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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Lisa Cox and Amy Remeikis

Concetta Fierravanti-Wells crosses Senate floor over inquiry into relations with China – as it happened

Concetta Fierravanti-Wells in the Senate
Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (centre, seated) breaks with her party to support the motion for a Senate inquiry into Australia’s relations with China. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Summary

We’re going to leave things here for the evening. To sum up today’s events:

  • Parliament returned with Labor focusing on the government’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis, the $60bn jobkeeper mistake and the robodebt scandal.
  • During question time, the government services minister, Stuart Robert, would not answer questions from Labor about when the government first became aware its robodebt scheme was illegal.
  • The prime minister, Scott Morrison, told the parliament “it’s a recession, no doubt about it” after questions from the opposition about the government’s economic response to the pandemic.
  • The Labor senator Pat Dodson used a speech to highlight Australia’s failure to act on Indigenous deaths in custody. He said that for too long there had been good words and intentions from governments but no action and commitment.
  • Tina Arena, Jimmy Barnes and Jessica Mauboy were among more than 1,000 artists, venues and festivals to call for an immediate rescue package for the music sector.
  • The multicultural affairs minister, Alan Tudge, cited Masterchef as proof of Australia’s diversity.

Thanks for joining us. We’ll see you back here tomorrow.

Updated

A late heart starter as Concetta Fierravanti-Wells crosses Senate floor

Just as the parliamentary day was beginning to wind down, there was some late action in the Senate. The Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick moved a motion to establish a Senate committee inquiry into Australia’s relations with China.

The motion didn’t succeed, but it won support from the Greens, all of the Senate crossbench and one government senator, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells.

Patrick was delighted with the government recruit.

Just in case we were inclined to nod off, or flip over to monitor the television news, Patrick took to Twitter to give thanks for CFW’s first floor crossing in 15 years.

Fierravanti-Wells, the conservative from New South Wales, is one of the government’s China hawks. She’s outspoken, but she doesn’t run with the pack known as the Wolverines.

If you want to know more about the government’s China factions, I wrote a column about this recently. The Wolverines voted along party lines.

Rex Patrick and Concetta Fierravanti-Wells in the Senate
Senators Rex Patrick and Concetta Fierravanti-Wells in the chamber. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Dozens of scientific papers co-authored by the chief executive of the US tech company behind the Lancet hydroxychloroquine study scandal are now being audited, including one that a scientific integrity expert claims contains images that appear to have been digitally manipulated.

My colleagues Melissa Davey and Stephanie Kirchgaessner report the latest developments following their investigative work on the Surgisphere scandal.

Parliament is starting to wind down so I will hand you over to Lisa Cox, who will take you through any evening developments.

Thank you so much for joining us as the parliament returned, as usual. We will be back from early tomorrow morning for the second day of the sitting, which this week comes with the rare Friday sitting day, so strap in for that.

Take care of you.

Updated

Ben Butler has the latest on the Virgin issue:

The administrators of Virgin Australia are asking the Morrison government for financial help, warning that a lack of taxpayer support is putting the sale of the stricken airline at risk.

In a letter sent to senior ministers, including the prime minister, on Tuesday afternoon, the administrators – partners at accounting firm Deloitte – asked for measures to help Virgin Australia through both an immediate cash crisis and a longer period during which flying is expected to continue to be restricted.

They said the sale of the airline was in the balance unless the government provided clarity and certainty about its financial future.

Virgin Australia faces a cash crisis and is due to run out of cash by the end of the month, but any sale needs to be approved by creditors who could meet as late as August.

With air travel likely to remain heavily restricted for months, it also faces difficult conditions even if administrators, led by Vaughan Strawbridge, can successfully sell the airline to one of the two remaining bidders, Bain Capital or Cyrus Capital Partners.

Virgin Australia planes
Virgin Australia’s administrators have asked the federal government for financial aid. Photograph: James D Morgan/Getty Images

Updated

And for those who missed the latest Pauline Hanson grab for attention, she has posted it herself. (But no doubt she’ll be happy to discuss it in the media for the end of time, while also talking about how no one is allowed to say it.)

