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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Antoun Issa

Afternoon Update: Landmark gender equality bill; Nationals oppose Indigenous voice; and Bob Dylan’s ‘fake’ signature

A view of ministers in sitting in the House of Representatives
Prime minister Anthony Albanese speaks on the Respect@Work bill in the House of Representatives. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Labor has kicked off a busy legislative week with the passing of the signature Respect@Work bill. The law aims to improve gender equality in the workplace, a year after the sex discrimination commissioner, Kate Jenkins, handed down a report outlining key recommendations to address toxic work cultures.

The other big ticket items the Albanese government is hoping to pass this week are the industrial relations bill, a federal anti-corruption commission and strengthened privacy laws with tough penalties for company data breaches. If you missed the news this morning, the IR bill is set to pass now that independent senator David Pocock has won a few concessions.

Top news

Anthony Albanese and Mark Dreyfus stand at podiums outside Parliament House giving a press conference
The prime minister Anthony Albanese the attorney general Mark Dreyfus at Parliament House. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
  • Respect@Work bill passes | Conduct that results in a hostile workplace environment on the basis of sex is now clearly prohibited, after the bill passed parliament.

  • Morrison faces censure | Labor will officially move to censure Scott Morrison this week – the parliamentary equivalent of a slap on the wrist – over his secret ministries scandal. Albanese says the push to reprimand his predecessor was important for the accountability of Australia’s democratic system. The Coalition will probably oppose the censure.

  • Nationals oppose Indigenous voice to parliament | It’s official – the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, confirmed the party’s position, saying it didn’t want to create “another layer of [bureaucracy] in Canberra”. The proposed voice would act as an Indigenous consultative body with input into government decisions. Greens senator Barbara Pocock criticised the Nationals’ call as “incredibly disappointing”.

Close up of Philip Lowe’s face seen from the side
Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe at a Senate hearing. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
  • RBA governor apologises | The Reserve Bank head, Philip Lowe, has apologised for saying interest rates were unlikely to rise until 2024. Lowe acknowledged people “acted on that [advice] and now find themselves in a position they don’t want to be in”. Asked if Lowe should resign, Albanese said it wasn’t up to him “to give an ongoing, running commentary on the actions of the secretary of the Reserve Bank”.

  • Terrorism threat level downgraded | After eight years Asio has reduced the threat level from “probable” to “possible”. Australia increased its terrorism alert level from medium to high in 2014 – a time when Islamic State controlled large swathes of Iraq and Syria and was attracting recruits from abroad.

  • Solitary confinement of children | The UN committee against torture is urging Australia to end the practice of solitary confinement as well as raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility, which the committee said is set to a “very low” age of 10. The committee also pointed out the “persistent overrepresentation” of Indigenous children and children with disabilities in the youth justice system.

Riot police officers stand on a main boulevard in Brussels at night
Police had to seal off parts of the centre of Brussels and moved in with water cannon and teargas to disperse crowds after violence broke out during a World Cup match. Photograph: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP
  • Brussels riots | Clashes erupted in the Belgian capital after Morocco’s surprising 2-0 victory over Belgium in the World Cup. Cars were torched and vandalised, and electric scooters set on fire, as police deployed water cannon and teargas to disperse crowds. Belgium has a sizeable Moroccan immigrant community, and prominent Belgian-Moroccans were quick to condemn the violence, and stressed that most celebrations were peaceful.

  • Bob Dylan auto-signature | Another apology, this time from the famous musician who has admitted to using an autopen to sign books and artworks. Special copies of his new book had been advertised as “hand-signed” and came with a letter of authenticity from publisher Simon & Schuster. Fans who paid US$599 (AU$897) for the autographed book were quick to discover those signatures weren’t so authentic after all.

Full Story

An elderly woman wearing a pink headscarf stands in front of the burned ruins of a house with her hands on her chest
An Algerian woman in front of her home which was destroyed in a wildfire in the city of el-Kala in August 2022. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Who will foot the bill for global climate disasters?

Developing countries had a win at Cop27, this year’s international climate summit, with developed countries agreeing to chip in to a fund to cover loss and damage from climate disasters. But will rich countries actually pay? Listen to this 20-minute episode.

What they said …

A screenshot of a tweet by Malcolm Turnbull that says: At the heart of the Liberal party’s defeat in the Victorian election on Saturday is the paradox that in this, the most small ‘l’ liberal state in Australia, the Liberal party has been taken over the hard right and is therefore at odds with the electorate whose support it seeks.
Malcolm Turnbull says the Victorian Liberal party has been ‘taken over by the hard right’. Photograph: Twitter

In numbers

A graphic feature the number 282.5m, which refers to the words beneath it which say: Tonnes of coal Queensland exported in 2021 – the biggest exporter in Australia

Queensland will continue to export coal for “as long as the market dictates”, the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said. The state has committed to slashing emissions 30% below 2005 levels by 2030, lower than the 50% targets set by New South Wales and Victoria.

Before bed read

A 3D illustration of the lost city of Atlantis
A new Netflix show explores theories about the lost city of Atlantis. Photograph: Fernando Gregory/Alamy

Few myths have persisted as long as the lost city of Atlantis – now it has a Netflix touch. The new series, Ancient Apocalypse, is presented by author Graham Hancock, who for decades has advanced the idea that a flood destroyed the advanced civilisation, and its survivors spread knowledge and science throughout the more primitive world. Archaeologists say there’s little evidence to back up these grandiose claims. So, is the new Netflix show presenting conspiracy theories dressed up as science?

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