evolution of the virus and Australia is likely to continue to be challenged, at least in the short term, by emerging variants and new waves of disease.
Halton noted despite Australia’s earlier success in keeping deaths and cases low, “relative performance is beginning to wane”, saying some policies had not been updated.
The need to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 is likely to remain. However, policy settings have not been updated to take account of already widespread Covid-19 infections and associated high levels of hybrid immunity, the possibility of future waves and variants, and developments in vaccine and therapeutic science and manufacturing.
A portfolio approach and potentially redundancy will be needed to ensure access.
Halton and Butler will hold a press conference in Canberra at 12.30pm today.
Updated
Early childhood education care subsidy bill introduced
The parliament is sitting now.
Minister for Education @JasonClareMP introduced Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Cheaper Child Care) Bill 2022 https://t.co/LVmZtQCPw1 #auspol
— Political Alert (@political_alert) September 27, 2022
Updated
What we’ve learned about the National Anti-Corruption Commission
Paul Karp will be bringing you more from that press conference on the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Guardian style will mean we call it Nacc, because it is an acronym which can be said as a word) but as a recap: the main new thing we learnt there was the bar for public hearings will be very high – higher than what some of the state’s anti-corruption commissions have.
Mark Dreyfus would not say if that was part of the negotiations with the Liberals.
Public hearings will be part of the process, but there has to be a demonstrable “exceptional” need for them, which the Commissioner will decide.
It will also be up to the commission to decide what “retrospective” means in terms of how far back it looks, although it will have the power to look at things which occurred before it was established.
Whistleblower protection will be part of it as the normal processes, it seems, although whistleblower protections will be beefed up as part of seperate legislation, following up on the recommendations of Philip Moss, which were left untouched by the Coalition governments.
Updated
Paul Karp asked if the Liberals had asked for this particularly high bar for public hearings and Mark Dreyfus did not answer him.
Labor wants the Federal NACC to only be able to have public hearings in “exceptional circumstances” - this is too high a bar and ignores the fact that sunshine is a great disinfectant.
— David Shoebridge (@DavidShoebridge) September 27, 2022
Q: Should anyone be using it as vehicle of payback or fearing it will be used as political payback?
Mark Dreyfus:
That is not the purpose of this anticorruption commission … We’ve got anticorruption commission in every state and territory, I’d like to think we’ve learn lessons from the way in which those anticorruption commissions have operated over the last 30 years.
And I like to think also that we have best practice picking from the features of those anticorruption commissions, and when this commission … commences as we hope, around the middle of next year, people will see it operating in this way.
Updated
Dreyfus: whistleblower protections to be part of wider review into public interest disclosure
Q: With regard to the whistleblower protection, can you explain how they would operate and do they go far enough to allay the concerns that the crossbench have had?
Mark Dreyfus:
Put it this way, the concerns that have been expressed by a number of members of the crossbench go to the whole scheme of whistleblower protection …
I brought the legislation to establish the Public Interest Disclosure Act to the Parliament in 2013, conscious that it was going to need to be looked at to see whether it was working.
… Nothing has occurred to deal with the recommendations that Philip Moss made [to the former government about the operation of public disclosure laws in 2013].
I’ve said we’re going to pick up that report, update the recommendations and introduce legislation to reform the whole scheme of public interest disclosure protection which is not just confined to anticorruption measures, it’s about the reporting of maladministration, the reporting of any breaches of code of conduct, any bad government, all of these things are the subject of the protection.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission bill will have its own whistleblower protections, as is appropriate for Australian public servants and people working in the public sector who come forward with allegations that the commission should look at.
There is a specific set of whistleblower protection that will be in this National Anti-Corruption Commission bill in addition … but it’s important to see the distinction between anticorruption measures … and the wider whistleblower protection scheme that we put in place in 2013 that needs reform, that needs updating and we’re going to be attending to that.
Updated
So he is asked again:
I don’t think that, as the minister responsible for this commission, once it is established, that it’s appropriate for me to be making referrals to this commission.
Q: Will anyone in the government refer some of the issues it raised in opposition to the commission?
Mark Dreyfus:
I don’t look at the scandals surrounding the former government as material to build support for the National Anti-Corruption Commission. They were scandals in their own right and it was right that we drew attention to them.
I am hoping that this National Anti-Corruption Commission will be supported by the whole parliament. … the now opposition, when they were in government, went to two elections and we went to two elections, promising to establish a National Anti-Corruption Commission and I am very much hoping that the Liberal party and the National party keep to their commitment made at the 2019 election and at the 2022 election, and will now support our model for a National Anti-Corruption Commission.
(He doesn’t really answer the question.)
Updated
The standing committee which will have oversight of the national commission will be drawn from across the parliament, Mark Dreyfus says.
Dreyfus: public hearings of the integrity commission should be exceptional
Q: Why is the bar for public hearings so high? Higher than what is seen in the states?
Mark Dreyfus:
We think that is the right setting and it shows that the commission has to take that into account before it decides to hold a public hearing but it will remain a matter for the Commissioner to [decide].
… For the reasons … that is going to be set out in the bill, we think public hearings should be exceptional and we think that the commission should be required to determine that it is in the public interest that a hearing be in public.
Public hearings, as we have seen, are more difficult to conduct. They raise questions about reputational harm which are not faced when you hold private hearings and that is why most of these commissions’ work has been done in private.
We would expect the same to occur with this new commonwealth agency.