Updated

The Greens senator Dr Mehreen Faruqi spoke in the Senate about why she attended a Black Lives Matter protest.

Updated

Make indigenous issues a priority, Pat Dodson says

Pat Dodson has spoken in the Senate on the issue of Indigenous deaths in custody:

Thirty years ago, the royal commission that I was part of made recommendations to the parliament – 339 recommendations.

That commission had been set up by the government and at that time there were 99 deaths that we were concerned about in this nation to effect a national royal commission.

Now we have got over 400 deaths since that royal commission, and we have 30 years that have passed that have not addressed the underlying issues that give rise to people being taken into custody and consequently die in custody.

So the social factors of health, housing, education, employment, and the legal factors surrounding those, have not been addressed in a manner to relieve this awful blight on this nation’s history. And it’s and there’s a continuing pattern.

There’s a systemic pattern here which I appeal to the government, and this new system that the ministers believe is going to find the answers to it, this federation reform council, that this group of people actually look at the systemic approaches that take place where First Nations people are likely to come to the attention of police.

We know that First Nations people who come to the attention of the police are likely to be arrested and charged.

We know that First Nations people who come to the attention of the police will be charged but will also be sent to court. And when they go to court, what happens, they’ll be sent to jail. Now this is a pattern. This is a paradigm, that systematic, it’s systemic, it’s institutionalised.

And if you look at this, from a First Nations point of view, this is about the subjugation of the First Nations people.

This is not about enlightened policy. This is about subjugating the First Nations people, you correlate that to the number of people who are being taken away, the number of kids, there will be 30,000 kids in their home care.

And you’ll come up with a ‘it’s going to take time. It’s complicated. And you know, it’s really difficult.’

Well, it’s not. Address the underlying issues – health, housing, education, employment – and work with First Nations peoples through the Coag system, or through the new system of the reform council, whatever it is, to actually set some targets as senator Wong has said, around the scenes for incarceration rates, and for the diminishment of removing kids from custody, or being removed from their homes and put into custody of another family, which ultimately will lead to the adoption out of these kids.

And I’ll remind the government that the Bring Them Home report re-analyse the policies and practices that pertain to that, practices as heinous practices, bordered on genocide, bordered on genocide.

So I agree, I asked you sincerely to make this a priority, a top priority for too long – nice words, good intentions, but the lack of action and commitment has not seen a reduction of deaths in custody.

It’s seen an escalation in the social indicators that diminish First Nations people and diminish us as a nation because we are incapable of dealing with it.

So I ask the government to sincerely put the best intentions into its commitments, and enter in a real working commitment with the First Nations peoples, and get real agreements with the states, and stop pussyfooting around with the states, say, ‘Oh, it’s the state’s responsibility’.

Well, we know this. You’re incapable of finding ways of dealing with this.

Now’s the time to stop the rot of First Nations dying in custody, being over-imprisoned and their children being put into a home.

Updated

Tony Burke’s answer to that same question:

Her politics feeds on outrage. It effectively – for all the talk of proud nationalism, that party has imported an American style of politics here.

I don’t want that style of politics here. I don’t particularly want to join the outrage, because that in fact elevates what she said. I would simply refer to it in the way that I guess One Nation wouldn’t want it referred to – that is importing foreign politics into Australia. We should be better than that. And most of us are.

Updated

Patricia Karvelas asks this question of both Simon Birmingham and Tony Burke:

Pauline Hanson has called George Floyd “a dangerous thug who should not be made a martyr”, the One Nation leader angry that his death sparked protests when the death of an Australian woman didn’t spark the same protests. Her quote is: “It sickened me to see people holding up signs saying Black Lives Matter in memory of this American criminal.”

Are you shocked by that language?

Birmingham:

I don’t know that I’m shocked, sadly, but I am saddened by anybody who wants to bring the type of division that we’ve seen in the United States to Australia. As I said before, racism has no place in Australia, and we condemn it and call it out wherever we can.

And the type of division that we’ve seen in the US has been distressing and the fact that you have circumstances where black communities feel that they cannot live in an environment of safety – the fact that equally you now have circumstances where police, most of whom in the United States would still be good, law-abiding citizens, feel that they are being vilified, is creating a terrible circumstance there and I hope the US can find a way to come together and more successfully address these issues, and I don’t want to see that sort of division brought at all into the Australian political debate.

