What we learned, Wednesday 23 November
The undisputed world champion, Amy Remeikis, will be back tomorrow morning. Here are the main stories today on Wednesday 23 November:
Coalition MP Bridget Archer flags crossing the floor again as debate continues on the national integrity commission bill.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, withdraws a “coward” comment aimed at LNP senator Gerard Rennick.
“It is traumatic”: Liberal MP Karen Andrews tears up during emotional speech on domestic violence.
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, meets the Chinese defence minister at a regional summit and stresses the importance of maintaining lines of communication between their militaries.
The prime minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, will visit Australia next week, in the first visit to the country by a Finnish PM.
Independent MP Monique Ryan and the Greens announce they will renew a push to lower the voting age in Australia in the new year.
The Reserve Bank of Australia governor, Dr Philip Lowe, says any inflation response must not include equivalent wage rises.
We will see you again for more news on Thursday.
Updated
Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin to visit Australia
Anthony Albanese will welcome his Finnish counterpart, Sanna Marin, to Australia next week.
Marin, who was cleared of misconduct earlier this month after footage circulated of her basically having a good time, will be the first Finnish prime minister to visit Australia.
Marin will be accompanied by a business delegation and will also address the Lowy Institute, Albanese’s office confirmed in a statement.
The statement went on to say that Australia and Finland share a “common vision” based on equality, trust and shared values, the pair work closely in multilateral forums and Finland has been a strong supporter of Australia’s bid to finalise a free trade agreement with the European Union.
Finland is also seeking Nato membership in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Albanese said:
I look forward to welcoming prime minister Marin to Australia on Friday.
Although a world apart geographically, Australia and Finland are united by shared values and a strong desire to uphold the international rules-based order.
Australians and Finns have a mutual appreciation for fostering sustainable growth, investing in clean energy and resilient supply chains and social and political stability.
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Minister open to talks with China ‘any time’ on trade bans
The trade minister, Don Farrell, has declared he is ready to meet his Chinese counterpart at any time, saying he is increasingly confident the two countries can resolve their trade dispute without having to pursue rulings via the World Trade Organisation.
Farrell said he was an optimist and was hopeful that the trade issues could be sorted out by negotiation and discussion.
Speaking to reporters at Parliament House this afternoon, the minister said the government would not be withdrawing its two WTO challenges – one relating to China’s tariffs on Australian wine and the other on the barley tariffs. But he added:
The offer is there to the Chinese government to start discussions with us about lifting those [trade] bans. And we’re happy to do that at any time.
Farrell said Anthony Albanese’s meeting with Xi Jinping in Bali last week give him confidence that Australia could improve the state of its relationship with its largest trading partner:
Given the, I guess you might call it, the triumph of diplomacy last week between prime minister Albanese and the Chinese president, I’m confident that we can stabilise our relationship, and that through discussion we can resolve our outstanding trade blockages without having to proceed with matters in the World Trade Organisation.
The opposition has said any dialogue with China – including yesterday’s meeting between the two countries’ defence ministers – will ultimately be judged on whether it delivers results for Australia.
Updated
Bridget Archer flags supporting crossbench amendments
Hello from Canberra. Debate on the national integrity commission is continuing in the House of Representatives tonight. The Liberal backbencher Bridget Archer (readers may remember Archer as the government MP who crossed the floor in the last parliament to bring on debate about Helen Haines’ proposal for an anti-corruption commission – a gutsy act that caused a massive internal stink at the time) has just flagged another demonstration of independence when this debate gets to the pointy end.
Archer has just flagged supporting cross-bench amendments removing “exceptional circumstances” as the test for whether or not there are public hearings, and replacing that threshold with a public interest test. She’s backed an extension of protections for whistleblowers, and Archer has also argued if the government of the day departs from the recommendations of a parliamentary committee overseeing the new integrity body, the government should provide reasons for that departure.
This won’t make a difference to the final outcome on current indications because Labor has the numbers with the bulk of the Coalition to make exceptional circumstances the legislated test for public hearings – but Archer is remaining true to the spirit of her floor crossing one year ago. She’s very clear she wants this bill to pass as a downpayment on restoring public trust in politics. She’s also had a flick at Scott Morrison on the way through, noting she has long been of the view that voters want a federal anti-corruption commission unlike some colleagues who dismissed the idea as a “fringe issue”. Fringe issue was a Morrison characterisation. Archer said:
As elected officials, we cannot take any trust that we do have for granted, and nor should we ever believe or act as though we are above reproach. We must do everything that we can with the power and privilege that we hold in this House to build back the trust that has eroded over time, and as the only jurisdiction in Australia without an integrity commission, this is long overdue.
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Latrobe Valley Excess:
Today’s Latrobe Valley Express is carrying an advertising wraparound for Nationals candidate Martin Cameron, including a list of policies and local endorsements #gippsnews pic.twitter.com/X5lF7poMlp
— Jarrod Whittaker (@JarrodWhittaker) November 23, 2022
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Scott Morrison, Christian Porter, Alan Tudge, Stuart Robert, Michael Keenan and Marise Payne have received approval for taxpayer-funded legal expenses related to the robodebt royal commission.
The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has approved the expenses for the six former ministers, who all held portfolios in government, social or human services at the centre of the inquiry into the federal government’s unlawful use of income averaging to demand welfare repayments.
The revelation comes as the commission confirms it is to investigate how former Coalition government ministers and top public servants established the program through the federal budget process.
The full story by Paul Karp and Luke Henriques-Gomes is here:
Australia’s former race commissioner Tim Soutphommasane has urged the Australian Public Service Commission “to get its act together on cultural diversity”.
He says that despite the commission saying that there had been a gradual but steady increase in the past two decades of those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds working in the public service, its own figures showed no improvement since 2013.
“Reform is long overdue,” Soutphommasane tweeted.
The Australian Public Service Commission needs to get its act together on cultural diversity. Here it is suggesting all is fine with the APS — yet its own stats show no improvement over the past decade on NESB representation. Reform is long overdue https://t.co/axs6G1QuJc pic.twitter.com/At5iydGgLh
— Tim Soutphommasane (@timsout) November 23, 2022
Updated
The Senate appears set to pass landmark laws to abolish bans on the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory making their own laws on euthanasia, with a potential late-night sitting session next week likely to overturn the 16-year-old federal bar.
Close to half the Senate has already declared its support for the change, with more support from new senators expected to see the bill pass. Luke Gosling, member for the NT electorate of Solomon and one of the MPs who introduced the bill into the lower house, said he was confident of success. Gosling told the ABC:
I think we’ve been able to convince the majority of senators that we deserve to have our own rights and it’s not up to someone from New South Wales, Victoria or anywhere else to decide these issues. They’re for Territorians to decide.
You can read more on this story here:
The always excellent Afternoon Update newsletter is live:
The shadow attorney general, Julian Leeser, has attacked the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, in the federation chamber for the “unprecedented action in discontinuing proceedings against Mr [Bernard] Collaery for security related offences”.
Collaery was up for five criminal charges related to handling of information about his client Witness K blowing the whistle on Australia’s alleged spying on East Timor, before Dreyfus discontinued the matter.
In the federation chamber, Leeser referred to comments from the commonwealth director of public prosecutions that the prosecution was “based on public interest” and questioned what changed after Labor was elected.
Leeser then asked:
What message does this send to people who might deal in Australia secrets? Why has the attorney general chosen to intervene in this matter, and not matters involving other whistleblowers? Was it because Mr Collaery was an attorney general in the ACT Labor government?
One problem with that: Collaery was not AG in a Labor government. In the first territory parliament, power changed hands a few times. Collaery was AG from December 1989 to May 1991 under Liberal chief minister Trevor Kaine. Oops.
Dreyfus said the decision “reflects the government’s commitment to our national security and our commitment to our relations with our neighbours”.
“The government remains absolutely steadfast in our commitment to keep Australians safe by keeping secrets out of the wrong hands,” he said.
Updated
Federal government will push states to release secret report on raising age of criminal responsibility
The federal government will encourage all state and territory attorneys general to agree to release a secret report on raising the age of criminal responsibility.
The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, told parliament the 2020 report was authorised by the Western Australian government and was the product of the former meeting of the country’s attorneys general “so there are steps that have to be taken in order for it to be released”.
Responding to a question from the independent MP Kate Chaney, Dreyfus said:
I have instructed my department to include the release of the paper as an item for decision at the next meeting of the standing council of attorneys general which met for the first time on 12 August this year … The next meeting will be in December 2022.
Another government minister, Murray Watt, told the Senate today that the federal government wants “to put pressure on the states” to raise the age of criminal responsibility.
Watt said:
As a country we haven’t done a good enough job around youth justice for young Indigenous people and they are being incarcerated at a far higher rate than should be acceptable to any of us in this country.
During Senate question time, Watt also responded to a question from the Greens senator Lidia Thorpe about racist attacks on First Nations children. Watt told the Senate:
We don’t want to see First Nations people exposed to the kind of violence that we have seen of late. And all I can do is repeat the fact that I think we all found that disturbing and we need to do much better as a country.
Updated
Medibank hacker group blog goes offline
The dark web blog that Russian cybercriminals were using to post Medibank customer data has gone offline without explanation.
The site appears to have disappeared between Monday and Tuesday, Australian time, and has not returned since. The file server where leaked Medibank files were linked from the blog has remained online.
On Sunday, the hacker group – which authorities have linked to Russia and which is believed to be connected to the REvil ransomware organisation – posted 1,500 records related to claims on chronic conditions such as heart disease, as well as the patient details of people with cancer, dementia, mental health conditions and infections.
You can read the rest of this story here:
Updated
The factors behind Victoria’s ugly election campaign
Victoria goes to the polls on Saturday after a fierce election campaign, punctuated by accusations of unnamed Nazi candidates, violence at early voting booths, allegations of vote-rigging and political interference, and two anti-corruption referrals.
Daniel Andrews, the nation’s longest serving incumbent leader, is seeking a third four-year term against the Liberal leader, Matthew Guy, who took the Coalition to a devastating loss in 2018.
But the big policy differences between the major parties – the opposition’s pledge to shelve the Suburban Rail Loop project to help fund the healthcare system and Labor’s vow to revitalise a state-owned electricity corporation – have become overshadowed by personal attacks in what has increasingly become a vicious campaign.
Here’s everything you need to know about the contest, including how and why the campaign turned ugly, by Adeshola Ore and Benita Kolovos:
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Tanya Plibersek to respond to report on destruction of Juukan Gorge on Thursday
Tanya Plibersek, the minister for the environment and water, will present the federal government’s response to a parliamentary committee’s report into the destruction of Juukan Gorge on Thursday morning.
The committee found Australia must do more to protect Aboriginal cultural heritage by overhauling “grossly inadequate” laws and giving traditional owners the “right to withhold consent” over developments on their country.
The joint standing committee on northern Australia delivered its findings in October 2021 after more than a year of public hearings.
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Thanks Amy Remeikis for once again being the steady hand at the wheel of this mighty ship.