Updated
No confirmation if ministerial discretion part of national integrity commission
Mark Dreyfus can’t say whether ministerial discretion will be in or out of this national integrity commission:
People should be afraid if they have engaged in corrupt activities and I would want people to be afraid if they have been engaged in corrupt activities.
The question of how the commission decides which matters are to be investigated, how it will devote its resources, which are not limitless, that will be a matter for the commission to decide and it’s the same problem that’s faced by everyone of the existing state and territory commissions. Where do you put your resources? What is the most effective use of the public funds that are entrusted to this commission?
Updated
Commission to decide meaning of ‘retrospective’
Dreyfus:
It will be for the commission to decide. It will be able to investigate conduct occurring before it was established.
Updated
Dreyfus: every investigation the commission undertakes will be in the public interest
Q: You speak about public hearings and exceptional circumstances if it’s in the public interest. Isn’t any investigation by this body into politicians … be in the public interest? On third parties … if they can be investigated, can they also be subject to corrupt conduct findings?
Mark Dreyfus:
Of course, every investigation that this commission undertakes is going to be in the public interest.
This is a different question that the commission is going to be asked to consider, which is whether the particular hearing should be held in public.
I expect that most of the hearings conducted by this federal commission, just as for the state and territory commissions, of which there is one in every state and territory, most of its hearings will be conducted in private. But where there are exceptional circumstances and the commission determines that it’s in the public interest that a hearing be in public, then it’s going to be in public. That’s a matter for the commission.
It will decide, yes.
Updated
Integrity commissioners to be chosen by cabinet and executive council
Back to the federal Icac, Mark Dreyfus is asked who will choose the commissioners?
The details will be in the bill tomorrow but there is a role for a Standing Committee of the parliament in the approval of the Commissioners, the senior officials at the commission. But it will be a cabinet decision as well and an executive council appointment.
Updated
Mark Dreyfus says FBI also working on Optus data breach
The attorney general has also addressed the Optus data breach to say that the FBI has been called in to help:
The government, as well as the Australian Federal Police and other government agencies, are working closely together on the Optus data breach. The Australian Federal Police is taking this very seriously with a large number of officers involved, working with other Federal Government agencies and state and territory police and with the FBI in the United States and with industry.
I would also like to reinforce the message that has been given by the Privacy Commissioner publicly which is that all Optus customers should be vigilant. Do not click on any links in a text message.
Check all web site sources – just check that it is an official web site before taking any future action.
If you are unsure about why you are being asked to divulge private information, stop and verify who the person or organisation is that is making that request of you.
Finally, for affected Optus customers, I can say that the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner web site has further advice. Please visit oaic.gov.au and follow the prompts.
Updated
Government caucus meeting briefing
Labor MPs have this morning endorsed the government’s legislation for a new national anti corruption commission, paving the way for the bill to be introduced on Wednesday.
MPs signed off on a range of other bills, including the childcare package and the respect at work reforms.
The acting prime minister, Richard Marles, spoke to MPs about the important work the government was doing, saying the “strong start of the government” was not automatic, pointing to the “buyer’s remorse” felt after the 2013 election of Tony Abbott.
(He also spoke about the win of the Geelong Cats at the weekend’s AFL grand final as the “greatest grand final ever”.)
Most of the meeting was dominated by discussion of the Optus data breach, with MPs asking about the risk to exposed customers and how people whose driver’s licences had been leaked could be assisted.
The assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, also gave some reassurance about the data held by banks, suggesting they had more people working on privacy issues than the commonwealth.
The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said that the government was working with the Privacy Commissioner on issues arising from the breach, and said that Optus did not notify the commissioner of the breach until late on Friday.
The meeting also discussed the government’s plans to mark the 20-year anniversary of the Bali bombing, with the foreign minister, Penny Wong, confirming there would be a memorial service at Parliament House on October 12 and an event also to be held in Bali.
Linda Burney, the minister for Indigenous Australians, spoke about progress on the Voice to parliament saying “momentum is coming our way” and noting the strongest support for the move was in Tasmania.
The meeting also resolved not to support three private Greens bills relating to the climate trigger, electric vehicles and the corporatisation of the Snowy Hydro project.
Updated
Dreyfus: government will not be seeking to direct independent commission
Q: Will the examples Labor had used as examples to explain the need for a national integrity commission – Leppington triangle, Jamland etc – meet the threshold of this commission?
Mark Dreyfus says that is not up to him.
That will be a matter for the National Anti-Corruption Commission to decide. It is really important that I stress this to everybody. It is an independent commission. We will not be seeking, as the federal government, to direct this commission as to what it should inquire into.
I can repeat that it will be able to receive information from any source.
It will be able to receive anonymous tip-offs. It will be able to receive referrals from the heads of agencies [and] referrals from the public and it will then be a matter for the commission to decide first whether or not the matter that’s being complained about satisfies the serious or systemic corruption threshold and then to decide how, and when, and in what manner it’s going to conduct the investigation.
Q: What about public expectations of what should be covered?
You will able to see in the bill when I introduce it to the parliament tomorrow. There is a very broad definition of corrupt conduct. There is a threshold of serious or systemic corruption which will shape the way this commission undertakes its work. The commission should have expectations that this commission is going to get on with the job of stamping out corruption in the Australian public sector.
Updated
Once the bill is introduced, it will head off to a parliamentary committee for review.
The principles of the Albanese government’s anti-corruption bill
Mark Dreyfus is now going through the principles of the bill.
