What we learned today, Sunday 3 December
That’s it for today, thanks for reading and sticking with us. Here are the main stories of the day:
The Queensland minister for tourism and sport, Stirling Hinchliffe, says he is “bewildered” by Brisbane mayor Adrian Schrinner’s resignation from the 2032 Olympics forum.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has criticised the government’s reaction to the high court’s ruling on indefinite immigration detention and the tone of debate about the issue this week.
The shadow immigration minister, Dan Tehan, has accused the Albanese government of a lack of transparency and maintains it has “serious questions” to answer over its response to the high court’s ruling on indefinite immigration detention.
Australian children as young as 12 are being targeted by extremists who are infiltrating online gaming platforms, with a rising number of children being investigated for radicalised ideologies, according to the Australian federal police.
Australia will collaborate with US, UK on deep-space radar capability. Defence minister Richard Marles says a site in Exmouth in Western Australia expected to be operational by 2026.
A 91-year-old man is expected to be charged with murdering his wife at a home in Adelaide’s north-west.
Thanks for joining us today. We’ll be back bright and early tomorrow.
Palestine supporters return to march through Australian city streets
There have been pro-Palestine protests in the streets of Australia’s capital cities for the eighth consecutive week after devastating war in the Middle East.
In Sydney on Sunday, a rally was held in Hyde Park before a march through the CBD. According to NSW Police, the event was closely monitored and there were no incidents or arrests.
In Melbourne, there were gatherings outside state parliament and the state library, as there have been for two months.
Updated
NSW’s Matt Kean supports federal Cop28 renewable energy pledge
NSW Liberal frontbencher and former state treasurer Matt Kean has supported an Australian government pledge at the Cop28 climate summit to triple global renewable energy capacity and double the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030.
Kean has told Sky News the transition to renewable energy is “too big an opportunity for us to pass up”.
This is a great opportunity for NSW to get jobs to drive investment and to deliver cheaper, more reliable energy into our system. The market would drive the change and Australia could become a winner from the shift.
Kean also backs the federal opposition’s plan to consider nuclear energy, despite the government ruling it out as too expensive, but only when the technology is available, as countries around the world develop small modular reactors.
That technology is a while away.
While Australia needed to be open to all forms of renewable energy, the nation needed to move ahead with proven technology as the nuclear reactors won’t be ready until the end of the next decade.
Updated
Australia to collaborate with US, UK on deep-space radar capability
One of the issues discussed at a high-level Aukus meeting in the US yesterday was developing Australia’s space capabilities.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, who met with his US and UK counterparts, has provided more details in a statement:
Australia, the United States and United Kingdom will collaborate on the Deep-space Advanced Radar Capability.
This capability will provide 24-hour continuous global and all weather coverage to track and identify objects in deep space, boosting our ability to detect and deter space-based threats.
The Australian Deep-space Advanced Radar Capability site will be installed near Exmouth in Western Australia and is expected to be operational by 2026.
The Australian site will integrate with other sites in the United States and the United Kingdom, providing a space domain awareness capability across the Aukus partnership.
The construction of the site is expected to create up to 100 jobs, with further opportunities for Australian industry through the operation and sustainment of the site.
Marles says Australia is making “a prudent response to our changing strategic environment”.
He says the radar plan “demonstrates the Albanese Government’s commitment to lifting our capacity and rapidly translating disruptive new technologies into Australian Defence Force capability, deepening our strong Aukus partnership”.
Here’s a story on other aspects of the meeting:
Updated
Toddlers targeted by ‘sneaky’ supermarket marketing
Babies and toddlers are being bombarded with aggressive supermarket aisle marketing for processed food products and experts are calling for more regulations to protect them, AAP reports.
Infant and toddler food packaging is saturated with colourful images and logos, popular children’s characters, and deceptive health and nutrition claims, Monash University research found.
Dietician Alexandra Chung says the food industry is deliberately using pervasive child-appealing images to attract the attention of infants and toddlers and their carers, by making their products seem fun and desirable:
Unfortunately, many of these products are highly processed and are not recommended by health and nutrition experts.
Of the 230 products analysed in two major supermarket chains, 90% displayed techniques specifically designed to target young children.