Nino Bucci will take you through the rest of the afternoon. I will be back early tomorrow morning for more politics fun and games. Thank you so much for spending this time with me and please – take care of you.
Updated
Robodebt inquiry to begin investigating former Coalition ministers’ roles in creating program
The robodebt royal commission scheme is set to investigate how former Coalition government ministers and top public servants established the program through the federal budget process.
It is one of several topics to be explored in a two-week block of hearings commencing on 5 December, according to a media statement released by the commission on Wednesday.
The royal commission said the focus of those hearings would include the impacts of the scheme on individuals and the experience of representative bodies and the government’s response to identified shortcomings in the scheme.
Other issues to be investigated include the role played by the budget process in establishing the scheme, including the involvement of portfolio ministers and top public service executives in this process. Former ministers with responsibility over the period include but are not limited to Scott Morrison, Christian Porter, Marise Payne, Alan Tudge, and Stuart Robert.
An initial set of hearings this month have already started to explore whether legal warnings about the scheme reached Morrison and Payne, who were social services and human services ministers when the program was devised. The inquiry also heard that Morrison’s support for a ramp-up of Centrelink debt recovery saw lawyers rushed into providing advice on plans for the program.
The next hearings will also look at the investigation undertaken by the commonwealth ombudsman. That 2017 investigation went on to green light the scheme’s legality, much to the dismay of critics of the program at the time.
Updated
Doctors criticise Victorian government’s plan to give pharmacists prescription powers
It seems doctors aren’t too thrilled with Daniel Andrews’s election announcement that pharmacists would be able to treat minor health issues, like UTIs, as AAP reports:
The Australian Medical Association’s vice-president, Dr Danielle McMullen, described it as a “slap in the face” to general practitioners, saying antibiotic resistance was one of the biggest health threats facing the world so she did not support any program which increased prescribing.
“It does put antimicrobial resistance at risk, it puts women on the pill at risk,” Dr McMullen told AAP.
She said common conditions like migraines and even smoking can affect the safety of the pill so it was vital women saw a GP for a refill every one or two years.
“Prescribing medication is more than just clicking ‘print’; for every prescription that we write, it really is a consideration of that person’s whole healthcare picture.”
Allowing pharmacists to prescribe medication was “a step in the wrong direction,” according to Royal Australian College of General Practitioners President adjunct professor Karen Price.
She said a similar trial in Queensland resulted in a pharmacist giving a patient in their 50s antibiotics for a presumed UTI when they actually had a 15cm mass in their pelvis.
“Overseas in the United Kingdom the British pharmacists’ own defence union warned of incidents of unsafe practice that have emerged with the rise of independent pharmacist prescribers,” Price said.
Under the pilot, the government would pay pharmacists $20 per consultation and patients would pay no more than the current Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme co-payment for any medications required.
Updated
Guy Debelle, the chief financial officer of Fortescue Future Industries is still recovering from a serious bike accident and has had to step away from the role while he focusses on his recovery.
Debelle is a former deputy governor of the RBA, who many thought would be taking Philip Lowe’s place.
Here is the announcement:
Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (Fortescue, ASX: FMG) today advises that Dr Guy Debelle will transition from the role of Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to the Board of FFI Australia to focus on his health. Felicity Gooding has been appointed Acting CFO of FFI.
In August 2022, Dr Debelle was involved in a serious bicycle incident. Over the past few months, he has been recovering, while managing the demanding duties associated with his role as CFO, and has made the difficult decision to step back to be able to focus on his health. In his new role, Dr Debelle will focus on policy, regulatory and financial advisory, including the development of the
Australian green energy market.Fortescue Founder and Executive Chairman, Dr Andrew Forrest AO said, “Guy is an outstanding human being who also happens to be one of the brightest economic minds in this country. He is passionate about climate change action and deeply committed to making a difference.
“Guy’s recovery has been tough and is still ongoing. He has decided, with my full support and with the support of the Fortescue Family, to stand down from this role and transition to a role on the FFI Board so he can fully focus on his recovery.
“Guy has made an enormous contribution to FFI with his extensive economic credibility through his many years at the Reserve Bank of Australia. We are very fortunate that he will remain part of the Fortescue Family in his new position, as we continue our transition to a global green energy, technology and resources company.”
Dr Debelle said, “This has been a difficult decision. I am sadly not in a position to give this role everything I know it deserves right now. It is a critical time for the green energy transition, and we cannot slow down. I have felt deeply supported by Andrew and Mark. I greatly admire this Company and what FFI and Fortescue are doing and achieving. Thank you to the incredible team at FFI.”
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New Zealand headed for recession in 2023
Speaking of New Zealand, it looks set for some tough times next year, AAP reports:
New Zealand is bound for recession next year according to its central bank, which delivered an eye-watering forecasts and an unprecedented triple-hike of the official cash rate, raising it by 75 basis points to 4.25%.
On Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand lifted rates for the ninth consecutive meeting and upped the predicted OCR peak to 5.5%.
The RBNZ’s latest projections suggest pain for Kiwi mortgage-holders, with inflation staying doggedly outside the target band until late 2024.
The bank’s inflation-fighting course will deliver New Zealand a recession beginning in Q2 next year, with four quarters of mild contractions before two further quarters of zero growth.
The RBNZ governor, Adrian Orr, admitted the cash rate needed to go higher than it previously forecast, and quicker than first thought, to fight runaway inflation currently at 7.2%.
“Inflation is no one’s friend,” he said. “In order to rid the country of inflation we need to reduce spending levels. That means that we will have a period of negative GDP growth, we think to the tune of around 1% of GDP.”
Showing the scale of the inflation challenge, the RBNZ’s last forecasts, issued in August, suggested an OCR peak of 4.1%.
Three months on, it has already outstripped that forecast, with further rate rises baked in early next year.
Updated
Resettlement of refugees from offshore detention ‘a hard-earned win for human rights’: Amnesty International
Amnesty International has welcomed the start of the resettlement of asylum seekers from Australia’s detention program in New Zealand.
Executive Director at Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand, Shaun Greaves, said he hoped it was just the start:
This is a hard-earned win for human rights. Our heartfelt thanks go to the thousands of advocates around the world who pushed for this to happen, and to all those who have shared their lived experience of the dire conditions in Australia’s detention regime.
Sometimes injustices seem insurmountable, but standing together will bring us closer to a world based on aroha, equality and care.
The dire conditions experienced in offshore detention centres have caused serious mental and physical health issues for many people. The New Zealand government must now do all that it can to support all those arriving in Aotearoa to settle into a flourishing life.
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Australian scientists sequence Hass avocado genome
Hot off the heels of golden wattle DNA being decoded, scientists have sequenced the genome of the Hass avocado.
It’s a development researchers hope may shed light on the plant’s biology and the fats and sugars in the avocado fruit.
Dr Onkar Nath of the University of Queensland, said in a statement:
Our Hass genome is 98% complete – the first in the world of such complexity – and we now know which genes are responsible for which characteristic …
Avocado already tastes very good, but there is still scope for improvement for many useful characteristics such as tree height, architecture and resistance to pests and diseases.
The research, published in the journal Horticultural Research, identified 48,915 avocado genes, of which 39,207 could be ascribed specific functions.
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Cybersecurity centre publishes guide to data vulnerability tipoffs for organisations
In the wake of high-profile data breaches, the government’s Australian Cyber Security Centre has published a guide for organisations to set up a vulnerability disclosure program.
Basically, businesses should make it easier for insiders and outsiders to tip off those businesses about the discovery of any security vulnerabilities before they can be exploited, and any such tip off should be acted on immediately and the person who discovered it thanked. The guide can be found here.
The minister for home affairs and cybersecurity, Clare O’Neil, said in a statement organisations should arm themselves against cybercriminals:
I know many Australians are still reeling from data breaches where their private and very personal data was stolen and published online. What we can learn from hacks is that it’s vital we need to strengthen our cyber defences. And we need to do that now …
Australia can be the most cybersecure country in the world. But we need to work together. We need to identify and close off any security vulnerabilities and uplift our cybersecurity posture. I implore all Australian organisations to go to cyber.gov.au and download this publication and put in place a vulnerability disclosure program.
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Penny Wong withdraws 'coward' comment in Senate aimed at Gerard Rennick
There have been some heated exchanges in Senate question time. The Liberal National party senator Gerard Rennick (who denies mainstream climate science) interjected during a question about the CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology state of the climate report.
His comments couldn’t clearly be heard. The government’s Senate leader, Penny Wong, told Rennick:
Stand up and say it.
The Senate president, Sue Lines, asked Wong to withdraw one of the comments she made.
Wong asked for clarity:
That he’s a coward?
Lines told Wong it was “not appropriate” to repeat a comment to be withdrawn.
Wong then said without qualification:
I withdraw.
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And question time ends.
Don’t get too excited, though. There is another one tomorrow.
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Andrew Wallace to Anthony Albanese:
Prime minister, the Alex Surf Life Saving Club of which I’m a proud member on the beautiful Sunshine Coast will be forced to pay $250,000 more for electricity next year compared to this year. When can the Alex Surf Life Saving Club see the promised $275 cut to their power bills?
Two things: one, the Alex surf club sits on absolute mint beachfront land on the Alexandra Headlands. It also has a very large membership. It is not exactly a small club. Two, the Labor election policy for the $275 cut was by 2025. Yes, Labor isn’t repeating it, but the commitment was by 2025.
Albanese:
I will just start very quickly by giving a shout out to the Alex Surf Life Saving Club. I was very pleased to be there and to meet the heads of the Alex Surf Life Saving Club, and …
[Someone from the opposition yells something about Maroochydore]
… No, I was at Alexandra Heads Surf Life Saving Club and we did a press conference there. See, I know Queensland. Alexandra Heads is different from Maroochydore. Two different events two different places, a bit like the effort in Yeppoon – two different places.
He then asks Chris Bowen to take the question.
We are very concerned about the impact on energy prices of the global energy crisis, caused by the war in Ukraine.
… [Angus Taylor] had a different view prior to the election. He had a different view prior to the election.
Prior to the election, he was asked about Ukraine and what does it mean for the world’s gas supply, and the member for Hume said: “Well, obviously, it is putting upward pressure on oil and gas prices around the world.”
Mr Speaker, that’s what he said.
We also had the other energy minister in the government who said: “But in the last 12 months we’ve seen Russia invade Ukraine and to think that is not going to have an impact, particularly on our supply chains, that would be unfair.”
That was also the other energy minister, who was also prime minister and member for Cook, and I’m not sure what capacity he was talking in, but he was actually correct.
We understand the impact on the surf life saving club, we understand the impact on industry, and that’s why we will not stand by and watch this play out.
We will not stand by and watch the fact that thermal coal was selling at $286 a tonne in December ‘21 and now selling at $515 a tonne, Mr Speaker. That will flow through unless the government takes action. Gas was selling for $11.56 a gigajoule in December. Today it is $18.67.