... Well, look, as I say, I’m not surprised, but I am saddened and disappointed. I wouldn’t engage in that type of vilification. His record can speak for itself, but equally, more importantly now, as we look to the future, the acts surrounding his death, I think, speak to an injustice that needs to be addressed in terms of that incident by the US legal system, but more broadly, an injustice that, as we’ve seen, tragically in the US, the rates of deaths around Covid-19 have been disproportionately borne in communities – often black American communities.

Thankfully in Australia, we have a much fairer system, a universal healthcare system, we are able to tackle many of these issues – not to the point of perfection. The job is never done in terms of stamping out racism, or driving towards creating the best environment for equality and opportunity for individuals.

We have to be ever-vigilant and keep working there. But I think we have been saying that our system, in all of those areas, holds up amongst the best in the world, and much better than some of the challenging circumstances we’ve seen in the US.

Updated

Australian year 12 students will receive their final results in the second half of December.

A meeting of education ministers from across the country has decided the release of individual Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (Atar) results, for students completing year 12 in 2020, would occur “within a nationally consistent window of 15 December to 31 December 2020”.

In a statement issued this afternoon, the group – known as the Education Council – said it recognised the challenges being year 12 students and their families were experiencing as the pandemic had disrupted their final year of schooling.

It also “acknowledged the seriousness of these concerns and agreed that year 12 students and their families must be supported and have reliable information to pursue their post-school pathways”.

A working group – which includes Universities Australia, the Australasian Curriculum, Assessment and Certification Authorities, and the Australasian Conference of Tertiary Admissions Centres – had advised students who wish to enter university in 2021 to “work hard and complete the Senior Secondary Certificate of Education”.

The Education Council also decided on a nationally consistent set of messages for all year 12 students to avoid any misunderstandings or confusion about the admissions processes for 2021.

These key messages include:

  • Current year 12 students will be able to complete a Senior Secondary Certificate of Education (SSCE) this year. States and territories are putting arrangements in place to take account of disadvantage faced by this year’s student cohort due to Covid-19, while ensuring the integrity of the assessment process.
  • Students should continue learning and finish their year 12 studies to the best of their ability to ensure they gain the necessary knowledge and skills to successfully transition to university study, other post-school education options, or work in 2021.
  • Students completing the SSCE in each state and territory, and meeting Atar eligibility requirements in 2020 will receive an Atar.
  • States and territories have worked closely with schools and tertiary admissions centres to ensure that the disruption of the 2020 school year does not impact the validity of the Atar. The Atar remains an accurate ranking of year 12 student results for university entry.
  • Students will be able to use their Atar to apply for university admission in 2021 as is the normal practice. Universities understand that 2020 will be a challenging year for year 12 students and that students may be concerned. Universities have a range of entry pathways available every year for students.
  • In 2021, universities will continue to use the Atar and existing alternative pathways alongside the Atar to facilitate access to university. Students should check individual university websites, consult with their state or territory Tertiary Admission Centre, or go to the Course Seeker website (www.courseseeker.edu.au) for the most up-to-date admissions information.

Updated

Simon Birmingham is on Patricia Karvelas on the ABC. Asked about a Pacific travel bubble, he says:

I wouldn’t go into specific correspondence but there are certainly discussions that I know have occurred with various Pacific Island countries. We’ve been in close contact with them right throughout the whole management of Covid-19. We recognise a very special responsibility to our Pacific family in terms of assisting them and working with them through these sorts of issues.

Now, it’s important that in all of the types of steps of opening up, we do so in a way that maintains the success of suppressing Covid, not just in Australia, but also in New Zealand and, if it got to the point of looking at Pacific countries as well, then being very mindful of our responsibility in helping them to avoid the type of devastation we’ve seen in a health sense elsewhere, that we manage such circumstances very carefully with them as well.

Updated

To be entirely fair, the rich still got off the Titanic first.