Updated
Labor’s new laws to re-detain migrants at risk of reoffending to be modelled on Coalition’s anti-terror orders
The Albanese government is close to finalising new laws to re-detain migrants and refugees deemed to pose an “unacceptable risk” of reoffending, amid an escalating political fight.
The bill, to be introduced to parliament this week, is modelled on counter-terrorism laws put in place by the former Coalition government, but with some differences.
Under the existing counter-terror provisions, the government can apply to a court for a “continuing detention order” for someone who has been convicted of terrorism-related offences and has served their sentence.
The court must be satisfied that the person poses an unacceptable risk of reoffending.
Under the counter-terrorism laws, such orders can only be made when someone is still in custody or under an interim detention order.
The proposed new bill, expected to go to cabinet on Monday, is likely to allow such orders to be made for a broader category of people and will allow individuals already released to be re-detained.
Updated
Australia missing an opportunity to cut emissions with electric trucks, expert says
Australia is missing a significant opportunity to cut its transport emissions, with legal delays, missing infrastructure and a lack of financial support holding back the transition to electric delivery trucks, an expert has told AAP.
But Adiona chief executive Richard Savoie says launching transport policies now could deliver major changes by 2030 and encourage the adoption of zero-emission trucks would make an even bigger impact on emissions than electric cars.
Commercial vehicles are a big opportunity to decarbonise fast.
Delivery trucks and commercial vehicles generally have a disproportionate effect on emissions; they are on the roads longer and they’re utilised every day.
Updated
Woolworths defends its prices, ahead of Senate inquiry into market concentration
Woolworths says it is providing pricing “relief” to shoppers, as Australia’s big supermarkets face fresh scrutiny over their market power.
Australia’s biggest grocery chain says in a statement on Sunday it is committed to offering customers good value while working with suppliers to sensitively manage inflationary pressures:
We know Australians are feeling the strain of cost of living and we are working to deliver relief in their weekly grocery shop.
As we start to see the rate of inflation ease, we will continue to focus on delivering savings to our customers.
Woolworths and Coles recently reported bumper annual profits and expanded margins at the same time as grocery prices soared and households grappled with rising living costs.
The supermarket giants will soon face a Senate inquiry, spearheaded by the Greens, designed to examine their pricing strategies and the effect of market concentration on food costs.
Updated
Premier won’t intervene to break deadlock with police
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, says the state government won’t intervene to break a deadlock between the Police Association of Victoria and Industrial Relations Victoria.
The union and the police force have been locked in five months of negotiations over a new enterprise agreement for a four per cent pay rise and better working conditions, such as nine-hour shifts.
Earlier today, nearly 18,000 officers across the state began industrial action after 99% of members who participated in a recent ballot voted to take industrial action.
Here’s what Allen told reporters earlier today:
The government has made very clear to the people sitting around the table that we expect these negotiations to be conducted in good faith.
Secondly, we want to see them concluded with a strong outcome.
- AAP
Updated
Australia joins 117 countries pledging to triple renewable energy, improve energy efficiency
Australia has backed a pledge at the Cop28 climate summit to triple global renewable energy capacity and double the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030.
The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, says the Albanese government has joined 117 other countries in making the pledge, reiterating an agreement reached by G20 countries in September.
Read the full story from Adam Morton and Katherine Murphy here:
Updated
Queensland sports minister 'bewildered' by Brisbane mayor's resignation from Olympic forum
The Queensland minister for tourism and sport, Stirling Hinchliffe, says he is “bewildered” by Brisbane mayor Adrian Schrinner’s resignation from the 2032 Olympics forum.
Hinchliffe told a press conference today:
It is not very long ago he was standing up there, supporting the Gabba redevelopment and the opportunity of the whole precinct redevelopment that that represents.
It’s a bit bewildering but I’m starting to expect backflips from the lord mayor.
You can read more on Schrinner’s resignation here:
Updated
What ‘breakthrough’ laws mean for Murray-Darling basin communities
After years of gridlock, there has been a breakthrough this week for the Murray-Darling Basin plan.