The Albanese government’s National Anti-Corruption Commission will investigate serious or systemic corrupt conduct across the entire federal public sector. It will be built on the following design principles:
A broad jurisdiction: the commission will have broad jurisdiction to investigate serious or systemic corrupt conduct across the commonwealth public sector by ministers, parliamentarians and their staff, statutory office holders, employees of all government entities and government contractors.
Independent: the commission will operate independent of government with discretion to commence inquiries into serious or systemic corruption on its own initiative or in response to referrals, including from whistleblowers and the public.
Oversight: The commission will be overseen by a statutory, parliamentary joint committee empowered to require the commission to provide information about its work.
Retrospective powers: The commission will have power to investigate allegations of serious or systemic corruption that occurred before or after its establishment.
Public hearings: The commission will have power to hold public hearings in exceptional circumstances and where it is in the public interest to do so.
Findings: The commission will be empowered to make findings of fact, including findings of corrupt conduct and refer findings that could constitute criminal conduct to the Australian Federal Police or the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
Procedural fairness: The commission will operate with procedural fairness and its findings will be subject to judicial review.
The legislation also provides strong protections for whistleblowers and exemptions for journalists to protect the identity of their sources.
I look forward to introducing the bill tomorrow.
Updated
Government commits $262m over four years to integrity commission
Mark Dreyfus:
I can today announce that the government has committed $262m over four years for the establishment and ongoing operation of the [integrity] commission. This is close to $90m more than the former government committed.
This funding will ensure that the commission has the staff, capabilities and capacity to properly consider referrals and allegations, conduct timely investigations and undertake corruption prevention and education activities. The commission will be adequately funded and its funding will have strong parliamentary oversight.
The legislation provides for a Parliamentary Joint Committee for the National Anti-Corruption Commission to regularly review and publicly report on the sufficiency of the commission’s budget.
Those reports would be subject to public debate, a debate which would likely be uncomfortable for any government that chose to ignore them.
Updated
Mark Dreyfus releases integrity commission details
The attorney general has announced the national integrity commission legislation has passed the Labor caucus and will now be introduced to the parliament.
Mark Dreyfus says he will introduce the legislation on Wednesday.
Updated
Report from the Greens party room
The Greens party room discussed the cashless debit card. They will move amendments to put transitional plans into legislation with a six-month reporting requirement and to abolish all forms of income management. But they don’t support the Liberals’ likely filibuster against the bill.
The Greens will also move a censure motion against Pauline Hanson for her comments about Mehreen Faruqi in the Senate, and attempt to suspend standing orders in the House of Reps to repeal the stage three tax cuts.
The Greens have also discussed the Optus data breach – apparently they have some concerns that the AFP is leading the response because of a scathing ANAO (that’s the Audit Office) report about their cyber readiness. The Greens want to reduce the amount of information held by telcos – or the period for which it must be held by – to reduce exposure.
The attorney general’s comments about the National Anti-Corruption Commission having jurisdiction over third parties was helpful for winning Greens support, but they’ll be on alert to see that the scope of the body is not narrowly drafted.
Updated
A bit more on that link between a falling Australian dollar and how much it will stoke inflation – and therefore nudge the Reserve Bank to lift interest rates higher, faster.
Westpac has done some number crunching and for now, at least, the impact is not so big. The “rough rule of thumb” is that a 10% depreciation of the currency will lift the CPI by around 0.3-0.4 percentage points over the next six months, the bank says.
@WestpacMacro has had a look at how a falling $A will spur inflation. Their 'rough rule of thumb' has a 10% drop lifting the CPI by about 0.3-0.4 percentage points over the next six months. (Trade-weighted index has not fallen by much in recent months, unlike the $A vs the $US.) pic.twitter.com/ag0poQff4l
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) September 27, 2022
For one thing, Australia’s main trading partners are mostly in Asia, and most (if not all) have lately let their currencies weaken against the US too.
The trade weighted index – which shows how the Aussie dollar is moving, proportionally, to the destination and source of our exports and imports – is down in the past six months, but much less than the fall against the US dollar.
Since late March, the Australia dollar's trade weighted index is down almost 4%. Roughly over the same period, the $A is down more than three times that against the $US, underscoring how much the greenback has been rising against other currencies too. (Source: RBA) pic.twitter.com/gPwe8Ucplo
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) September 27, 2022
Given Australia’s consumer prices are forecast to be rising at 7.75% by the end of the year by Treasury and the RBA, a proportion of the inflation from a weaker Aussie dollar will get us closer to an annual rate of 8% - but no cause to panic for now.
Updated
If you haven’t read it already, Sarah Martin has looked into the federal grants audit:
There are reports the hacker has deleted the Optus data.
@troyhunt @Jeremy_Kirk
— Arak (@arak_au) September 27, 2022
Hacker deleted the Optus Data? pic.twitter.com/7DQarun7Fb
Updated
Robodebt royal commission kicks off in Brisbane
In her opening address kicking off the robodebt inquiry today, the royal commissioner, Catherine Holmes, said senior government officials would be called to give evidence explaining their role in the scandal.
Holmes said the Centrelink debt recovery program established by the former government employed an “automated” debt recovery process on a “scale not previously attempted” and had been based on an “unsound premise”.
The robodebt scheme was established in 2015 and ran until November 2019 when the Coalition government accepted in the federal court that the method used for raising welfare debts was legally insufficient.
Holmes said the royal commission would hear from victims of the scheme and take evidence from senior government officials from the period before reporting in April.
She said although much was known now about the way the scheme operated, less was understood about why the scheme was established and how the government had responded to any warnings and criticisms about the program.