Tony Burke is trying to see if he can get Josh Frydenberg and Scott Morrison to apologise for making what he says are false statements to the House, as both, on multiple occasions, said there were ‘6 million Australians’ receiving jobkeeper payments, in answer to questions from Labor.

As we now know, because of an ‘estimates variation’ there are not 6 million Australians who are being supported by jobkeeper.

Tony Smith says Labor can ask about it on question time, as he doesn’t have a role in deciding whether or not statements are factual.

Updated

Question time ends.

Updated

Because this day will never end, Anthony Albanese summons Angus Taylor to his feet, asking him about the fuel supply he made a lot of fanfare about securing during the bottoming out of fuel prices not so long ago.

We bought about five days’ supply for just under $100m. It’s being kept overseas though, because it makes total sense to hold your strategic fuel reserve – which is called a strategic fuel reserve, just in case shipping routes are cut and you can’t get your fuel – in a country that is not your own.

Some from Taylor:

Now we have taken the opportunity of record low prices in fuels – record low prices for liquid fuels – to purchase $94m worth of stocks to ensure that we have the liquid fuel security we need to keep this country strong and, Mr Speaker, because there is almost no storage left in the world – almost no storage left in the world – the right place to store it for now is the United States, but we are committed to ensure that there is local storage available in Australia to make sure that those truckies, those tradies, those farmers, those manufacturers have the supplies they need.

Now, Mr Speaker, it is also crucial that we have a strong refining sector in this country to support our fuel security and we are working closely with our fuel refineries at a difficult time for them, a difficult time for them, working closely as well with the unions at a difficult time to ensure that we do have those fuel stocks we need in Australia.

Energy minister Angus Taylor speaks during question time
Energy minister Angus Taylor speaks during question time. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated

We are still going, because it is time for HOW SAFE ARE YOU, with Peter Dutton.


Catherine King to Scott Morrison:

Has the government received advice from Virgin’s administrator that bidders for the airline are expected to pull out if the government keeps its hard September deadline for jobkeeper?

Morrison:

Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I’ll asked the deputy prime minister to add to the answer. The government wants to see two viable airlines in Australia serving the Australian travelling public.

And, Mr Speaker, we have taken a very consistent approach, which has seen through administration the identification of very serious proposals that are able to come forward that will enable that to become possible and we will continue to engage with the administrator throughout the course of their coverage of these issues to achieve those ends.

But I would say one thing in particular right now, if we’re concerned about Virgin employees, and that is it is very important that we open up the domestic borders in this country. We need to get planes flying around Australia and if you want to see planes flying around Australia, Mr Speaker, we need to open up these domestic borders. Mr Speaker, that will, and I agree, that occurs for South Australia, for Tasmania, for Queensland and Western Australia. This isn’t a partisan issue.

This is about, Mr Speaker, ensuring that our economies can open up and I have made this point consistently. That it is in Virgin’s interests, it is in Qantas’s interests, it’s in the aviation sector’s interest that we move to opening up travel in Australia as soon as possible. The three-step process ensures that is intended to be completed in July and we look forward to that being completed in July, and I would be hoping that at the earliest possible opportunity states will be able to indicate the date in July that that interstate travel will be open again to be able to give that certainty. I’ll ask the deputy prime minister to add.

That sound you hear is the entire parliament saying ‘please don’t’.

Prime minister Scott Morrison at the dispatch box during question time in the House of Representatives
Prime minister Scott Morrison at the dispatch box during question time in the House of Representatives. Photograph: Sam Mooy/Getty Images

Updated

The Greens senator Rachel Siewert has asked if the government is ashamed that at least 437 Indigenous Australians have died in custody since the 1991 royal commission.
Anne Ruston replied:

Unquestionably we have made it very, very clear we want to work with states and territories, which are responsible for the justice system, to deliver better outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

In a follow-up, Siewert asked why it is up to Guardian Australia to track Indigenous deaths in custody, why doesn’t the federal government do it?

There were a few scoffs from the Coalition senators – I’m not sure what point they were trying to make. Were the deaths not real because it was Guardian Australia that reported them? I am genuinely mystified.

Ruston then read out an answer from her question time brief that didn’t really engage with the question.