This is what is driving the energy price rises, as the International Energy Agency has made clear right around the world, Mr Speaker.
… Governments all around the world are dealing with this crisis and responding, just as this government is working through the issues and will respond and will not stand by and let this impact on Australian households and businesses.
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Dai Le, the independent MP for Fowler, has the third crossbench question:
I’m sure that residents in Fowler, Western Sydney and across Australia are awaiting their electricity bills with trepidation. With Christmas about four weeks away, families are feeling the pinch as they spend more on food, petrol which has increased and household bills on top of buying presents for their loved ones. You have said that you will announce “sensible energy to this crisis.” What is the date?
Jim Chalmers:
Thank you very much to the member for Fowler for her question and for her interest and obviously for the way that she is engaged on these issues for some time now.
The reason that we are prepared to make that temporary, meaningful, responsible intervention in these markets between now and the end of the year is because we do think it is unacceptable, the sorts of price rises which are anticipated by the Treasury, and contained in the Budget Papers that I released about a month ago.
The Australian people are paying a very hefty price for the Russian war in Ukraine and for a decade of incompetence when it comes to energy markets and the reality is...
The failures of the member for Hume and others on that side of the House means that we are more vulnerable to these international shocks in global energy markets than we should be and that is because over the course of a decade, those opposite took more capacity out of the energy markets than they put in and that made us more vulnerable. That’s how we find ourselves in the position that we are.
That’s how we find ourselves in the position that we are in and it is unacceptable. That’s why I’m working closely with the resources Minister, the Energy Minister, the Trade Minister, the Prime Minister and others to find a way to intervene in these markets in a meaningful way n a temporary way and in a responsible way. And to those…
Le is back on her feet.
Treasurer, I just want a date, if it’s possible.
There are cheers from the opposition side of the chamber.
Chalmers continues:
We will progress this work as quickly as we can and we will make an announcement before the end of the year.
Chris Bowen: Opposition should explain to Pacific ‘why our country should have no role in helping’ the region in climate crisis
The Liberal MP for Herbert, Phil Thompson, is the opposition MP charged with asking the dog-whistling question today:
Before the election, Labor promised to reduce power prices on at least 97 occasions. But before the election, Labor was completely silent about signing us up to a $2 trillion UN fund to send money to countries all around the world. Why is the government sending taxpayers’ money offshore while taking no action to reduce power bills of struggling Australian families?
Chris Bowen (who has one of these a week, kicked off by Peter Dutton on Monday):
There is a lot in that question, and a lot I could talk about, but I will deal with the latter part of the honourable member’s question, because on this side of the house we do believe in engaging on how to deal with the impacts of climate change here and around the world.
That’s what we believe in. We believe in doing that domestically and internationally. That’s what we were doing last week at the Cop27 meeting. We believe this is an important security in this region as well, in south-east Asia.
There is a difference of view, it appears, between the government and opposition on this question. We believe in engaging in the international conversation.
We believe in shaping that conversation. That’s what we were doing last week – negotiating, talking to the Pacific, talking to developed countries, talking about good design, talking about ensuring that wealthy countries that weren’t wealthy in 1992 are making a contribution, making sure that the loss and damage payments are focused on the most vulnerable countries, countries in our region, countries in our region like Tuvalu and Vanuatu and Samoa.
That’s what we believe. Countries like Fiji, which is estimated to lose 5% of their GDP every year due to climate change-induced natural disasters, have a right to a seat at the table. We believe it is in our interests to engage with them.
And if the opposition has an alternative view, I invite them to outline it. They say this is not a conversation we should be involved in. They say we should not be talking at the Cop and not talking to specific nations. I invite the leader of the opposition on this topic. He is the alternative prime minister of this country. If he is successful, it will be his role to be the chief diplomat of the nation, Mr Speaker.
I invite him today to invite the high commissioners and ambassadors of the Pacific to hear why he thinks they should not be, why our country should have no role in helping the Pacific.
To [add] a few jokes to his discourse about and he should explain it. He should explain to the Pakistani community, which I met with, the Pakistani leaders about the $30 billion worth of damage to their economy. He should explain that is not our concern. We have no interest in this matter. This is his role, this is his approach, he should explain it to the Australian people.
Our view is clear: We will engage, we will be involved, we will be constructive in climate debate because Australia is back at the table after 10 long years.
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After not getting opposition questions on the IR bill, Tony Burke has someone from the government ask him one.
Kate Chaney has another of the crossbench questions for the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, on the age of criminal responsibility and calls to raise the age:
The UN has expressed concern about the very low age of criminal responsibility in Australia. In WA, we are currently locking kids up in an adult prison. Will you make public the final report prepared in 2020 by the council of attorneys general that allegedly shows the majority of state and territory attorneys general were in favour of raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years?
Dreyfus:
The report that the member has mentioned, a report authorised by the West Australian government, was the product of the former meeting of attorneys general. Sorry for making the precise distinction. The decision not to release it was made under the previous government.
The paper was not written by the commonwealth government, so there are steps that have to be taken in order for it to be released.
I have instructed my department to include the release of the paper as an item for decision at the next meeting of the standing council of attorneys general which met for the first time on 12 August this year.
… I do appreciate the member’s interest in respect of the minimum age of criminal responsibility. I am working to develop proposals about the minimum age of criminal responsibility.
I’m also working closely with the minister for Indigenous Australians to address the very serious issue of overrepresentation of First Nations children in the criminal justice system, consistent with the obligations of all governments under the national agreement on closing the gap.
At that meeting on 12 August, all attorneys general agreed that an official working group will continue to develop to increase the minimum age of criminal responsibility, paying particular attention to that overrepresentation of First Nations children.
The next meeting will be in December 2022. I note that some progress in this has already been made because the government of the Northern Territory has introduced a bill already, and there is now a bill before the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory to raise the age of criminal responsibility.
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Now it is Mark Coulton’s time (the Coalition MP for Parkes).
He has one for Catherine King:
I refer to warnings by domestic airlines that that they’ll be forced to cut marginal fair cuts and increase prices as a result of the government’s extreme regional industrial changes, given families rely on these being accessible and affordable can the minister guarantee there’ll be no impacts to regional routes from Labor’s extreme industrial relations agenda?
Seems like no one actually wants to ask Tony Burke a question on this legislation, but wants to ask everyone else about it.
King:
I’ll start answering the question and then I will ask the minister for industrial relations, who’s responsible both for the legislation and the same job same pay policy, which in fact I suspect the member was referring to.
It has been terrific to see our airlines come back at strength. We’re almost seeing 100% of domestic demand coming back. That’s very pleasing to see.
I do note that Qantas has become very profitable and, had the previous government done what we suggested and actually provide JobKeeper with equity stake in Qantas, we’d be making quite a bit of money at the moment, it might have been something that would have been a very good idea.
But I am conscious that Qantas is in the building lobbying, as are a number of other businesses, at the moment. And can I assure you our interest is getting wages moving and making sure that the services that are delivered right the way across the country and the wages of regional people are actually benefiting from our industrial relations legislation.
Tony Burke gets up:
I don’t know what someone has to do to get a question in this place. The portfolio appears to be of interest.
But I don’t know what it is, I don’t know what it would take for those opposite to realise that it’s not outrageous for the Australian workforce to want a share of profits that happen in Australia.
It’s not outrageous for the Australian workforce to see projects, see businesses, in Australia doing well and saying at the same time why should they be constantly falling behind?
There’s nothing wrong with the Australian workforce believing that they should have a better chance of keeping up with what’s lapping in expenses in this country.
… One of the words that was used in the question was the word extreme. I’ll tell you what’s extreme. Ten years of wages not moving is extreme. Ten years of Australians going further and further behind. That’s extreme. Australian workers … now, in real terms, earning less than what they were earning a decade ago.
That’s extreme. But that wasn’t an accident. That was a deliberate design feature of those opposite economy. They’re on to it.
They know the legislation will deal with it. Because the shadow treasurer’s objection to the legislation is because it will get wages moving That’s his objection to it. I’ll tell you what I want with flight routes.
I want more Australians to be able to afford to get on a plane. I want more Australians to be able to afford some of those discretionary expenses. Those opposite know the title of the bill is what it will deliver and that’s what they oppose. They oppose secure jobs, they oppose better pay. We intend to deliver both.
Updated
Chris Bowen takes a dixer on climate action, and includes this in his answer:
I’m pleased to report to the house, for example, that today the other place, the Senate, has passed the final piece of legislation necessary for offshore wind in Australia, the final piece in the jigsaw puzzle. And I look forward to making further announcements about offshore wind in coming weeks. Very important announcement.
I’m confident the Senate will pass the electric vehicle tax cut this week. No support from the opposition for that, such is their prejudice, but other parties have worked with the government and we will pass that important legislation and electric vehicles will be cheaper for people around the country.
This is what we’re doing, getting on with the job. I’m also pleased to report my friendly assistant treasurer has introduced the tax laws amendment bill which will [provide] the funds for rewiring the nation, improving transmission across the country, build the transmission we need to get renewable energy on.
These are important steps that are necessary and vital, as we know, for Australia to act. I’m pleased to inform the house that next Thursday on behalf of the government I’ll be delivering the nation’s first climate change statement as required under the act we passed, the first time an act was passed in a decade.
This is what transparency is about. This is what progress is about. Reporting to the house on progress, reporting to the house on challenges, reporting to the house on opportunities. I hope the house comes together at that time so we can all share policies on climate change that are necessary in this country.
Updated
Jim Chalmers gets a dixer and then it is back to Jenny Ware! Who is in the right seat! What a time.
I refer to page 52 of the Regulation Impact Statement from the fair work amendment bill. In calculating the cost of multi-employer bargaining, the report states, ‘The $275,700 divided by 15.2 is $12,878 per business. Is the minister aware that figure divided by 15.2 equals $18,006 of is this a mistake the government is deliberately trying to hide the significant costs which businesses are set to pay?
Milton Dick sighs louder than my mum did every time the issue of my curfew came up when I was a teenager.
I’m going to give the call to the minister. There was a question in there relating to her portfolio. I give her the call.
Julie Collins:
I do thank the member for her question. As she would be aware, regulatory impact statements are prepared by the department responsible for that legislation.
That department is the Department of Workplace Relations, and the minister responsible is over here if you want to direct the question to him.
Updated
Tony Burke gets up and asks:
It’s on a different point of order. Is the member for Hughes even in her correct seat? That she’d have to be in, to be able to get the call?
(Under the standing orders, members must be in their correct seats.)
IS JENNY WARE EVEN IN THE RIGHT SEAT?
What a moment in the parliament.
Peter Dutton is INCENSED.
To assist you, Mr Speaker, I have not heard a more petty point of order made in this place.
The house is full of interjections. Everyone has something to say. Dutton continues:
With respect to you, Mr Speaker, you have chosen to give the member the call. That can’t be overruled by now some post-facto advice from the leader of the house.
(Ware was not in her correct seat, it seems.)