The parliament passed legislation that extends the timeframe for delivering the plan by three years and removes a cap on water buy-backs that was introduced by the previous Coalition government.
The passage of the “restoring our rivers” legislation followed months of negotiations by the environment and water minister, Tanya Plibersek, and is hailed by supporters who believe it will deliver critical safeguards to support the health of the river system.
It’s a complicated issue. My colleague Lisa Cox has this great explainer if you want to understand the details:
Updated
Vacant property taxes, levies and caps on the table as NSW Labor reviews Airbnbs and short-term rentals
Vacant property taxes, levies and annual caps will be considered in a New South Wales government review of the regulation of short-term rentals including Airbnbs over the next six months.
The housing minister, Rose Jackson, who will lead the review, hopes to find ways to move some holiday rentals and unoccupied properties to the longer-term rental market, as the Minns government confronts the state’s chronic housing crisis.
Jackson says the government is “determined to do everything we can” and will place “every part of our housing market … under the microscope”.
This review will advise the NSW government on possible ways to better utilise all forms of housing, including short-term rental accommodation, vacant property and holiday homes.
Updated
South Australia police arrest Adelaide man, 91, after death of 85-year-old wife
A 91-year-old man is expected to be charged with murdering his wife at a home in Adelaide’s north-west.
The woman, 85, was found dead after officers were called at about 11.20pm on Saturday.
South Australia police detectives are treating the alleged incident as murder. A spokesperson for the force said:
The 91-year-old husband of the woman was arrested at the scene and is expected to be charged later with murder.
Updated
Australia increases funding for programs that combat modern-day slavery, forced marriage
Victims of forced marriages will have access to a support program providing needs-based prevention and early intervention as part of a push to end modern-day slavery in Australia, AAP reports.
The federal government has allocated $12.1m over five years for the Forced Marriage Specialist Support program and an extra $2.2m to extend the Speak Now project.
The program will offer people who are experiencing or who are at risk of forced marriage access to counselling and emergency accommodation. It aims to prevent forced marriage through education and raising awareness.
The government estimates there are at least 1900 victims of modern slavery in Australia.
The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, says addressing and ending the crime requires governments to provide victims with access to specialised services.
Modern slavery, including forced marriage, is an abhorrent abuse of power, and the government is doing everything we can to eliminate it from our society.
Updated
NSW premier criticises Bill Shorten for NDIS comments
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has rebuked federal NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, for the suggestion more people will die if the states block reforms to the stretched disability insurance agency.
Speaking on Sunday, Minns said it was unlikely a formal agreement would be reached at the upcoming national cabinet but he remains hopeful.
He says:
If Bill Shorten wants to remove people from the NDIS, he can do it. What he can’t say is the states will take up the services because we handed over both our public servants and our money to the Commonwealth a decade ago for them to run it.
Minns says if the federal government is going to “remove a big cohort of them from the NDIS” then it has to work collaboratively with states on a solution.
Updated
‘Women have had enough’: Greens call for royal commission into family violence in SA
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has called for a royal commission into family violence in her home state of South Australia.
The deaths of four women in one week prompted an outpouring of grief across Australia and calls for the royal commission. Late last month, hundreds gathered at SA’s parliament house to demand more be done about the “complex and wicked problem” of domestic and family violence.
Hanson-Young has told the ABC she supports the call for a royal commission:
We need one. I really do urge the South Australian government and the premier, Peter Malinauskas, to do this.
It feels that when it’s violence against women, when it’s sexual assault, when it’s domestic violence, it’s kind of put into a too-hard basket.
Well, we’ve had enough. South Australians have had enough. Australian women have had enough and it’s time that governments took this seriously.
Updated
Renewables pledge at Cop28 a ‘game changer’, analyst says
The director of Climate Energy Finance, Tim Buckley, has told the ABC that a pledge from 118 nations to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030 is “a game changer”. Here’s how he put it:
The 118 countries pledging to treble renewables by 2030, that is a game changer.
Two years ago, I would have said it was almost impossible. But we’ve seen China in particular leading the world in the last two years. They’ve been doubling their manufacturing capacity for solar, for example, every two years. They’re on track to double it again. The world can actually now deliver.