Instead, she noted as part of Closing the Gap targets the federal government has offered to fund a “custody notification scheme”, which seems to be a system that gives notice to services that might assist Indigenous Australians once they’re taken into custody.

So: no answer as to why the commonwealth doesn’t count deaths in custody.

Updated

Paul Fletcher is now standing up and talking about the government’s support for the creative arts and the media on a day that Australia’s most famous musicians have sent out an open letter calling for support for forgotten arts workers, and News Corp has announced more redundancies and the ABC announced hundreds of job cuts, because of funding cuts.

Updated

Ed Husic has a question for Paul Fletcher, who seems a little cranky, possibly because he was just owned on Twitter by someone he had named as benefiting from cutting community TV.

Husic:

Why has the prime minister and his government used the cover of a pandemic to increase Australia Post delivery times and put the jobs of postal workers at risk?

Fletcher:

I do thank the member for his question, former union official for that question, because the facts are, Mr Speaker, that when Australia Post came to the government and ...

Anthony Albanese:

Yes, point of order. I thought there was a love-in between unions and business.

Updated

Tim Wilson just delivered a dixer in the style of someone who has been studying Vince Connelly, who himself delivers dixer questions in the style of someone who has been studying humanity from behind at least six glass walls, but never actually interacted with a human.

Anthony Albanese asks about extending jobkeeper, mentioning the dnata employees who miss out on the program.

Scott Morrison responds with something along the lines of well, they get Centrelink, so they are being supported.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese and prime minister Scott Morrison in question time
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese and prime minister Scott Morrison in question time. Photograph: Sam Mooy/Getty Images

Morrison:

That suite of economic supports has included the additional payments we have made to those on welfare payments and that was done back in April.

There’ll be another one of those in July. He makes no acknowledgement of the cashflow assistance of up to $100,000 for businesses that is there to support wages.

He gives no acknowledgement also of the doubling of the jobseeker payments that have been provided to provide the ultimate safety net to Australians right across the Australian economy and, of course, there’s the many other measures – the treasurer mentions the instant asset write-off and there are many and included in jobkeeper.

In the design of jobkeeper we ensured it covered a wide spectrum of the Australian public for full-time employees, part-time employees and partial equivalents, long-term casuals working for employers, but we said we were not going to cover the bills of state governments and their responsibilities.

We were not going to cover the bills of local governments and we were not going to cover the bills of foreign governments and that is the principle on which we established the jobkeeper program.

And for those workers, Mr Speaker, who find themselves in need of support, then they can access the jobseeker program. What I will not do, Mr Speaker, is I will not join with the opposition in seeking to demonise as a program to support workers who lose their jobs.

Updated

Scott Morrison has sent out this release (further to Paul’s update from the Senate):

Ordinary Seaman Edward ‘Teddy’ Sheean was an extraordinary Australian and Australia will remain eternally grateful for his service, dedication and sacrifice.

Overturning a decision relating to a Victoria Cross nearly 80 years after Sheean’s heroic actions in 1942 would need compelling reasons. That is why the Government’s view and clear policy is that consideration of the awarding of a retrospective Victoria Cross would only occur in light of compelling new evidence or if there was evidence of significant maladministration.

Given there are different views on whether there is compelling new evidence about Sheean’s actions in 1942, I have today commissioned an expert panel to provide me with advice as to whether the 2019 review by the Defence Honours and Awards Appeal Tribunal had any significant new evidence, not available to the previous reviews and otherwise available, that is compelling enough to support a recommendation by the Government that Sheean’s Mention in Despatches be replaced by a Victoria Cross.

The expert panel will be chaired by former Minister for Defence and former Director of the Australia War Memorial, the Hon Dr Brendan Nelson AO, and will also comprise former Solicitor-General, Mr David Bennett AC QC, former Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Dr Peter Shergold AC, and Senior Curator and Historian at the NSW Anzac Memorial, Mr Brad Manera. The panel will report to me by 31 July 2020.

The Victoria Cross for Australia is our pre-eminent Australian gallantry decoration. The Government will always uphold the integrity of the Victoria Cross and everything that it stands for.