“Many people have different levels of government will be asked to give an account of their role in the devising implementation and continuing with the robodebt scheme,” Holmes said.
“But the focus appropriately and in accordance with the terms of reference will be on those in senior positions, who had or should have had oversight.”
The former prime minister, Scott Morrison, current opposition frontbenchers Alan Tudge and Stuart Robert, and former ministers Christian Porter and Michael Keenan, all held portfolios with oversight for the scheme.
Holmes said she understood some victims would not want to “revisit” their stressful experiences of the scheme, but she encouraged those affected to make a submission.
Updated
States unwilling to change drivers’ licence numbers without evidence of fraud
One of the key issues relating to the Optus data breach that people are reporting is that their jurisdiction’s transport departments – Queensland and Victoria keep coming up – won’t let them change their drivers’ licence number without evidence fraudulent activity has taken place.
So people are being told to wait until something potentially happens with their data, before they are able to act on securing their identity documents.
Updated
Government releases statement on latest Optus hack developments
Clare O’Neil, the minister for cyber security, has released a statement after reports the Optus data breach information was being released as part of a ransom demand:
I am incredibly concerned this morning about reports that personal information from the Optus data breach, including Medicare numbers, are now being offered for free and for ransom.
Medicare numbers were never advised to form part of compromised information from the breach.
Consumers have a right to know exactly what individual personal information has been compromised in Optus’ communications to them. Reports today make this a priority.
I want to re-assure Australians that the full weight of cyber security capabilities across government, including the Australian Signals Directorate, the Australian Cyber Security Centre and the Australian Federal Police are working round the clock to respond to this breach.
Updated
Star Sydney’s licenceholder accepts regulator’s finding of unsuitability but pleads for continued operation under supervision
AAP has an update on the Star Entertainment Group response to the regulator’s findings it was unsuitable to hold a casino licence in NSW:
In a pitch to regulators, Star Entertainment Group says it accepts the findings of an inquiry which found it unsuitable to hold a casino licence in NSW and will do whatever is necessary to reform.
The gaming company on Tuesday pleaded to be allowed to continue to operate its Sydney casino under strict supervision.
“The Star Sydney accepts the findings of the Bell report, including the finding of unsuitability,” the company said in a statement.
It acknowledged “the gravity of the conduct which is raised in the Bell report”.
The company says it has taken “significant and urgent remedial steps, including increased risk, compliance, and security staff, approval of upgrades to surveillance technology as well as permanently exiting junkets and closing the Marquee nightclub”.
The company pledged to take “additional necessary and appropriate action” so the NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC) “can be satisfied the Star Sydney has taken sufficient steps, and has bound itself to take further steps, so that it may continue to hold its licence”.
The Star Entertainment Group (TSEG) says it has developed “a comprehensive remediation plan for a multi-year transformation of the governance, accountability and capabilities, culture and risk, and compliance management practices of the organisation”.
We intend to do whatever is necessary, in consultation with NICC, to restore The Star Sydney to suitability.
We submit that the appropriate action NICC should take is to allow TSEG to continue to operate the licence, under strict supervision and being held accountable to the milestones on the remediation plan.
Achieving the stipulated milestones “should give NICC confidence that TSEG has restored suitability”.
The response comes a day after the Star’s acting chief executive, Geoff Hogg, resigned.
Updated
Parenthood advocacy group welcomes childcare reform bill
Advocacy group the Parenthood has welcomed the government introducing its early childcare legislation, but also want to make sure the focus is on ensuring the sector can attract and retain the staff necessary to make it work. And that means addressing the pay and conditions of early childcare educators.
The group’s executive director, Georgie Dent:
At the jobs summit there was consensus among leaders from business, unions, community and government that early education and care is critical to achieving full employment, unlocking the full potential of women’s workforce participation, addressing the educational decline and investing in the future capacity.
To realise the potential increased productivity and benefits for children from the Cheaper Childcare package, we will need the equivalent of 9,650 additional full time educators by next year to absorb the additional demand.
Right now, rather than expanding this critical workforce is contracting. In July there were more than 6,600 staff vacancies in early learning services nationally.Without early educators, there is no early education. This workforce contracting is a problem for every employer in the country because if a parent cannot access suitable, quality care, they cannot access work.
Updated
AFP launches investigation into Optus data breach
For those who missed it yesterday, the Australian Federal Police have launched an investigation into the Optus data breach:
Operation Hurricane has been launched to identify the criminals behind the alleged breach and to help shield Australians from identity fraud.
The AFP is aware of reports of the sale of stolen data and investigations are continuing.
To protect the integrity of the criminal investigation, the AFP will not divulge what information it has obtained in the first few days of Operation Hurricane.
However, the public can be assured that since a report from Optus on 23 September, 2022, the AFP has diverted significant resources to the investigation.
The newly established AFP-led JPC3, which is a joint partnership between law enforcement, the private sector and industry to combat the growing threat of cybercrime, is providing further capability in the investigation.
The AFP is also working closely with Optus, the Australian Signals Directorate and overseas law enforcement.
The assistant commissioner of cyber command, Justine Gough, said while the investigation was going to be extremely complex and very lengthy it was important to note that the AFP specialised in investigations of this type.
“This is an ongoing investigation but it is important the community knows the AFP and our partners are doing everything within scope to identify the offenders responsible, and to also ensure we can protect individuals who are now potentially vulnerable to identity theft,” Gough said.