Delegates from China and India did not back the pledge, which pairs the ramp-up in renewable power with a reduction in fossil fuel use.
Updated
Victoria Police officers go on strike for better pay, target speed camera revenue
Thousands of Victoria Police officers are trying to reduce state government revenue from high-yield speed cameras as part of industrial action sparked by an ongoing pay dispute.
Nearly 18,000 officers across the state began strike action at 7am after 99% of Police Association members who participated in a recent ballot voted to take industrial action.
The union and the police force have been locked in five months of negotiation about a new enterprise agreement for a four per cent pay rise and better working conditions, such as nine-hour shifts.
Union secretary Wayne Gatt said the state’s police officers were overworked and undervalued.
If the government wants to attack the bottom lines of my members’ household, we’ll attack theirs, by placing police cars beside the highest-yielding speed cameras in the state to warn motorists to slow down before they are forced to contribute to the state’s revenue.
Members will also be telling the government and the community how they’re feeling, by scrawling messages on police vehicle windows about the challenges of the job they do and why they deserve to be paid for it.
- AAP
Updated
Learner driver, 33, charged after officers injured during pursuit
A learner driver has been charged after two police officers were injured when he allegedly tried to avoid being pulled over, AAP reports.
Around 8.30pm on Saturday, police officers tried to stop a silver Audi sedan in Gladesville on Sydney’s lower north shore.
The car allegedly failed to stop, triggering a police pursuit which ended due to safety concerns as the Audi crashed into another car in Hunters Hill.
Police say the driver, a 33-year-old man, reversed into two approaching police officers before crashing into a unit complex.
The two male officers were taken to hospital and are in a stable condition.
The driver was arrested and charged with multiple offences including assaulting a police officer, hindering or resisting a police officer, not stopping in a police pursuit and being an unaccompanied learner.
He was refused bail and will face Parramatta Local Court on Sunday.
Updated
Greens senator targets major supermarket chains ahead of inquiry
Greens senator Nick McKim is speaking about allegations of price gouging by Australia’s major supermarkets in a cost of living crisis.
The supermarkets will face fresh scrutiny from a Senate inquiry that will investigate their market power and pricing decisions, amid concerns they have profiteered during an inflationary period.
The Greens have secured cross-party support to set up the inquiry, which will examine the effect of market concentration on food prices and the pattern of pricing strategies employed by the major chains, Coles and Woolworths.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast this morning, McKim was asked what evidence supports allegations the supermarkets are ramping up prices.
The evidence is simply prima facie, that when you look at the food prices, they appear, in many, many cases across a range of foods and a range of groceries, to have increased far ahead of inflation.
We want to use this inquiry to examine the price setting practices of Coles and Woolworths. We want to use this inquiry to deliver greater transparency around the supply side. In other words, how and how much they pay for the goods and services, the goods that they then sell to Australians.
Updated
Will the RBA be ‘the Grinch of Christmas’ and increase rates?
Not according to four in five economists and experts, who believe the central bank’s board will keep rates on hold when it meets on Tuesday.
The Reserve Bank opted to lift interest rates another 25 basis points in November to 4.35 per cent after leaving rates on hold for several months.
The economists and experts surveyed by comparison site Finder say the cash rate will likely be left unchanged on Tuesday, although nearly half are tipping another increase in coming months.
Moody’s Analytics economist Harry Murphy Cruise says the lower-than-expected October inflation data, showing a moderation to 4.9 per cent from 5.6 per cent in September, underpins the case for interest rates to remain unchanged in December:
Combined with the monthly fall in retail sales through October, it is clear that higher interest rates are quelling demand and, by extension, inflation.
That should be enough to save the Reserve Bank board from having to be the Grinch of Christmas when it meets next week.
- AAP
Updated
SES receives 200 calls for help in NSW overnight, Sydney may get thunderstorm
Heavy rain pelted parts of Sydney, including hail in Parramatta and Eastwood, sparking 200 calls for help to the NSW State Emergency Service on Saturday night.
At about 7.30pm on Saturday the Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning for heavy rainfall, damaging winds and large hailstones in parts of NSW.
The warning has since been cancelled, but Sydney faces a high chance of showers on Sunday afternoon and evening and possibly a thunderstorm.