The evidentiary standards for recommending the award of the Victoria Cross always have been, and always will be, the highest. This is even more so in the case of consideration of a potential historic award, where compelling new evidence must be identified. The Government will continue to apply this very high standard.

Updated

Jim Chalmers to Scott Morrison:

The prime minister won’t reveal the results of his jobkeeper review until the end of July despite receiving the review in June. Can the prime minister confirm he will delay the release of his plan to leave even more Australians behind until after the Eden-Monaro byelection?

Morrison:

Thank you. The member for Rankin in phrasing that question in that way has demonstrated, I think, a great deal of immaturity.

The introduction of the jobkeeper program, the single largest form of social support this country has ever seen, in the most uncertain economic environment anyone could possibly imagine of our generation ... and Mr Speaker ... and rolled out in considerably rapid time and as we have achieved a level of economic outcome well in advance of what we had expected to achieve by this time.

And having announced the fact that we would look carefully at the implementation when we announced the jobkeeper program before announcing any revisions that might be necessary, Mr Speaker. These are not things that can be done, Mr Speaker, in a rushed or ill-considered manner.

The review is being undertaken in June. The review will make recommendations, I would imagine, to the government, as would be its purpose, and then the government would consider those recommendations. It would consider the fiscal implications of those recommendations and, Mr Speaker, it would take advice on that as cabinet’s work.

Now, I appreciate the member who asked the question has never served in a cabinet, Mr Speaker, let alone an expenditure review committee or had any sort of ministerial responsibility for working through such decisions of great importance.

But he might be educated on this point. That when you make decisions of this gravity and this seriousness, Mr Speaker, in a situation like this, you are very careful about it.

So as the government announced, we will make the decisions on the basis of the view that’s been submitted by Treasury and that will be done in the third week or thereabouts of July, as is our anticipated timeframe, to provide that further economic statement that will take into account the review that is being done of the jobkeeper program.

Now, that is the proper, responsible way to manage important financial decisions. Now, I understand the Labor party can only see things through a political prism, Mr Speaker. But the government is focused on the economic wellbeing of the country at a time of great crisis.

Updated

Paul Fletcher, or his team, might need to make a phone call ...

In responding to Rebekha Sharkie about not renewing a community TV grant, Fletcher mentioned Natalie Tran’s YouTube channel (which hasn’t been updated in a bit) and, well, Tran has some things to say.

Updated

Amanda Rishworth to Scott Morrison:

The Prime Minister said on Friday the six months provision of JobKeeper has been set out in legislation and people can count on that.

Why did the Prime Minister break his promise three days later by cutting JobKeeper support for 120,000 early childhood educators?

Morrison:

The JobKeeper legislation does remain in place until the end of September.But where there is a better way to do things we won’t step aside from doing them in a better way. As the member would know, Mr Speaker that...when we put the new arrangements for childcare in place during the worst parts of this crisis, we were very clear that that would not be a permanent arrangement, that it would be a temporary arrangements and that we would be...

The answer continues, but it doesn’t really go anywhere and the Tveeder transcription service somehow managed to throw Boko Haram in there, so best just to leave it.

Jason Clare to Josh Frydenberg:

I refer to the homebuilder scheme. How many Australians does the government expect to spend more than $150,000 on a renovation before the end of this year?

Frydenberg:

Around 7,000 substantial rebuilds is our estimate.

Updated

Rebekha Sharkie to Paul Fletcher:

My question is to the minister for communications. Minister, I understand that in just 20 days’ time Adelaide’s television broadcaster channel 44, our community television station, will be set to be switched off when the free-to-air broadcasting licence is not renewed. The station’s a training ground for South Australian television and provides a valuable local content for many who do not have access to the internet, particularly older South Australians. Given that the government is yet to announce an alternative use for this broadcast spectrum, will you please allow this station to keep operating by extending their free-to-air licence?

Fletcher:

I do thank the member for her question. Since 2014, it’s been the policy of this government that the radio frequency spectrum that was historically made available to community stations in our five largest cities should be put to alternative uses, and we have supported our community television to transition to delivering its content online.

Community television will continue to have an important future, will continue to be a place where members of the community can make television content, but there is the capacity to generate and disseminate that content online.