Dick has had enough (and so have I, because every minute in question time is like staring into the abyss and having it stare back at you, and no one’s soul can withstand that much beigeness)
Dick:
To assist the house, I would remind all members to reside in their seat as per the standing orders. I am going to move to the next question and will come back to the member for Hughes.
We finally move on.
Updated
The member for Hughes, Jenny Ware, has a question for … you guessed it, Julie Collins!
Ware:
Can the minister advise whether there is an error in the industrial relations regulatory impact statement? And, if so, can the minister advise of the correct figure?
Tony Burke is immediately on his feet to say that this isn’t in Julie Collins’s portfolio.
Peter Dutton then steps in:
Mr Speaker, with real respect for my colleague opposite, I think he’s playing a little cute on this one. This issue has been quite contentious in the Senate already. Whether he’s conveyed that message or not, I’d be very surprised if he hasn’t.
The fact is the question was put to the Minister for Small Business. It relates to the provision within the regulatory impact statement that goes to small business impact, 15,000, medium-sized, large-sized business. There was an obvious mistake the minister should be aware of and she should …[answer the question]
Burke then seizes on that:
Mr Speaker, to the point of order raised by the leader of the opposition. He actually just gave the game away. He actually said, “Even if you add all the extra context it’s about a medium-sized question, not about the small business minister.’ So even if we accept everything he’s just said they’ve still got it wrong. They’ve still got it wrong. So there is no way in the world that question is a valid question in the way they’ve tried to direct it.
And then Peter Dutton is back:
Mr Speaker, is the argument now that the small business minister can’t answer a question in relation to medium-sized businesses that the argument being put by the leader of the house? I mean, how long does this protection racket continue on for?
Milton Dick wants the question repeated for the benefit of the house. There are so many interjections that it is hard to say who is speaking.
And then Anthony Albanese gets up:
Past Speakers have, at this embarrassing point, just asked to move on. We should move on to the next question until there’s a member on this side to do so.
Dick asks for the question to be reread. It is. And then Dick makes his ruling.
I’m going to rule the question out of order. She’s got time to rephrase it so it’s directed either to the right minister or including the right information, OK?
But Dutton is not happy.
In my submission to you, Mr Speaker, I can’t believe that you can rule the question out of order … Regulatory impact statement relates to small business. That’s the section that is being referred to. So for your information, Mr Speaker, it’s not beyond the remit of the minister, in fact, it’s entirely within her portfolio responsibility.
And then … see next post.
Updated
Attorney general says bill on whistleblower law reform to be introduced
The independent MP for Mackellar, Dr Sophie Scamps, is up first for the crossbench:
The persecution and prosecution of [whistleblowers] is a national shame. Today Griffith University, the Human Rights Law Centre and transparency international have released a report outlining 12 key steps Australia must take to strengthen whistleblower protections. Will the government commit to implementing the report’s recommendations in this term of parliament, in particular the establishment of the whistleblower protection authority?
Mark Dreyfus:
I have received a copy of the joint report on whistleblowers by Griffith university, the Human Rights Law Centre and Transparency International and I know of the member’s longstanding interest in this area.
The report sets out a number of areas of whistleblower reform.
It will be considered by the government along with other reviews, and reports on this important topic. I have previously indicated pretty clearly that the Albanese government is going to deliver long overdue reforms to the public interest disclosure act to ensure that Australia has best practice whistleblowing protection for the public sector.
Next week I will be introducing to the parliament a bill which will implement the key recommendations, and this is long overdue, of the 2016 review of the Public Interest Disclosure Act that was carried out by an eminent Australian public servant, Mr Philip Moss AM, and it will also be implementing some parliamentary committee reports which have looked at the operation of the public interest disclosure act since we brought it to government when we were last in government in 2013.
The bill that I’m introducing next week will deliver some immediate improvements to the public sector whistleblowing scheme.
It will be in place before the national anti-corruption commission commences, as we hope, in mid-2023, and this bill will represent the first stage of a significant package of public sector whistleblowing reform.
Following the passage of that bill, this first bill, the government will commence a second stage of further and broader reforms to the public interest disclosure act which will include an exposure draft process, a discussion paper on whether there is a need to establish a whistleblower protection or as some of your crossbench colleagues have suggested a whistleblower protection commission.
The bill that’s going to be introduced next week and the Albanese government’s broader reform package reinforces our strong commitment to restoring integrity in government and the rule of law.
Updated
The dixers have been about the passing of Labor’s cheaper childcare legislation through the Senate.
It doesn’t come into effect until next year, but will make early childhood education cheaper for most Australian families once it is in place.
Next up – paying the workforce more and securing enough workers for the sector.
Updated
The Liberal MP Angie Bell has a question for Julie Collins (it is looking like the Collins hour once again):
Minister, under the IR legislation, a coffee shop with less than 15 employees is exempt from compulsory bargaining. If a coffee shop operates over three sites with 7 employees at each will they be forced into multi-employer bargaining?
Collins:
As I said very clearly, there are measures that need to be met. The single employer needs to have the businesses of the number of threshold of employees. We are currently negotiating and discussing given the Senate recommendations on that number of employees.
We have also said that either side of the bargaining table can opt in to the single interest bargaining stream. The employer by consent or the employees by majority support.
They also need to meet the test whereby the Fair Work Commission needs to be satisfied that the employers have clearly identified common interests and the bargaining is not contrary to the public interest. There are several thresholds that need to be met.
The employee number, as you would know, from the recommendations from the Senate there is another number that has been proposed and we’re currently in negotiations and discussing that. But let’s be very clear. Over 2 million small businesses in Australia will be exempt from these provisions.
Collins reads most of this answer.
Updated
Question time begins
We are straight into it again today, with Sussan Ley asking Julie Collins:
Under Labor’s industrial relations agenda which the minister has confirmed not a single small business in this country supports, a coffee shop with less than 15 employees is exempt from compulsory multi-employer bargaining. If that small business operates over three sites with 7 employees at each, can that small business be compelled into multi-employer bargaining?
Collins:
As I have said in this place we are continuing to consult and talk to small businesses as we negotiate getting the industrial relations legislation through this Parliament. When it comes to the size of small business, she would have seen the recommendations from the Senate committee yesterday. We’re having a look at those. We are actually talking to people about what they might mean. Indeed, as she would also know if she’s read the bill, there are several thresholds that need to be met for the single interest bargaining scheme. One is the number of employees. Of course the others are that the Fair Work Commission needs to be satisfied that employers have a clearly identified common interest and that the bargain is not contrary to the public interest. That threshold needs to be met. We want to see businesses competing on quality on innovation, product and services.
Sussan Ley tries a point of order, but Milton Dick sits her down.
And then Collins, who has been the target of these questions for the last couple of days seems to have had her fill:
If the shadow minister would listen carefully there are actually thresholds that need to be met. It’s not just the number of employees.
It needs to be also that they need to want to bargain.
…She needs to understand it is not as straightforward as she wants to say.
He also needs to understand as I have a said clearly in this place over 2 million small businesses will be unaffected, over 2 million, 90 per cent of all businesses.
The shadow minister over there has been out trying to whip out conflict and confusion about this, right?
She needs to be careful.
The shadow minister said this morning that the whole bill is terrible. Does she really think as a shadow minister that acting on sexual harassment in the workplace is terrible. Is that what she really thinks?
Does she really think...is that what she really thinks? Does she really think that making adjustments to the better off overall test that businesses have asked for, is terrible? If that is what she thinks small businesses deserve better than what the shadow minister is giving them.
Question time is about to begin, which will interrupt the non-stop speeches on the national anti-corruption commission.
The crossbench have been pushing very, very hard for public hearings, but aren’t making headway on that issue, with both Labor and the Coalition on a unity ticket for “exceptional circumstances”.
Updated
Karen Andrews: Women repatriated from Syria ‘could be bringing IS ideology back with them’
Still on Karen Andrews and her chat with the ABC, the former home affairs minister is asked about the repatriation of Australian women and children from Syrian camps. This is in relation to the women who went to Syria, in most cases following partners, to fight for Islamic State.
Now, it is important to remember in all of this that these people are Australians. If they had been able to get to an embassy under their own steam, we would be obliged to help them. As Australian citizens, they have a right to return.
Andrews says part of the reason her government didn’t repatriate the women and children living in Syrian refugee camps (while other nations did) was because of the risk to Australian personnel.
Asked about the risk of leaving women and children there, Andrews says:
Yes, and unfortunately the children to remain the victims of the actions of their parents. I think it was interesting, to listen to Frank [Carbone], the mayor of Fairfield, he was speaking yesterday and he was talking about and has made these comments before that while these women have come back and issued statements, effectively apologising for their actions, they actually haven’t renounced the Isis ideology.
Q: The fact that they were willing to fully is probably a good indication [they had renounced]?
Andrews:
Not necessarily, they could be bringing that ideology back with them. I think that what Frank has been saying is something that needs to be [examined carefully]. And it leads on to the obvious question as to why the government has refused to speak with them as in western Sydney was a they have been isolated but I’m sure that the government is going to be calling on them to assist with the level of reintegration of those women and their children into those communities.
It is important to note that Australian security agencies have said that their number one focus is the safety and security of Australians. That has been their one public comment in all of this.
Updated
Question time is in about 15 minutes time. Woo. Hoo.
Simon Birmingham says Labor must defend Aukus against Chinese criticisms
The Coalition’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Simon Birmingham, has urged the Albanese government to clearly defend Aukus against criticism from China.
A recent article in the Global Times, a Chinese state-controlled outlet, argued the Aukus security partnership with the US and the UK “serves to provoke China” and remained “a barrier to improving China-Australia ties”.
That article, published last weekend, said the Australian government should not ignore the Chinese government’s concerns:
After the recent bilateral meeting between the Chinese and Australian leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit, it is widely hoped that this will inject more positivity into what have been deteriorating bilateral relations. However, if Canberra chooses to ignore Beijing’s concerns over Aukus, the pact will remain a thorn in the side of China-Australia relations. It is also likely to undermine a clear pathway to the healthy development of bilateral ties.
Birmingham addressed the issue during an interview with Sky News today. It follows the meeting between the Australian defence minister, Richard Marles, and his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, in Cambodia yesterday.
Birmingham appeared to accuse Beijing of hypocrisy in criticising Aukus. Alluding to China’s own rapid military buildup, Birmingham told Sky News:
Let me firstly deal with that type of Global Times commentary, and it’s important to be very clear that in saying that nations should respect the sovereignty of other nations, that applies in all manner of different decisions and it includes especially how you might work in terms of your own strategic partnerships, alliances, defence partnerships and the like.
And so what Australia is doing in relation to Aukus is engaging with like-minded nations, longstanding allies and partners to ensure that we have access to the best defence technologies [and] capabilities in the future for our nation’s defences and our sovereignty. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
In fact, it of course is essential that Australia does that and defends our right to do so, and we should defend it clearly against any who criticise it, particularly those who may themselves be pursuing their own military aspirations.