A lingering low-pressure trough has brought showers and thunderstorms to eastern and southern areas, causing rivers to flood, with some people needing to be rescued.
The SES has received more than 900 requests for help since the beginning of the storm and rain event on Wednesday, with about 700 of those calls relating to fallen trees.
– AAP
Updated
‘Race to the bottom’: Greens criticise reaction to high court ruling on indefinite detention
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has criticised the government’s reaction to the high court’s ruling on indefinite immigration detention and the tone of debate about the issue this week.
The Albanese government will enact preventive detention laws to redetain people released as a result of the court ruling on indefinite immigration detention. The court appeared to endorse the legality of such a regime for non-citizens convicted of serious crimes
Hanson-Young has told the ABC’s Insider’s program the Greens will not support such a scheme.
We are not, in any way, interested with playing footsies with the Labor party under the table on this at all.
There is a race to the bottom here. This is all about making refugees and migrants a group in our community that people are afraid of.
I’ve debated immigration policy in this country for a long time and it’s Groundhog Day. It’s revolting. I think it’s dangerous.
Updated
AFP warns extremists are recruiting young Australians online
The Australian Federal Police is warning parents and guardians that extremists are attempting to recruit young people through popular chat and online forums, including gaming platforms.
In a statement, the force says that over the past 12 months, it has noticed “an increase in young people being investigated”. It says “some extremists [are] creating their own platforms to disseminate propaganda, network, recruit and generate funds online”.
The AFP assistant commissioner, Krissy Barrett, is urging parents to be mindful of their children’s online interactions over the holiday period. It also says it is aware of some extremists releasing games that “are just a trojan horse to promote their worldview, blurring the reality of young users with the aim to radicalise them”.
Here’s more of the statement:
With more than 3.22 bn active gamers online around the world, these extremists are attempting to target a significant part of the global population to spread their views and propaganda with the aim of recruiting young people across popular platforms and games with the aim of encouraging them to adopt an extremist or radicalised view.
These extremist groups and individuals are using these gaming and online platforms as a mode to transmit violent material and propaganda, across a range of extremist ideologies.
Updated
Coalition calls on government to ‘release all information’ after high court ruling
On Sky News, the Coalition’s Dan Tehan was asked to back up the claim that the high court ruling on indefinite detention required the release of only one detainee.
The interviewer, Andrew Clennell, noted the federal court had already ordered the release of others on the basis of the decision. See Paul Karp‘s news wrap on the high court’s reasons here.
Tehan, the shadow immigration minister, responded by accusing the government of a lack of transparency, and used the line that the government had “serious questions” to answer:
What we are asking of the government is to release all the information so that we know all the detainees they did release had to be released.
Tehan was asked about renewed speculation about his friend, former treasurer Josh Frydenberg, weighing up a return to politics. Frydenberg was defeated by independent candidate Monique Ryan in the Melbourne seat of Kooyong at the 2022 election. Tehan said:
Well, as Peter Dutton, and myself and all our colleagues have said we’d love to have Josh back in the parliament. I think the people of Kooyong would love to have him back in the parliament. But he made it quite clear a couple of months ago that he’s very determined for the moment on his private sector career.
I wish him well in that and, hopefully, in the years to come he might change his mind and look to re-enter the fray, but I think at this stage he’s very comfortable in his private sector role.
Updated
Rain eases but flood risk remains for some communities
Eastern states continue to face major threats from floods and thunderstorms as an almost week-long deluge is finally tipped to ease.
A lingering low-pressure trough has brought showers and thunderstorms to eastern and southern areas, causing rivers to flood and some residents requiring rescue. The trough is expected to move offshore late on Sunday and into Monday, bringing relief.
Scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms across the NSW-Victorian border area are expected to ease and move eastwards throughout the day, with heavy falls possible for Gippsland during the morning.
Flood warnings for Victoria’s Thomson and Avon rivers have been downgraded, however moderate renewed rises were possible with further rainfall.
– AAP.
Updated
Labor defends attack on Dutton after Coalition demands apology
The agriculture minister, Murray Watt, has defended the government’s language about Peter Dutton and asked whether the opposition leader is “about to appoint himself as the chief censor of Australia”.