Updated
Good advice in general re clicking links from hackers:
WARNING - do not click on latest link from alleged Optus hacker. IT security experts confirm it “tries to use drive-by and explicit download techniques to install executable files - this appears to be an attempt to capitalise on the publicity from the hack to setup a future hack”
— Andrew Greene (@AndrewBGreene) September 26, 2022
Updated
Victorian Labor pledges to legislate major renewable energy storage targets
The Andrews government has committed to reaching Australia’s biggest renewable energy storage targets in a bid to accelerate the transition away from coal.
The pledge was announced on Tuesday morning alongside a $157m package to support renewable energy generation and storage projects.
Andrews said the state would legislate the storage targets that were predicted to create 12,700 jobs and $1.7bn in investment from 2032 to 2035:
Victoria will see by 2030 some 2.3GW of storage by 2030 and 6.3GW of storage by 2035 . That’s about enough power for half of Victorian households when it gets to that full 6.3GW.
In March, Andrews announced Australia’s first offshore wind targets. Under the plan, offshore wind farms could generate enough to power 1.5m Victorian homes by 2032.
Updated
The party room meetings are starting to come to a close – we will bring you those updates very soon
Australian consumer confidence rises to highest level since May
Australian consumers, it seems, are an optimistic bunch. Perhaps the football finals and the unusual suspended animation after Queen Elizabeth II’s death played a role, but so far shopping sentiment is holding up quite well despite the gathering gloom overseas.
The latest weekly survey by ANZ and Roy Morgan has consumer confidence rising again to the best reading since late May (although it’s a low level by historical measures).
Despite gloomy news on interest rates, etc,
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) September 26, 2022
consumer confidence has extended recent rises, so say @ANZ_Research & @RoyMorganAus. Their weekly gauge rose 2.1% last week to its highest since late May. Most sub-indices also posted a rise, eg for 'time to buy a major household item'. pic.twitter.com/WLmPImjsRY
“The increase in headline confidence was mainly driven by improved sentiment around Australia’s economic conditions,” Catherine Birch, a senior ANZ economist, said. “Continued strength despite 225 basis points of rate hikes over the past five months may be quelling fears of a sharp downturn.”
Another outcome that will please the Reserve Bank is the drop in inflation expectations. Recall that the RBA rate hikes are as much about stamping out expected inflation as they are for actual price rises.
Businesses, for instance, won’t put up prices as much if they think future costs aren’t going to rise – or that they may be caught out pushing through higher prices that aren’t justified or matched by competitors. Unions, too, won’t be as worried about further erosion of real wages.
Also against the grain, inflation expectations also turned lower last week by 0.6 percentage points, helping to extending the decline in the four-week rolling average. (Source: @ANZ_Research, @RoyMorganAus ) pic.twitter.com/EzmrUKvp94
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) September 26, 2022
Motorists, though, might have cause to be a bit dismayed by what’s going on at the service stations around the country. Weekly data from the Australian Institute of Petroleum shows the gap between retail and wholesale petrol prices has lately widened to more than at any time in the past couple of years.
It's notable that the gap between average retail and wholesale fuel prices is the widest in years - just prior to the end of excise 'holiday' later this week. Coincidence? #auspol (Source: AIP) pic.twitter.com/EtEtoKCLxU
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) September 26, 2022
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and the ACCC have warned they will be scrutinising how much fuel prices go up when the “excise holiday” ends late on Wednesday night, potentially adding as much as 24 cents a litre to the cost of filling up. Perhaps that scrutiny needs to be backdated a week or so.
Either way, it’s a fair bet that this time next week both consumer sentiment and inflation expectations will be heading in different directions than the current survey. Let’s see.
Updated
Positive news as some stranded pilot whales successfully re-released into ocean
For those wanting an update on the pilot whale stranding:
A mission to rescue scores of pilot whales found still alive on a beach after a mass stranding on Tasmania’s west coast has ended, with satellite trackers showing two rescued whales well south of the state.
State government personnel and volunteers from the local salmon farming industry lifted 44 live pilot whales off Ocean Beach, near Strahan, and towed them one-by-one to deeper waters.
Some 230 pilot whales – which are actually large oceanic dolphins – were reported on the beach last Wednesday.
Almost 200 dead whales which died before rescuers were able to assist were tied together and on Sunday pulled out into the deep ocean, where authorities said they were expected to drift south in the Southern Ocean. Only two carcasses remain on the beach.
Preliminary data from satellite tackers on two of the rescued live whales showed they were now well south of Tasmania. Incident controller Nic Deka said:
This is positive news as this indicates that many of the rescued whales have been successfully released back into the Southern Ocean.
Deka thanked colleagues from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania, as well as salmon industry staff, volunteers and the Strahan community and local council for their help. Access roads have re-opened.
Authorities said carcasses could wash up in the coming weeks and surveillance flights would be monitoring nearby beaches. Any sightings in the region should be reported to a whale hotline on Whale Hotline at 0427 WHALES.
The stranding came two years to the day after the biggest recorded mass whale or dolphin stranding in Australia at the same location. Some 470 pilot whales were found in Macquarie Harbour and on Ocean Beach.
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Things that make you go hmmmmm
Yep. We getting the "special price" of $1.90 before the "extra special" price of $2.20 when by rights it should be $1.60 for the past fortnight and next week.https://t.co/GR1SCaAbAz
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) September 26, 2022
Over 42,000 claims for veterans' assistance yet to be processed
There are still 42,000 claims for assistance which veterans are waiting to be processed. Matt Keogh said that the government is working on expediting those claims, but it will take time – into next year.