Updated
Karen Andrews ‘very happy’ about refugee resettlement arrangement with New Zealand
Karen Andrews, who was a home affairs minister in the previous government, is asked about the start of the transfers of asylum seekers to New Zealand. The Coalition had opposed the offer for many years, because it didn’t want the asylum seekers to have entry to Australia (New Zealand citizens have visa-free travel to Australia). A deal was worked out in the last months of the Morrison government, and Andrews says about the start of the transfers:
There is still a lot of work that needs to be put in place after the initial announcements … Of course, I would have liked it to have been happening sooner, but I do understand that it does take time.
The New Zealand government would have had to put in place the actions of – needed to be able to determine who they were going to accept into New Zealand, and that did take time.
I’m very happy that this arrangement was put in place in the first instance and we were able to negotiate up. Now the people are starting to be transferred to New Zealand, I think that’s a good outcome for those people and [we say] a huge thank you to the New Zealand government.
Updated
Average worker does six weeks of unpaid overtime a year, Australia Institute report says
The Australia Institute has a new report out looking at how much unpaid overtime we are all doing.
It’s found that the average Australian worker is doing six weeks of unpaid overtime, which is worth $8,000 per worker per year.
Most workers (84%) want the “right to disconnect” – to not be available to their work after hours.
Across the workforce, there is about $92bn in lost income per year.
Updated
Rachel Perkins: ‘the new generation will change the way Australia’s [frontier wars] history is viewed’
Rachel Perkins and Henry Reynolds are the people behind the series The Australian Wars, which will be shown on SBS.
One of the issues is that the frontier wars are not acknowledged as part of Australia’s history and are not included in the Australia War Memorial.
Q: New Zealand’s War Memorial has acknowledged their frontier wars and the Australian War Memorial in fact acknowledges our own colonial involvement in the New Zealand wars.
What’s holding Australia back, is it institutional racism?
Rachel Perkins:
That’s a very good question. People might not be aware of the fact that New Zealand, Aotearoa New Zealand, recently renamed what is and what were once called the Māori wars and called them the New Zealand wars.
And during the process of making this series we changed the name of the series to be called The Australian Wars, because it is, after all, the war was, that founded the continent.
What is holding Australia back? Well, I see there’s young students here today in the audience, and I appreciate the fact that you’re here. And I think the new generation, who will have access to this history for the first time in a very long time, will change the country as they take leadership roles and they’ll change the way this history is viewed and it will no longer, you know, it won’t be held back any more.
I think it can’t be held back. As Henry says, once the truth is out there, what do you do with it? That’s the question. How do you act on it? And I think the next generation will indeed act on it.
Updated
Rachel Perkins: ‘we forgive but not forget’
Rachel Perkins is asked about the state of the “culture wars” now that there is a new government. Perkins says:
When the head of the RSL rejects a proposal to have inclusion of frontier conflicts in an expanded form at the War Memorial, I ... I just – I’m reminded of, you know, the RSL’s long tradition of banning Aboriginal people from their RSLs around the country.
You know, we remember those things. You know, we forgive but not forget. And I think the country is going through a change but it’s a long time coming, you know. It’s far too slow for me, and many other people. But I do have great hope in the education system.
Updated
National Press Club address
The national press club address this afternoon features Arrernte and Kalkadoon filmmaker Rachel Perkins and historian Professor Henry Reynolds talking about the Australian wars.
In particular, the ones we don’t talk about. I’ll bring you some of that Q&A.
Updated
Labor drops plan to reduce access to disability pension for drug and alcohol-related conditions
If you haven’t read this from Luke Henriques-Gomes, you should:
The Albanese government has backed down from a controversial proposal that would have made it harder for people with drug and alcohol-related conditions to get access to the disability support pension.
But it is still facing calls to do more to address longstanding problems with the design of the disability pension, amid record levels of people on jobseeker living with a disability.
The government has proposed new “impairment tables” that govern eligibility for the pension under a once-a-decade consultation and review process.
Updated
Lambie calls for committee to assess preparedness for climate disasters
Senator Jacqui Lambie says she been moved by the BoM and CSIRO report into Australia’s climate. She wants a committee set up to see how prepared Australia is to deal with the coming natural disasters:
I’m not surprised the report says weather events are getting worse because of climate change. Everyone in Australia knows that we’re having more and more floods. Bushfire season is stretching out longer every year.
This is why I’m setting up a Senate committee into Australia’s Disaster Resilience. We need to get a plan in place now to deal with these events. We can’t keep calling in the army to help. That’s not what they’re there for and it’s stretching their capacity to protect our national security.
A committee will hear from people across the country. It’ll ask them about the best way to look after our communities before and after weather events hit.
I’m optimistic we can get this committee up by end of the sitting fortnight. Time to get our skates on and get this moving.
Updated
Simon Birmingham says value of Australia and China’s defence ministers meeting will be in outcomes
The Coalition’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Simon Birmingham, has spoken to Sky News following the meeting between the defence minister, Richard Marles, and China’s defence minister, Wei Fenghe, in Cambodia (a second meeting between those ministers).
Birmingham said:
The test of the benefit of dialogue will be about the outcomes achieved. First and foremost we want to see peace and stability in our region. We should be able to work through difficult issues together.
Birmingham said it would be of mutual benefit for Australia and China for close economic cooperation to continue. He said it had “certainly not been to China’s benefit” to roll out a series of trade actions against Australian export sectors. He cited actions that were imposed by Beijing either directly though tariffs – such as in the case of barley and wine – or in “many indirect ways” through other trade restrictions.
He labelled this as “attempted economic coercion”.
Updated
Independent and Greens renew push to lower voting age
Could Australia get a lower voting age?
Paul Karp has had a chat to the Kooyong independent, Monique Ryan, about the proposal:
Independent MP Monique Ryan and the Greens will both renew a push to lower the voting age in Australia in the new year.
Ryan has said she will introduce a private member’s bill, to require 16 and 17-year-olds to vote but without the threat of fines, or work with the Greens, which have a bill in the Senate to extend the franchise with voluntary voting.
The move follows a New Zealand court ruling that the current voting age of 18 is discriminatory, which has prompted New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, to green-light a parliamentary debate on lowering the voting age.
In an encouraging sign for those agitating about the issue in Australia, the special minister of state, Don Farrell, said the government had “never ruled out” lowering the voting age.
Updated
‘Qantas play hardball on workplace relations’ – Bill Shorten
Anthony Albanese is reportedly meeting with Qantas boss Alan Joyce today, while the IR legislation negotiations continue.
So apparently Alan Joyce is lobbying the Govt today opposing their IR laws that would give workers pay rises.#auspol
— Sally McManus (@sallymcmanus) November 22, 2022
Bill Shorten was asked about the meeting on ABC RN Breakfast this morning and said he was “unaware of the discussion” so couldn’t speak on that, but in general:
Qantas is a national carrier and there’s many things that they do well, but it’s a matter of record that even before I entered parliament I used to represent Qantas engineers.
Qantas play hardball on workplace relations. They’re entitled to their opinion and during Covid they’ve been doing remarkable things.
But when it comes to workplace relations, my electorate covers Melbourne airport, I have a lot of airline people who live in my electorate. I don’t agree that when Qantas was laying off staff it was doing the right thing.
So Qantas has always had a particular point of view on workplace relations. They’ve never hidden it. But, you know, I’m going to leave Qantas to run an airline, but I don’t want them in charge of the wages system of this country.
Updated
Liberal MP recounts her experience of family violence
Liberal MP Karen Andrews gave a very emotional speech in the chamber this morning while addressing the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, as she recounted her experience of watching someone she cared for go through a violent situation:
We all know many of these victims. And unfortunately, I’m one of the people who has had to wait for text messages to come in and phone messages to come through and the phone calls are much worse, wondering if someone that you love is still alive.
In the time that I have lived in this place however long it might be, I will dedicate myself to working to stop this violence. I’m really sorry.
For those people who have no experience you have idea what it’s like and for the people who sit innocently on the side, and as I said wait for that call waiting to hear if someone they love is OK, it is traumatic.
And when you’re there at night and the phone rings, you wonder what you’re going to hear.
It is a terribly traumatic experience.
But for all the things that I have experienced, there are many other people who have been on the frontline and have experienced it themselves.
And for those people, I will dedicate my time left in this place to try to support you.
Andrews went on to speak on the global shift which needed to take place to end violence against women and children. She also spoke of the need to help educate people on consent and pledged her bipartisan support with the government on working on addressing all the issues around violence against women.
Updated
The statistics on violence against women
This Friday is the International Day for Eliminating Violence Against Women.
The House isn’t sitting on Friday, so there was time this morning put aside to acknowledge the day and just how far we have to go.
Amanda Rishworth went through the statistics:
I’d like to take this moment – here in this place – to highlight the sobering statistics that confront us here in Australia.
One woman dies every 10 days in Australia at the hands of her former or current partner.
Before the end of the year, based on these statistics alone, three women will lose their lives to violence, often by someone who has professed to love and care for them.
Every two minutes, police around the nation deal with a domestic and family violence matter.
That’s 5,000 calls a week, on average.
We know for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, the statistics are even starker.
First Nations women are 11 times more likely to be killed due to experiencing family violence than non-Indigenous women.
They are also 34 times more likely to be hospitalised as a result of violence they face.
The statistics here in Australia on those women who have experienced violence since the age of 15 reflect those globally – one in three.
One in two women have experienced sexual harassment in their lifetime.
These statistics have to change.
Poverty is one of the biggest contributing factors. Financial pressure and the lack of resources can trap people in situations. Raising the Jobseeker and associated social security payment rates would have a huge impact and help achieve the goal the government has set itself to address family and domestic violence, but there has been no movement there.
Updated
Expanded role for pharmacists in Victoria under Labor
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has announced if re-elected at the weekend, a Labor government will spend $12m to trial an expanded role for pharmacists.
Under the pilot, pharmacists will be able to treat minor illnesses like common skin conditions and administer travel vaccinations and more public health vaccinations.
They’ll also be able to treat straightforward urinary tract infections (UTIs) and reissue prescriptions for contraceptives.
Pharmacists would receive $20 per consultation, with all fees paid by the government and patients paying no more than the current Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme co-payment for any medications required.
Andrews told reporters in St Albans, in Melbourne’s west:
We know that finding a bulk-billing doctor, particularly after hours, has perhaps never been harder than it is now. That’s a real challenge. We got to do something about that.
He said the government would also invest $32m to incentivise doctors to become GPs. This includes $30,000 top-up payments for first-year trainee GPs to ensure they don’t take a significant pay cut:
If you’re a junior hospital doctor earning around $100,000 a year, if you choose general practice you’re forced to take a $30,000 pay cut. Now that’s an active disincentive, a barrier if you like, to more of our junior doctors choosing general practice. The best thing for us to do is to bridge that pay gap to make sure that there’s no financial disincentive.
Andrews said the government would also cover the costs of their exams in their first year, investing $10,000 per trainee.
Updated
State of play in the Senate
Anyway, the Senate continues to be … interesting.