Already the community, the spectrum that was being used for community television in Sydney, in Brisbane and in Perth is no longer being used for that purpose, and our government has provided funding to community television to make this transition both in 2019 and more recently in December to support the transition online.

[When] We look at where some of the best Australian new talent is developing today, it’s people who are producing content online, disseminating it for example through YouTube. ... The community channel run by Natalie Tran with 1.3 million subscribers.* So we know that people can be very successful in generating original, creative content and disseminating it online and that’s certainly where we want to see community television – we provided funding for that and that’s been the government’s policy that we’ve committed to and we’ve been implementing since 2014.

As my colleague Matilda Boseley points out, Natalie hasn’t posted to that channel in three years.

Updated

This was at the end of a dixer – seems like some polls do matter, at least in terms of confidence.

Updated

Stuart Robert dodges robodebt question

Bill Shorten:

When did the government become aware that its robodebt scheme was illegal?

Stuart Robert:

And I thank the member for his question. As the member knows on 19 November last year I did a press conference to indicate that we were pausing all recoveries for debts raised by income averaging.

... The attorney general also made clear on the Insiders interview that income averaging is a long-standing practice of governments going back decades.

So I went and checked over the weekend to see exactly how far income averaging went back again. I asked the department to do a random sample of 500 debts raised.

Tony Smith:

If he could just pause for a second. Unlike the last question, this was one question, not two or three, I think there were three last time.

And it was a specific question. And so whilst he’s entitled to have a preamble, the preamble cannot be the answer. And I’d just ask him to direct himself to the question.

Robert:

As I said, as I announced to the public on 19 November that we would be pausing all recovery of debts that were raised either solely or partially by income averaging. And to see how far the practice went back to understand the government’s consistent practice as to what they believed was sufficient. A random sample was undertaken and surprise, surprise, 16% of all debts in 2016 were raised ...

Smith:

Sorry. I’ll just say to the minister, the question was very specific. I have enabled him to have a preamble. He’s addressing the policy topic but he’s not being directly relevant to the question that was asked. It was a very specific question. He can’t seek to answer a question he wasn’t asked so I just say to the minister to bring himself back to the question.

Robert:

I have finished.

Updated

This entire answer was an absolute masterclass in WTF.

Merit people, merit.

Updated

Breaking out of question time once again – News Corp has announced more job cuts.

This is not to be celebrated. The shrinking of media is not cause for celebration, no matter how much you may hate some talking heads. I can tell you, they won’t be touched by this. It will be the journalists who work hard to just tell stories beyond the headline.

After announcing the closure of more than 100 regional and community newspapers, the company has now announced job cuts in these metros:

Herald Sun: 11

Adelaide Advertiser: 15

Courier Mail: 15

Daily Telegraph: 11

Hobart Mercury: 1

The Australian: 13

Updated

Labor has started Senate question time with a volley of questions to Mathias Cormann about new justice targets to be added to the Closing the Gap initiative to fix Indigenous disadvantage.

The third supplementary asked whether Scott Morrison accepts he must lead the process rather than leave the issue to run on divisive commentary from senior ministers – a reference to Cormann’s own comments condemning Black Lives Matter rallies.
Cormann snapped back defending his earlier remarks:

“However legitimate the cause ... in the context of the pandemic it absolutely was reckless and irresponsible to conduct a mass protest at this time.”

In interjections, Penny Wong accused Cormann of “dividing the country”.

Updated

Michael McCormack is talking.

Something-something-cliche-cliche.

There was probably more, but there is a stain on the carpet that looks like a sock puppet, so I got distracted.

Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:

Will the prime minister apologise to Australians targeted by the illegal robodebt scheme? Can he confirm that this is a scheme that he both created and announced on 28 June 2016.

Morrison:

As the leader of the opposition would be aware, the matters that he referred to are still being pursued through legal processes. But let me say this.

The matter upon which the government has made a policy decision is on the basis that income averaging, a practice that was implemented by the Labor party in government, embraced by the Labor party as part of their debt recovery mechanisms ... It was the issue of income averaging, Mr Speaker, that could not be relied on solely in order to raise debts in relation to social security matters.