It’s a really difficult situation. It’s why we have taken on doing this triage processing and trying to prioritise those claims where people are most at risk or families are most at risk of those veterans so that those who do find themselves in the worst situations can get their claims processed more quickly than that.
And yes, it is an unacceptable situation that we’ve now found ourselves in, where there are 40,000-odd claims that are sitting in a backlog, in addition to the 20,000‑odd claims that we try to process every year through the department. And obviously we need to massively increase our rate of processing.
The fact that this situation has been allowed to eventuate because of a lack of resourcing being provided to the department is terrible. It’s part of what I’ve apologised for in the parliament yesterday.
The important thing is that we are now taking the action necessary, employing the additional staff, implementing systems to make processing more efficient so we can get through this as quickly as possible, and making sure that those veterans that are in the harder situations get their claims prioritised.
Updated
As part of his statement on the royal commission into defence and veteran suicide to the house yesterday, Matt Keogh, the minister for veteran’s affairs, apologised to veterans and their families for how they have been treated. It was part of the government’s response to the interim report handed down by the commission.
On ABC RN Breakfast this morning, he was asked why saying sorry was so important:
I think an apology is important because part of the issue that veterans and serving personnel and their families, especially the loved ones of those who have taken their own life, have been grappling with is being heard and feeling like they’re being heard and having an acknowledgment that the way in which these agencies have operated has in some cases in no way been appropriate. And it’s important to acknowledge that, to provide that recognition and to own up to the fact that the way these things have turned out, the way some of these agencies have operated at times has not been appropriate.
Updated
Labor: Optus data breach is partly of previous government’s making
Labor’s Peter Khalil has also been speaking on the Optus data breach. He told Sky News this morning:
The security breach, which we know the minister has pointed out, rests with Optus. We shouldn’t be expecting this kind of breach of this nature from a large telecommunications company and we’re obviously doing everything we can do to support Optus through the Australian Cyber Security Centre and the Australian Signals Directorate to provide that support. But also our law enforcement and other agencies are monitoring all of this and investigating it and making sure that, you know, especially if people try by some stolen credentials, that the full force of the law is brought to bear. So it is very, very concerning.
But I just got to say one important point. I’ve heard the opposition, a conga line of shadow ministers led by Peter Dutton, the opposition leader, including James Paterson, who’s here with me today, who’ve been clutching their pearls, so to say, being critical of the minister for home affairs, ‘where is she, where is the response’.
Let me tell you what the minister of home affairs has been doing. She’s been fixing up a problem that is partly of their making. The previous government, the Liberal government, decided to exempt telecommunication companies from the security of critical infrastructure laws. They made that decision. It enabled this attack.
Now Optus is responsible, but of course you know that we live in a very dangerous neighbourhood. We all agree on that and that decision. And of course, the minister for communications was a former Optus executive, Paul Fletcher.
So they left out the telcos because the telcos said, ‘oh, we’ve got this, we can handle it’.
But of course that has meant that they have left not only the door unlocked in this dangerous neighbourhood when there’s a rise of cyberattacks and cybercriminals and so on. They’ve left it wide open. They’ve left the backdoor open and they’ve left the windows open.
Updated
Council of Financial Regulators releases quarterly statement on markets
The Council of Financial Regulators (The RBA, the Treasury, Asic and Apra) have released their quarterly statement on how markets have been behaving and have added an unusual note given the Optus data breach since the council’s 21 September meeting.
The council members, along with the ACCC and ATO, “have been liaising closely”, as you’d hope.
“Council members are also working closely with financial institutions, reinforcing the importance of cybersecurity and the ‘know your customer’ requirements,” the statement says.
The main financial condition that has changed in the past couple of quarters, of course, is the RBA’s interest rate rises.
Pressure on household budgets has increased.
At the same time, household balance sheets continue to be supported by strong conditions in the labour market, and many households accumulated larger saving buffers during the pandemic.
Business insolvencies remain below equivalent pre-Covid levels, though some sectors are experiencing challenging trading conditions.
The council will continue to closely “monitor trends in borrowing” given the economic uncertainties, the high level of household debt, the decline in housing prices and rising interest rates.
So nothing to worry too much about - yet. But, the falling Australian dollar (down below 65 US cents overnight) adds to inflationary pressures by making our imports more expensive.
In turn, investors are lately raising their expectations of how high the RBA will lift its interest rate ... with another two percentage points (200 basis points) in increases now their forecast for mid-2023.
Investors are strongly expecting a 50bp rise in the RBA's cash rate on Oct 4th (at an 83% chance). They're also betting on a full percentage point increase by year's end, and a peak at 4.35% by mid next year. (Banks such as Westpac have a 'terminal' rate at 3.6%.) pic.twitter.com/SsPe8usOs1
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) September 26, 2022
Updated
Childcare subsidy bill to be introduced in parliament today
The education minister, Jason Clare, will introduce the early childhood education subsidy changes legislation into the parliament today.
It won’t kick in until July next year, though. He told Nine:
Childcare is expensive and it’s gone up by 41%, just in the last eight years. We promised to cut the cost of childcare; I will introduce laws to do just that today. It will cut the cost of childcare for more than a million Australian families.
We do that by increasing the subsidy so if you’re a family on [$60,000-$80,000] a year, we’ll increase the subsidy for you to 90% of those costs. It means effectively for a family on $80,000 a year, the government will provide about $14,000 a year, if you have a child going three days a week.