For what it is worth, though, on the numbers it is a progressive Senate and a lot of the usual suspects no longer have any influence on whether bills get passed or not. They are not the balance of power. And while they can still move motions, put forward private members’ bills and pursue their “special interests” they can’t actually change policy at this point of the political cycle.
So it is swings and roundabouts
Updated
Glenn Druery debate in Senate
For those who weren’t glued to the Senate yesterday (I know, can you imagine NOT being absolutely riveted by a chamber of parliament?) Pauline Hanson also led a debate on:
“The need for the Senate to condemn the Premier of Victoria, Dan Andrews, for his office’s dealings and association with Glenn Druery who, it was reported this morning, admitted to using his position in a Senator’s office for personal financial gain; and – in light of revelations upper house group voting tickets are being used to mislead voters to the unethical benefit of the Andrews Labor Government – to affirm the Senate’s support for free and fair elections with integrity.”
Which led to this contribution from UAP senator, Ralph Babet:
The scandal is not only about Dictator—sorry: Premier Daniel Andrews’s deals with dodgy Glenn Druery. The real scandal is that federal Labor protect the corrupt and tyrannical Premier Dan Andrews as one of their own. That’s the real scandal. Mr Glenn Druery, this political fixer, has boasted on camera about creating sham political parties in order to fool voters into voting for candidates and parties that will be cooperative to Premier Dan Andrews, when these voters might have reasonable belief that they are actually voting against Dan Andrews. This election fixing is permitted in the state of Victoria, and it is outrageous. It is outrageous that we allow this to happen to the benefit of Daniel Andrews. It beggars belief.
The motion did not receive the support it needed.
Updated
'This bill is dangerous': Greens respond to Hanson education push
Queensland Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne was not having ANY OF IT in the Senate a little earlier today:
I rise to speak on the Australian Education Legislation Amendment Children Bill 2020. I feel like I’m uniquely placed to speak to this bill. I’ve been a state secondary school teacher for nearly 30 years. I started out my career as a health and physical education teacher, and I also taught sexuality, human relationships and sexual education. I’m also qualified to teach secondary school science as well as humanities. When I left the department, I was a head of humanities and languages.
This bill seeks to put restraints on what teachers of health and physical education and sexual education, science and humanities can teach in their classes. It’s not about balance. It’s about hate and propaganda. We, as teachers, teach to the curriculum that we are provided. It is a curriculum that is grounded in truth and science. We don’t cherrypick the bits of science that we agree with or disagree with. We don’t cherrypick the bits of history that we like … And we don’t discriminate against the children who are in front of us in our classes.
During this debate, I’ve watched people on the other side of the chamber laughing when we’ve spoken about education around students’ gender. I invite you to come into a school and sit in front of a student who has made several attempts on their life because they have been subject to hate and transphobia. How dare you use our young people as political footballs. They are not wanting anything except to be accepted for who they are. We teach a curriculum that is grounded in human rights and science.
Young people are generous of spirit, they are accepting of others and they care about the planet and their future. They are critical thinkers and they are problem solvers and they deserve an education that is grounded in truth and justice and human rights. They deserve and education that is grounded in science. It is not teachers in schools who are attempting to indoctrinate our young people, a profession that works hard to give every young person in this country the positive future that they deserve, it is the people on the other side of this chamber who are seeking to indoctrinate their hateful and bigoted views in our schools.
I will not subject young people in this country to your bigotry and hate. I will stand up every time my see it and the Greens will call it out.
This bill isn’t about critical thinking. This bill is about legislating a far-right curriculum. And individual senators and parties interfering in what is taught in our schools instead of leaving it to the education experts is a very slippery slope. In the US we see some states banning teachers from teaching about racism or sexuality and some are even banning books. This bill is dangerous, and as a teacher with over 30 years experience in our schools, it is an injustice to the young people in our schools and it is an insult to teachers.
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Pauline Hanson’s bid for education culture war
Still in the Senate, and Pauline Hanson is again trying to import US culture wars to Australia. The One Nation leader is trying to get a bill she first introduced into the Senate in 2020 support.
What does the bill do?
Here is the official explanation:
Amends the: Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority Act 2008 to require the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority to ensure that school education provides a balanced presentation of opposing views on political, historical and scientific issues; and Australian Education Act 2013 to make financial assistance to a state or territory conditional on the state or territory having certain laws in force.
Pauline Hanson’s explanation is the bill does this:
The purpose of this Bill is to give parents the legal right to protect their children from indoctrination at school.
Parents have the right to move their child from a school or to home school their child but they do not have the right to challenge teaching in schools such as gender fluidity theory and man-made global warming.
There is no way that this bill will get up – it won’t pass the Senate, but in case it did, it is never passing the House. But the debate once again risks being very damaging against some of our most marginalised kids and their parents.
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Demand for Covid documents
Over in the Senate, a small cross-party group of senators are still looking looking for smoking guns.
Liberal senator Alex Antic, along with his colleagues Matt Canavan and Gerard Rennick have joined with One Nation and UAP’s Ralph Babet to demand this from health minister Mark Butler:
I, and also on behalf of Senators Hanson, Roberts, Rennick, Canavan and Babet, move: That there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Aged Care, by no later than 3 pm on Tuesday, 29 November 2022:
(a) any contractual documents (without redaction) including any schedules, appendices or similar document (without redaction), for the supply, production, distribution or administration of any COVID-19 vaccine in Australia (‘the vaccine contracts’) executed by or on behalf of the Australian Government and any of the following (‘the vaccine producers’):
(i) Pfizer Australia Pty Ltd and/or its parent companies, nominees, agents or subsidiaries,
(ii) AstraZeneca Pty Ltd and/or its parent companies, nominees, agents or subsidiaries,
(iii) Moderna Australia Pty Ltd and/or its parent companies, nominees, agents or subsidiaries,
and (iv) Novavax Inc and/or its parent companies, nominees, agents or subsidiaries;
(b) any other document referenced, referred to or incorporated into any of the vaccine contracts but not included in the contractual document;
(c) any other document evidencing any pre-contractual representations with respect to effectiveness, side effects, fitness for purpose, merchantability, warranties or exclusions of warranty related to the supply, production, distribution or administration of any COVID-19 vaccine in Australia by any of the vaccine producers;
and (d) any other document evidencing any indemnity, guarantee, waiver or release of liability, forbearance to sue or similar enforceable right provided by or on behalf of the Australian Government to any of the vaccine producers with respect to the supply, production, distribution or administration of any COVID-19 vaccine in Australia.
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Limit on campaigners outside Victorian polling place after poor behaviour
The Victorian electoral commission is limiting the amount of campaigners outside a voting centre in Melbourne’s northwest following poor behaviour.
The acting electoral commissioner, Dana Fleming, says she made a legal determination to increase compliance at voting booths “to ensure a safe and secure voting experience at all voting locations”:
With more Victorians voting early than ever before, I am pleased to see most voters reporting a positive experience when they are going to vote. Sadly, this is not the case for all voters as a small number of campaigners are consistently behaving poorly. Today’s determination acknowledges the lawful powers of election managers and election officials to respond when behaviour doesn’t meet expectations. The actions of the few campaigners outside a small number of voting centres have prompted the need to consider an appropriate solution.
She says the first early voting centre to be subject to an “increased compliance approach” will be the Watergardens Town Centre in Sydenham, where there will be a limit introduced on the number of campaigners allowed outside:
Due to repeated issues by those campaigning outside, we will limit the number of campaigners permitted for each candidate or party listed on the ballot paper for the District. The need to take this action is disappointing, but unfortunately necessary. The safety of voters and our election staff is our priority.
Fleming says the Electoral Act includes several offences for unacceptable behaviour in, and around, voting centres. Election managers and election officials can also request police assistance to remove a person who is disrupting the election process or obstructing access for voters.
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Drive-through voting for Victorian election
Victoria’s electoral commission has announced a drive-through voting service for people who have tested positive for Covid ahead of the state election on Saturday.
The acting electoral commissioner, Dana Fleming, said voting by phone had initially been planned for Covid-positive voters but this was scrapped when it was announced isolation requirements were ending.
In good conscience, we felt we had to offer at least one option for voters in this situation. We have an early voting centre located at a former Bunnings site in Melton West that we’ve turned into a drive-through centre. There simply wasn’t enough time to find and lease any other premises that were large enough to cope.
Voters must stay in their car and will need to show a positive RAT or a text from the Department of Health to confirm a positive PCR test result to be eligible to use the service, as there is a very real risk that we will be inundated by voters who just like the idea of drive-through voting.
We have employed registered nurses in full personal protective equipment to be the intermediary between election staff and the voter to ensure everyone’s safety. It will take a little longer and I ask for voters who use the service to be as patient as possible.
The centre at 149 Barries Road, Melton West will be open between 9am and 5pm tomorrow (Thursday) and Friday, and 8am and 6pm on Saturday.
If that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, you can still apply for a postal vote until 6pm tonight.
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Calling all football fans
Are you a football fan?
Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast Full Story wants to hear from you.
Qatar has faced a number of questions over its treatment of LGBTQ+ people, the underpayment and unsafe working conditions of migrant workers and some cities have refused to publicly air the games in protest.
What do you think of this year’s Fifa World Cup? Will you be watching? Why/why not?
Call (02) 8076 8550 to leave a voicemail message and it might be used in this week’s episode of the Full Story podcast.
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Inflation response must not include equivalent wage rises, says Lowe
One of the reasons we are feeling a little more pulled apart as a society, as Murph mentions in her report, is inflation and the rising cost of living.
One of the reasons the cost of living is increasing, is because interest rates are continuing to rise – which is one of the RBA’s levers to tackle rising inflation.
In Melbourne address last night, the RBA governor, Dr Philip Lowe, again said the central bank expects to increase rates further:
Given our mandate for price stability and full employment, the board expects to increase interest rates further over the period ahead. We’re not on a preset path. We have not ruled out returning to 50 basis point increases if the situation requires that. Nor have we ruled out keeping interest rates unchanged for a period of time as we assess the state of the economy and the outlook for inflation. The board’s priority is to return inflation to target over time. We’re resolute in our determination to make sure this happens.
But Lowe also doesn’t want to see wages increase too quickly, as the ABC reported from his Q&A at that same Melbourne event:
If we all buy into the idea that wages have to go up to compensate people for inflation, it will be painful, so best avoid that.
So in Lowe’s view, there should be no wage increases matching inflation:
If that were to happen, what do you think inflation would be at next year? 7% plus or minus (a bit). And then we’ve got to get compensated for that? 7% … and this is what happened in the 70s and 80s. It turned out to be a disaster.
So interest rates will increase, which gives the banks millions more in loan repayments, which is then redistributed to shareholders (and the occasional executive bonus), and that’s the cost of monetary policy, but workers shouldn’t be allowed wage increases near inflation, because that would be inflationary.
This is the debate at the moment (and forever). It is worth noting the RBA board doesn’t have a workers’ representative on it, and Lowe earns close to $1m a year. Makes understanding some of those cost-of-living pressures a little hard.