Watt and the shadow immigration minister, Dan Tehan, were both on Sky News this morning and were asked about the political storm in the wake of the high court ruling against indefinite detention.
The Coalition has demanded an apology from the government including over comments by the home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, in parliament last week. In question time, she argued the opposition “tried to support paedophiles over children” by voting against a bill she said would “stop paedophiles standing in front of schools”. O’Neil withdrew the comment but stood by the assertion.
Watt told Sky News that had has “basically used exactly the same language in relation to [Queensland premier] Annastacia Palaszczuk and he’s done the same thing in relation to Anthony Albanese that he’s now crying about”. Watt said:
Politics is a rough and tumble game and people have got to be accountable for how they vote. And the truth is that Peter Dutton and the opposition voted against laws that we introduced that sought, for instance, to stop convicted pedophiles from being near school grounds. You’ve got to be accountable for how you vote.
And as I say, the language that has been used to describe those actions is no different from what Peter Dutton himself has used. I mean, is Peter Dutton about to appoint himself as the chief censor of Australia and say what language can and can’t be used and then go and disobey those rules? That’s what seems to be happening here.
Tehan said a “more respectful parliament” was “just another broken promise by the prime minister”.
Australia backs COP28 renewables, energy efficiency vow
Now for some more detail on Australia – along with 118 nations - signing a pledge at the COP28 climate summit to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030.
The pledge was signed in the United Arab Emirates at an annual United Nations climate meeting on Sunday.
It is an undertaking from nations to aim to double energy efficiency and triple renewable energy capacity within six years - something pledged in September by members of the G20.
In a statement, climate change minister Chris Bowen said for emissions to go down around the world, a big international push was needed.
“We know that renewables are the cleanest and cheapest form of energy - and that energy efficiency can also help drive down bills and emissions,”
Australia has the highest penetration of rooftop solar in the world and has a plan to get to 82 per cent renewables by 2030 to deliver cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy.
Australia has the resources and the smarts to help supply the world with clean energy technologies to drive down those emissions while spurring new Australian industry.
Delegates from China and India did not back the pledge, which pairs the ramp-up in renewable power with a reduction in fossil fuel use.
- AAP
Updated
Brisbane lord mayor quits Olympics forum and criticises government
Brisbane lord mayor, Adrian Schrinner, has said the Palaszczuk government has “completely lost its way” on the road to the Olympics as he quit the Brisbane 2032 Games delivery forum.
The Liberal National mayor has also withdrawn his support for the controversial $2.7bn Gabba rebuild, insisting there must be better options than demolishing and rebuilding the inner city venue.
In a long statement, Schrinner said the intergovernmental leaders’ forum was “a dysfunctional farce” and that “a pointless talkfest established to placate key stakeholders while all the real decisions are made by the state government behind closed doors”.
Here’s some more of his statement:
It’s clear that the games have become more about over-priced stadiums rather than the promise of vital transport solutions.
The state government’s ham-fisted and foolish attempt to extort Brisbane ratepayers for tens of millions of dollars for a new RNA stadium was the final straw.
This truly bizarre approach was undertaken because I had the temerity to back local fans and say Brisbane teams should play in Brisbane while the Gabba is torn down and rebuilt. How utterly absurd.
Updated
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our rolling news coverage on the first Sunday in December. (Yes, that’s right, December).
It’s early but there’s already a bit of news about. Our big supermarkets will face fresh scrutiny with a Senate inquiry to investigate their market power and pricing decisions, amid concerns they have profiteered during an inflationary period marked by fast-rising food costs.
Australia has also signed a pledge at the Cop28 climate summit to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030. The pledge was signed by 118 nations. Climate change minister, Chris Bowen, said for emissions to go down around the world, a big international push was needed.
And it wouldn’t be the weekend in Australia without a major sporting event. The AFLW grand final begins later today with Brisbane and North Melbourne facing off. My colleague Sarah Burt says it’s set to be one for the ages.
We’ll also bring you the latest political developments. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young will be on the ABC’s Insiders program in about 15 minutes.