It’s a big investment, but we know that if childcare is more affordable, then it makes it easier for parents to go back to work, in particular mums. I think 60% of mums with kids under the age of 6 are … working part time rather than full time … it’s often because childcare is so expensive.
Updated
Aerosmith starts playing….
4 mins to go to IMPACT https://t.co/88PIbkZgq5
— Graham Russell (@G_J_Russell) September 26, 2022
Optus CEO says security breach ‘not as being portrayed’ by minister for home affairs
The CEO of Optus, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, says the company’s massive security breach was “not as being portrayed” after the minister for home affairs accused the company of leaving the “window open” for the data to be stolen.
The minister for home affairs, Clare O’Neal, described the hack as “basic” on ABC’s 7.30 program Monday evening, undermining Rosmarin’s description earliest last week as a “sophisticated attack.”
What happened at Optus wasn't a sophisticated attack.
— Clare O'Neil MP (@ClareONeilMP) September 26, 2022
We should not have a telecommunications provider in this country that has effectively left the window open for data of this nature to be stolen.#abc730 pic.twitter.com/KamkiapcZl
Asked about the O’Neil’s comments on ABC Radio Tuesday morning, Rosmarin thanks reporter Peter Ryan for “letting me address that misinformation”.
Rosmarin said that O’Neil’s interview with the ABC occurred before Optus’ briefing with the minister.
Rosmarin said the breach is “not what it’s made out to be” because the data was encrypted and there were “multiple levels” of protection.
She said it was not the case having an “exposed API [address] sitting out there”.
Updated
Territory rights bill to be debated this week
The territory rights bill will be debated this week after some fancy senate footwork from independent senator, David Pocock.
The Canberra Times’ Dan Jervis-Bardy reported Pocock has agreed to put one of his motions on the back burner and support the government to sit late tonight to pass the cashless debit card legislation, in order to bring forward the territory rights legislation on the notice paper.
The bill wasn't scheduled to be debated this week, but a few things have happened.
— Dan Jervis-Bardy (@D_JervisBardy) September 26, 2022
ACT independent David Pocock has agreed to delay his super disallowance motion, and will support the government's wish to sit late on Tuesday to pass the cashless debit card bill.
Updated
Jacqui Lambie says she made a mistake voting for stage three tax cuts
Jacqui Lambie voted for the stage three tax cuts. When Labor was considering voting against the package, the Coalition worked to court enough crossbenchers to get the bill across the line (meaning it would pass either way).
Labor ended up voting for the package. But Lambie says she made a mistake in supporting the package and has now made that clear in the senate.
When I get something wrong, I say so.
— Jacqui Lambie (@JacquiLambie) September 26, 2022
Well, I got something wrong. pic.twitter.com/KUVzBgTMs1
Updated
New Optus data breach ransom demand reported
In the latest news in the Optus data breach, a reported ransom demand is claiming 10,000 users will have their data leaked a day until Optus pays.
Bad news. The Optus hacker has released 10,000 customer records and says a 10K batch will be released every day over the next four days if Optus doesn't give into the extortion demand. #OptusDataBreach #optushack #auspol #infosec pic.twitter.com/NuGe7Pup8l
— Jeremy Kirk (@Jeremy_Kirk) September 26, 2022
Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, the CEO of Optus, told ABC Radio the Australian Federal Police were already investigating the reported ransom demand.
Rosmarin said Optus couldn’t say much as it’s being investigated but confirmed “we have seen that there is a post like that on the dark web and the Australian Federal Police is all over that”.
Updated
Shorten: ‘Optus hasn’t done enough’
Over on the Nine network Bill Shorten had a chat about Optus and the robodebt royal commission (Shorten has found his media niche in commercial tv, particularly breakfast shows).
Does he think Optus has done enough?
Well, first of all, we want Optus to look after its customers. Based on what I’ve been told, Optus hasn’t done enough. They have done not enough to protect its customers and their follow up needs to be much more diligent. Clare O’Neil, our Minister for Home Affairs, is coordinating our response. I think it’s time for a giant overhaul- or not a giant overhaul, but a big overhaul of how data’s kept by our large corporations. So we’re doing everything we can to try and apprehend the hackers. But there’s no doubt that the defences of the company were, as I’ve been informed, inadequate, and they’ve got to reach out and support their customers. That’s what we want to do.
Updated
The parliament business will start a little later this morning, because of the party room meetings. So don’t expect any chamber news for a few hours.
Government to introduce anti-sexual harassment at work legislation
The minister for women, Katy Gallagher, has announced on Tuesday the government will introduce the Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Respect at Work) bill to end sexual harassment at work.
This bill will implement seven legislative changes recommended by the sex discrimination commissioner, Kate Jenkins, including to:
Place a positive duty on employers to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate sex discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation, as far as possible.
Strengthen the Australian Human Rights Commission with new functions to assess and enforce compliance with this new requirement, including the capacity to give compliance notices to employers who are not meeting their obligations.
Expressly prohibit conduct that results in a hostile workplace environment on the basis of sex.
Ensure commonwealth public sector organisations are also required to report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency on its gender equality indicators.
In a statement with the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, and the workplace relations minister, Tony Burke, Gallagher said:
Over the past five years, one in three people experienced sexual harassment at work, with women experiencing higher rates of harassment than men.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people with a disability and members of the LGBTQ+ community are also, on average, more likely to experience workplace sexual harassment.
Everyone has the right to a safe and respectful workplace and the fact that workplaces have not been safe or respectful for so many Australians is unacceptable.