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Meanwhile, Murph has looked over the latest Scanlon report looking at our social cohesion. Seems we are not as sticky:
For more on the climate report Tanya Plibersek will be launching, Graham Readfearn has you covered
Parliament will officially sit from 9am
That sound you hear is coffee being desperately swallowed down, as time marches us all towards an existential crisis.
Or that may just be the bells for the parliament sitting. It’s hard to say.
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Liberal senator says Australia needs to build its private defence technology base for Aukus to be successful
The Liberal senator James Paterson gave a speech to the Menzies Research Centre National Security Network overnight, where he said Australia – and its allies –needed to step up its technological advancements:
To be a credible deterrent in the region with an ability to project real power, Australia must forge a new hi-tech defence ecosystem built on the principles of free enterprise. And it must encompass more than just the big tech industry I spoke about in my speech to AEI in September. Critically, this must be done in lockstep with our Aukus allies.
Australia’s national security cannot rely solely on the devices of government – ours or America and the UK’s. Because these challenges do not belong to Australia alone. America and the UK are under equal, if not more, pressure to strengthen their economies against high inflation and high interest, address skills shortages and improve the delivery to field-ready tech.
For the Aukus partnership to live up to its full potential, we need to incentivise and build on a robust private defence technology base to help solve national security problems.
For western democracies, the private sector is our key advantage over authoritarian adversaries. We need to leverage this advantage to enhance technological ingenuity, shorten acquisition cycles, turbocharge spending power, and capitalise on skills and expertise. Because western governments cannot out-innovate, out-spend, and out-perform our adversaries on our own.
… We need whole of system reform to build and leverage a defence-technology base in Australia that is accessible on a reciprocal basis to our Aukus partners.
While Aukus itself is movement in this direction, to succeed we need to overcome regulatory barriers like ITAR to enable cost-effective, time-efficient tech transfer between our countries. When we already share the most sensitive intelligence information through the Five Eyes network, it seems more like an oversight that this level of trust and cooperation hasn’t been extended to broader defence-tech transfers and the mobility of talent. That’s why addressing regulatory barriers should be a priority for Aukus.
If instead we engage in an exercise of hoarding talent, intellectual property or jobs between the Aukus partners we will fail.
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Food industry to call for security plan
Also happening today – a massive push from the nation’s food industry bodies, calling for the government to come up with a plan for Australia’s food security.
Supply chain shocks have really put into focus how vulnerable Australia is – the industry bodies, which includes the National Farmers Federation, Australian Meat Industry Council and Master Grocers Australia (along with more) want some concrete action.
(Of course, you can also expect to hear how the government’s IR bill will have a massive impact on the food industry, but that’s par for the course at the moment.)
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The Prime Minister’s XI will be getting their caps from Anthony Albanese today, for those who observe.
Plibersek says Australia helped stop 1.5C target being watered-down
While Australia’s climate policy has improved under the Labor government, it is still the absolute bare minimum (and in a lot of cases, not enough). Asked what the government was doing, given the science of what is happening, Tanya Plibersek says:
We have already committed to a 43% emissions reduction target by 2030 and zero net emissions by 2050 and have legislated that which is very important. We have also said we will get to 82% renewable energy in our grid by 2030. We have joined with the international community – I think this is really important, at the most recent Cop meeting in Egypt our climate change minister Chris Bowen was fighting off calls from other countries to weaken those international targets on temperature rises to move away from that 1.5C maximum that countries agreed to in Glasgow to water that down. We have managed to join with like-minded countries to stop that watering down but it will take global action. We need to do our share here in Australia.
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CSIRO confirms Australia’s land and sea temperatures rising
Tanya Plibersek will be launching the latest climate report from the BoM and CSIRO a little later this morning, which is looking at where Australia’s temperatures are headed.
Another spoiler – it’s up.
The environment minister told the ABC:
This report is one of a series done by the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO over a number of years. It confirms sadly what we know, which is that temperatures in Australia on land and in the seas are rising and that’s having the impact of more extreme weather events. This report shows that the dryer periods are longer, hotter and dryer. When it does rain, it rains much more heavily and we are seeing the impact of that across the eastern states at the moment in very tragic ways.
It shows that bushfire seasons will be hotter and dryer. I guess the importance of reports like this is it is a call to action and that is why our government has acted to legislate stronger carbon pollution reduction ambitions.
That’s why we have set aside a billion dollars for a disaster ready fund as well. It reminds us too that we need to prepare for the worst.
You already have governments talking about changing land use in the future, how to better prepare our emergency services, how to better prepare our health system for these extreme events.
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Treasurer welcomes OECD support for investment in cleaner energy
Former Coalition finance minister Mathias Cormann delivered the OECD economic monitor overnight and – spoiler – things are dicey.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, had some thoughts:
The OECD report warns the global economy has been sent reeling by the largest energy crisis since the 1970s brought about by Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Slowing growth, high and persistent inflation, and falling real wages are all wreaking havoc in major economies, leading to a blunt and brutal application of monetary policy by the world’s central banks.
While we’re better placed than most, our economy isn’t immune from this hostile and hazardous outlook.
The government takes seriously the OECD’s warning when it comes to making sure that fiscal policy doesn’t make the job of monetary policy harder – that’s why our budget was carefully calibrated to deal with the inflation challenge in our economy.
Our economic plan delivers responsible and targeted cost-of-living relief, doesn’t add to inflationary pressures, and begins the hard yards of budget repair.
We welcome the OECD’s support for the government’s investments in cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy.
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‘Wages not moving at all is a disaster’ – Bill Shorten
Bill Shorten is then asked about RBA chief Philip Lowe’s warnings against a pay rise spiral in the context of inflation.
Shorten asks why is it people earning over $100,000 who say people earning under $100,000 don’t deserve a pay rise.
It all depends what the wage rise is. The reality is that when you’re getting your electricity bill every quarter, when you get your gas bill every two months, when you’ve got the increased costs of the kids going to school, when you’ve got the mortgage payments to where the RBA is increasing the interest rates, you can’t get blood out of a stone. Real people are hurting without some wages movement.
These wages changes aren’t going to lead to double digit increases [and increase inflation], like it’s just rubbish.
That’s not what’s happening. So a lot of these debates are theoretical.
If wages move too far too fast, that’s not desirable, but wages not moving at all is a disaster.
At the end of the day, I’m watching these Coalition conservative politicians and some of the senators, you know, stroke their chins and opine how terrible it is if wages go too far.
The problem is wages are not going too far. The problem is they’re not moving at all.
The problem is that we’ve got an energy shock caused by the conflict in Ukraine.
The problem is we’ve had people fall behind. This isn’t a question that the wages system will unlock faster than inflation wage rises.
I do not believe that is the case at all. But where you’ve got inflation going up 7.5% and wages aren’t moving at all, that’s a seven and a half percent wage cut.
Why is it that the experts who complain about people on less than $100,000 a year getting wage rises – they’re not the ones who are under $100,000 a year.
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Bill Shorten said he believed it would take years for people to be able to move on from the floods:
… When I walked down the streets where people return the morning after the floods … and you just hear literal wails of despair, cries of despair, you just– it is a big deal.
It’s a massive deal and it’s not easily resolved. And so what it reminded me of is, at least to the extent that I can control any of the relief and support is to make sure that we get payments out to people we take try and take as much of the bureaucracy out of people already dealing with trauma out of their lives.
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Floods cost will run into millions, Bill Shorten says
The government services minister, Bill Shorten, is speaking to ABC radio RN Breakfast host, Patricia Karvelas, and says it is too early to put a dollar figure on how much the floods will have cost.
I don’t think we can yet.
But the costs are enormous. You’re quite right. There’s the individual cost when you have flood damage and water across your floorboards. It is nothing short of a disaster.
Businesses are interrupted. There are farmers who were looking forward to their first really good season in the long time, and that’s been heartbreaking. There’ll be insurance claims, there’s of course government payments to try and help people temporarily mitigate some of the effects of the flood so it’ll run into hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars.
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Independents to launch report on whistleblower protections
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has been arguing for more protections for whistleblowers for years. The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has proposed new laws to boost whistleblower protections, but there are still calls the law needs to go further.
Two of Australia’s whistleblower experts, Prof A J Brown and Kieran Pender (who has written for the Guardian) have written a report on what needs to happen:
Protecting Australia’s Whistleblowers: The Federal Roadmap draws on landmark research and synthesises three decades of reviews to outline a comprehensive, 12-step roadmap for better protecting and empowering whistleblowers.
That report is being launched in parliament today, in an event being hosted by Dr Helen Haines and David Pocock
The report includes recommendations on what Australia needs to do, including:
Establishment of a whistleblower protection authority to oversee and enforce Australia’s whistleblower protections;
Upgraded whistleblower protections for Australian public servants in line with domestic and international best practice, including a positive duty to protect whistleblowers and steps to make it easier for whistleblowers to enforce their rights;
Consolidation and harmonisation of whistleblowing laws across the private sector in one new single law covering all non-public sector whistleblowers; and
Stronger, simpler protections for whistleblowers who make disclosures to the media and members of parliament.
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Inequality in Covid deaths
The assistant treasury minister, Dr Andrew Leigh, is delivering a speech on inequality in Covid deaths on Wednesday night, in his capacity as assistant minister responsible for the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
In the WD Borrie Lecture, Leigh will note that deaths from Covid were disproportionately concentrated among disadvantaged communities: more than three times higher in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, twice as high among people born overseas, and nearly twice as high for Indigenous Australians.
In an advance copy of the speech, Leigh says:
The mortality ratios from Covid in Australia are quite similar to those estimated in other advanced nations. As a share of the population, fewer people died from Covid in Australia than in most other affluent nations. Yet among those who died, the same health inequalities can be seen in Australia as in other advanced countries.
What might have driven the socioeconomic disparities in Covid mortality? And why might many of those disparities have been largest in the Delta wave? As I have noted, disadvantaged people may be less able to work remotely, more reliant on public transport, and more likely to live in crowded households. Uptake of vaccination and antiviral treatments have varied across society as vaccines and treatment became increasingly available. Another factor is that successive Covid waves have had varying degrees of severity. A final factor is that in the years since Covid began, population immunity has steadily risen.”
Leigh also gives the following profile of those who died:
Across all waves of the pandemic, deaths from Covid were highest among those aged 80‑89 years. The median age of those who died from Covid was 87.4 years for females and 83.6 years for males. Males had a higher number of registered Covid deaths than females. For every 100 female Covid deaths, there were 126 male Covid deaths. Around 3-quarters of all Covid deaths occurred in Victoria and New South Wales.
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Head of World Trade Organization warns of 'slippery slope' to nuclear war
The head of the World Trade Organization has used a speech in Australia to warn that geopolitical fear and mistrust could lead to “aggression and ultimately a world war, this time with nuclear weapons”.
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, addressing the Lowy Institute in Sydney last night, said trade had emerged as an arena for geopolitical rivalry:
Over the past decade, governments have in several instances unfortunately weaponised trade and economic interdependence as a way of handling big and small power rivalries and disagreements. In Australia today, you’re living this reality in your region.
Weaponisation of trade is problematic, not least, because it creates some challenges for the rule-based multilateral trading system, but also because it could slide down the slippery slope beyond a few targeted products or sectors to wider economic disruptions. And of course, when viewed as economic coercion, it could become a tit-for-tat exercise, with the possibility of slipping out of control, leading to broader, more painful repercussions: economic, political, and social.
Ladies and gentleman, we would be naive to rule out the possibility that our era could meet the same end an earlier episode of power shifts and global integration did in 1914, with fear and mistrust, giving way to strategic miscalculation, misjudgment, aggression, and ultimately a world war, this time with nuclear weapons. Historians have likened our predecessors from a century ago to sleepwalkers who blundered into a catastrophe no one truly wanted. We must make better choices.
Okonjo-Iweala was not specific about which countries had weaponised trade, but in saying that Australia was “living this reality” she appeared to be referring – at least in part – to the trade tensions between China and Australia. Beijing since 2020 rolled out actions against a range of Australian export sectors in moves that the Morrison and Albanese governments branded as “economic coercion” and “trade sanctions”. The WTO director general may also have been referring to the tit-for-tat trade war between the US and China during the Trump administration.
Okonjo-Iweala argued the fracturing of economic ties was “more likely to heighten geopolitical tensions than to soothe them”, and that at a time of serious global challenges including rising inflation, climate change and the war in Ukraine “we need multilateral cooperation and solidarity more than ever”.
She urged governments to “use trade constructively to solve problems rather than amplify them” and to “make trade a force for peace in the 21st century”. She proposed an “alternative vision for the future of trade, interdependence, without over-dependence, deeper, more diversified and de-concentrated international markets”. She summarised this idea as “re-globalisation, not de-globalisation”.
Okonjo-Iweala also said her meetings in Canberra yesterday with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, government ministers Don Farrell, Penny Wong and Jim Chalmers, and the opposition’s Simon Birmingham were “very productive”:
I was grateful to hear them emphasise Australia’s enduring commitment to a strong and effective World Trade Organization and to our ongoing reform efforts.
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‘Change in tone and mood’: deputy PM meets Chinese defence minister
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, has met with the Chinese defence minister at a regional summit and stressed the importance of maintaining lines of communication between their militaries.
Marles is in Siem Reap, Cambodia, for the Asean defence ministers’ meeting-plus to be held today.
In the latest sign of the easing in tensions between China and Australia, Marles met yesterday with China’s defence minister, Wei Fenghe, whom he first met in Singapore in June when a freeze on ministerial talks ended.
According to a readout issued late last night by the Australian side, the two ministers “acknowledged the significance of what was their second meeting since the change of government in May this year” and “discussed regional defence relations and Indo-Pacific security”. The readout said:
The pair advanced discussions they commenced in June about reinstating the defence dialogue between the two countries. The deputy prime minister explained that Australia would welcome the reinstatement of that dialogue, and reiterated the importance it has played in the bilateral relationship previously, particularly in maintaining lines of communication between the two nations’ militaries. Both ministers were optimistic about progressing that further.
The deputy prime minister said the meeting [was] an important step in stabilising Australia’s relationship with China, and welcomed any future opportunities to meet with General Wei.
In a statement last night, Marles said there was an important “change in tone and mood in our exchange”.
We both remarked on the degree to which we’ve come a fair way over the last few months in trying to stabilise the relationship and put it in a better place.
We spoke about the possibility of further engagement back in June and we raised it again today. I’m hopeful we can get things back to a better place, and dialogue with senior officials in Defence is part of that.
The latest meeting follows Anthony Albanese’s summit with China’s president, Xi Jinping, in Bali last week. Marles also had bilateral meetings yesterday with his counterparts from India, South Korea, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Indonesia.
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Philip Lowe says Reserve Bank is watching wages growth in other economies
The RBA Governor, Dr Philip Lowe, gave a speech in Melbourne overnight, where he warned against a “price-wage spiral”, which he said would impact inflation.
You can read the whole speech here, but this is a short excerpt:
Domestically, we need to avoid a price-wage spiral. To date, while wages growth in parts of the private sector has picked up materially, aggregate wage outcomes in Australia have been consistent with a return of inflation to target. In contrast, a number of other advanced economies are experiencing much faster rates of wages growth. So this is an area we are watching carefully.
Tanya Plibersek was on ABC News Breakfast this morning and was asked about the comments and said:
I am not going to make any comments about the Reserve Bank governor but it hasn’t been painless. It has been a very difficult time for families. The cost of everything is going up. Their wages haven’t kept pace. We know the reason wages didn’t keep pace under the previous government was they said low wages were a deliberate design feature of their economic architecture and when the shadow treasurer was asked whether he supported the industrial relations changes recently, he said no because they will see wages go up.
In contrast, on our side, the government wants to see wage increases, particularly for those low paid workers who have missed out. They have seen the impacts of price rises and they are coping with higher mortgages and rental costs as well. We know life has been tough and we want to make it easier by giving them a pay rise when they work hard.
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Greens to push for ‘right to disconnect’ from work
Australian workers are on average working six weeks unpaid overtime a year, costing them over $92bn dollars in unpaid wages.
That is the conclusion of the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work report released on Wednesday, which is “go home on time day”. The average worker is losing over $8,000 a year or $315 per fortnight, it found.
The research reveals that employers are profiting from 2.5bn hours extra hours of work. Permanent workers, whether full or part-time, are generally paid salaries that account for all hours worked, as opposed to casuals paid by the hour.
But the Centre for Future Work regards the 4.3 hours of unpaid work the average employee performs every week as a form of “time theft”, amounting to 224.3 hours a year for every worker, or six standard 38-hour work weeks.
Eliza Littleton, research economist at the Australia Institute and report author, said:
Our research shows unpaid overtime is a systemic, multibillion-dollar problem which robs Australian workers of time and money. This is time theft. Unpaid overtime harms our quality of life and reduces our time with family, friends, and those we care for.
Time theft only further exacerbates our current cost of living crisis. With workers’ share of national income at the lowest point ever, a focus on reducing unpaid overtime would improve quality of life and ease the cost of living pressure for millions.
The prevalence of overtime suggests that ‘availability creep’ has eroded the boundaries between work and life.
The Australia Institute is calling for the creation of a right to disconnect, which was recently recommended by the Senate select committee into work & care chaired by the Greens’ Barbara Pocock.
The issue isn’t directly dealt with in Labor’s industrial relations bill, which does create a right to request flexible work backed up by Fair Work Commission arbitration. The Greens will push for the right to disconnect to be included in future workplace legislation.
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Worsening extreme weather events on the way, BoM and CSIRO say
Extreme weather events including torrential downpours, searing heat and dangerous bushfire conditions are all getting worse across Australia, with even more challenging events to come, according to the latest report by the BoM and CSIRO.
That said, there was relief in NSW’s saturated central region, where residents in Deniliquin breathed a sigh of relief as a flood warning was cancelled.
Showers are beginning to clear across NSW today after weeks of heavy rain but flood recovery efforts in the state’s central west and Riverina regions have only just begun.
The Bureau of Meteorology says the interrupted weather patterns are continuing, with a late-season burst of cold and windy weather moving over south-east Australia.
Popular ski town Thredbo recorded the highest rainfall this week with 186.2mm, as well as the highest wind gusts across the state with 102km/h.
In a reprieve for flooded towns, showers will become more isolated and contract to coastal and mountain areas.
A high pressure system will develop over southern Australia from Wednesday, bringing a gradual clearing of conditions and warmer temperatures later this week.
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Good morning
Welcome to Wednesday! And a big thank you to Martin for starting us off.
This week just never seems to end.
It is still all about IR. With some national anti-corruption commission and privacy thrown in for good measure.
The back and forth between Tony Burke and David Pocock continues. While that is going on, Burke is also having to deal with mounting campaigns from industry and the opposition, who feel they have been dealt back in to the national conversation with this legislation.
It’s a bit of a mess, but hey that’s the Australian parliament!
We will continue following all of the moves as the issue inches towards a resolution. The Senate has already agreed to sit an extra two jam packed days to try to get through everything, but it may still need more.
Woohoo!
You have Katharine Murphy, Paul Karp, Josh Butler and Daniel Hurst watching Canberra for you. Mike Bowers is still on assignment (we miss you Mikey!) and you have a four-coffee Amy on the blog. Being Wednesday, I have about one-quarter of my brain left. Good times.
Ready?
Let’s get into it.
Updated
Daniel Andrews won leaders debate, according to poll
Undecided Victorian voters have awarded the premier, Daniel Andrews, a narrow victory over Liberal counterpart Matthew Guy in their first and only leaders debate of the election.
You can read Benita Kolovos’s report, here:
AAP reports that in a bitter election campaign, the pair largely showed restraint as they faced off before 100 undecided voters at the Box Hill town hall last night.
It took about half an hour for the pair to trade blows, with the Coalition’s plan to quarantine all new gas discovered in Victoria for state-only use the source of contention.
Labor has been running attack ads on social media in the lead-up to the 26 November poll claiming the Liberals will overturn the state’s constitutional ban on fracking.
Host Kieran Gilbert asked the Labor leader whether he would commit to pulling the ads but Andrews was adamant it wasn’t misinformation.
The premier cited reports from the state’s chief scientist that there are currently “no proven and probable onshore conventional gas reserves in Victoria”.
“The only way you can deliver a ‘gas-led future’ is to frack. That’s just a fact,” Andrews said.
But Guy said another report from the chief scientist found up to 830PJ of onshore gas was ready and waiting to be unearthed through convention means.
“I’m not here for petty name-calling … We’re not going to frack,” he said.
The combatants later sparred over integrity and Victoria’s mounting debt, but ultimately the discussion circled back to health.
Given the opportunity near the end of the hour-long debate to ask questions of one another, Andrews went on the attack.
Updated
Welcome
Good morning everyone and welcome to our politics live blog. We’ll be getting into the meat of things very soon but first up here are some of the top stories this morning (other than the Socceroos v France, of course).
The Albanese government has fast-tracked a final vote on the territory rights bill in a bid to shore up its chances of passing industrial relations law changes this year. It sets up a marathon sitting fortnight as the government rushes to pass bills such as its IR reform.
The current intense political bargaining in Canberra was given interesting economic context in a speech by Reserve Bank chief, Philip Lowe, last night. He warned that interest rates could be set for a period of volatility as globalisation recedes and the world copes with climate change, spelling uncertainty for Australian households. After years of low inflation, the recent surge in prices had been “quite a shock”, Lowe said.
Geopolitics, inflation and climate also play a central part in social cohesion as the latest snapshot of Australian society by the Scanlon Foundation shows. Its study finds that cohesion has reduced since the pandemic – when it spiked – and that those big international factors play a big part in making people less comfortable in society.