Sexual harassment is by no means inevitable and the passage of this bill will move Australia forward in our efforts to prevent workplace sexual harassment from happening in the first place.
Updated
Greens respond to appointment of Kurt Fearnley to chair the NDIA
The Greens senator Jordon Steele-John has responded to the news Kurt Fearnley will be the new chair of the NDIA, the agency which administers the NDIS. He told the ABC:
I think the entire disability community … are getting behind Kurt, to support him, to succeed in the role. And I think that … there’s a feeling of disability pride today.
I think when it comes to rebuilding trust, that is a job for a combination of the chair, the minister, and the new CEO. Now of those three, only one is a disabled person, the other two are not, and there was a missed opportunity in not appointing a disabled person to the role of CEO, and [in] also retaining former Victorian Liberal premier Denis Napthine on the board, when we need more disabled people, and disabled parents in those positions, on the board.
So there’s more work to be done to make sure that actually we get the outcomes and the changes that are needed. Because it’s when we get those changes, when the NDIS is easier to access, when people can live without fear of being kicked off or their plans cut, that’s when you’ll get the trust of the disability community, when those changes are made.
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Looking out across the world, Edward Snowden has reacted to his Russian citizenship.
After years of separation from our parents, my wife and I have no desire to be separated from our SONS.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 26, 2022
After two years of waiting and nearly ten years of exile, a little stability will make a difference for my family. I pray for privacy for them—and for us all. https://t.co/24NUK21TAo pic.twitter.com/qLfp47uzZ4
Snowden has been recently granted citizenship by decree of Vladimir Putin.
Updated
Former Australian leaders in Tokyo for funeral of Shinzo Abe
Anthony Albanese, Kevin Rudd, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull are in Japan for Shinzo Abe’s funeral. The former prime ministers were invited because of their close working relationship with Abe.
Updated
Space probe to smash into asteroid at 9:15am AEST
Stepping out of politics for a moment for collision watch:
At about 9.15 this morning, Australia will be watching as Nasa deliberately smashes a spacecraft into an asteroid. It’s a test of our planetary defences against asteroids that might one day be on a trajectory to crash into Earth.
The 570kg Double Asteroid Redirection Test (Dart) spacecraft is currently hurtling towards the Dimorphos asteroid at about 6.44km a second. Dimorphos orbits a larger asteroid, Didymos.
Csiro’s Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex is one of three around the world that comprise Nasa’s Deep Space Network.
It will receive images and data as the impact occurs.
You can watch live here, and read all about it here:
Updated
The robodebt royal commission starts in Brisbane today
Because it is the first day, there will be no witnesses – there will be some ceremonial opening proceedings and statements from the commissioner, Catherine Holmes AC SC, and the senior counsel assisting, Justin Greggery.
Updated
Optus CEO: ‘I’m not sure what penalties can benefit anybody’
The Optus CEO, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, has spoken to ABC Radio AM after Clare O’Neil’s interview with 7.30 yesterday where she flagged bigger penalties for companies who did not adequately protect customer’s data.
I’m not sure what penalties can benefit anybody. But I can say that Optus is doing absolutely everything possible to be transparent, to be on the front foot.
… given we’re not allowed to say much because the police has asked us not to, what I can say is that our data was encrypted, and we had multiple players of protection. So it is not the case of having some sort of completely exposed API sitting out there. We invest heavily in our cyber defences and we really are doing everything we can to ensure that our environment is secure.
Bayer Rosmarin said her focus was on finding who took the data and retrieving it.
We’re working very closely with the Australian authorities. The Australian centre for cyber security and the Australian Federal Police and working closely and still have the aim of figuring out who did this, finding them, stopping them and retrieving the data.
Updated
Good morning
Welcome to Tuesday, the second last sitting day of the make-up week.
It’s going to be a busy one. There’s still the hang over from the Optus data breach – Clare O’Neil was pretty blunt in an interview with ABC’s 7.30 over what she believed needed to happen. Optus has responded with “we are not the villains” so there is still a bit more to play out here. We’ll bring you more of that fallout as it happens.
And because it’s Tuesday, it’s party room meeting day, which means the integrity commission bill is going to the Labor caucus. And from there to the parliament. Which means we will learn what’s in it and perhaps more importantly, what’s not.
So far we know it includes third parties, has the potential for public hearings and they would like it to look back. The crossbench are tentatively optimistic it will include what they wanted, given the “constructive” negotiations with Mark Dreyfus.
The thing that is worrying people is that the Liberal party is also looking at it and negotiating with the government on it. That’s normal – all bills should be considered and should be negotiated – and it’s up to the government of the day to decide whether or not they want those changes in the legislation. But there is a concern that the Liberal’s involvement could result in a “watered-down” version of what people want.
Labor either needs the Coalition or the crossbench in the senate to pass the bill. We’ll see what it looks like very soon.
Meanwhile, the crossbench haven’t given up on bringing forward Labor’s childcare subsidy plan to January, or making extended paid parental leave happen (unlikely given the “bread and butter” line from the treasurer on this budget.
There is plenty more happening – and we’ll be across it for you so you can do things like, I don’t know, living your life. You have Sarah Martin, Josh Butler and Paul Karp in Canberra and the whole Guardian brains trust looking at issues for you. (Mike Bowers is on another project for those asking – he’ll be back with us soon). You have Amy Remeikis on the blog for most of the day. I’ve had two coffees so far. It’ll be a long one.
Ready?