Now, that is the matter, Mr Speaker. That is the actual matter. It is a policy and it is a principle ... that was embraced by the Labor party, that has been followed by this government and, Mr Speaker, where the circumstances have now presented that that income averaging is not something that could be relied upon solely, then the government has made it right.

And that is what we should have done and that is what we are doing and that is, Mr Speaker, setting that matter aright. I would simply ask, Mr Speaker, given the Labor party have raised this, do they now believe that they did the wrong thing when they used income averaging?

A policy, Mr Speaker, that they used?

Mr Speaker, that was their policy. We continued that policy. This has nothing to do, Mr Speaker, with the issues of technology.

Or how technology is used to do this, Mr Speaker. It is based on the principle of income averaging, something Labor embraced and now, for political purposes, once again seeks to reject.

So, that’s a no to the apology then.

Also – Labor still had a human element to its policy.

Prime minister Scott Morrison speaks during question time
Prime minister Scott Morrison speaks during question time. Photograph: Sam Mooy/Getty Images

Updated

'It is a recession, there is no doubt about that,' says Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison:

I can confirm that Australia has done incredibly well in dealing with one of the biggest challenges this country has faced, if not the biggest, since the second world war. I can confirm, Mr Speaker, that the government’s focus each and every day is ensuring that we continue, Mr Speaker, to meet the needs of Australians and address the needs of Australians as we work through this difficult crisis. Mr Speaker, the leader of the opposition makes reference to the national accounts.

And it is indeed true that we had a negative quarter in March, Mr Speaker of 0.3%, and based on the estimates of the Treasury and that they have provided to us, then the June quarter is also likely to be negative and that of course means a technical recession.

That is true.

It is a recession, Mr Speaker, there’s no doubt about that.

And I don’t think there is an Australian in this country, Mr Speaker, who doesn’t understand the reason why.

But only those opposite, Mr Speaker, would take joy in this fact and seek to use it for political purposes.

[Labor gets very loud at this]

Because what we have seen from this opposition is not a contribution but just constant whining, Mr Speaker, undermining the government at every turn as the government has sought to provide the support that Australians need.

What we have seen from this opposition, disappointingly, is seeking to even undermine measures that they supported.

The test during this crisis and the government is providing the leadership and support that Australians need. The opposition is failing.

Updated

Question time begins

The House starts with a moment of silence for Bruce Reid, the former Liberal MP for the seat of Bendigo.

And then we are into it.

Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:

Can the prime minister confirm that in just the three weeks since parliament last sat the government admitted it overestimated coverage of its jobkeeper scheme by 3 million workers, resulting in a $60bn blunder, the government announced $720m will be repaid to victims of the prime minister’s illegal robodebt scheme and Australia entered its first recession in three decades.

Updated

It is time for who is that MP?

And it’s Damian Drum.

Now it is Amanda Rishworth.

Updated

Good Lizzo.

It is almost question time.

Take this time to grab things which make you happy.

Victoria now has 21 people who have tested positive for coronavirus agree to let the state’s health department download data from the Covidsafe app, but as yet no close contacts the department didn’t already know about through existing contact tracing methods have been identified.

One contact that had been identified using the data was consequently ruled out as being a close contact after contact tracers investigated.

“With only a small number of cases being reported each day in Victoria, there have been few opportunities to use the app so far – and we hope this continues,” a spokesperson told Guardian Australia.

New South Wales reports “limited opportunity” in using the app again due to the recent cases only being hotel quarantine cases where contact tracing is not required. The state’s health department says it has been able to download data “fewer than 10 times”.

Western Australia, similarly, has not had to use the app data due to low transmission.

Deputy chief medical officer Paul Kelly said on the weekend the app could prove useful if there is a spike in cases from weekend protests, but said it was unclear how many would be using the app.

The Covidsafe app would be absolutely critical and crucial in this type of setting. It’s exactly what it is designed to do, is to pick up cases when you don’t know the people around you.

Unfortunately, we don’t know how many people that were at the protest that might have had the Covidsafe app on their phone and so it would rely on that. We’ve had a very good uptake of the Covidsafe app, but the majority of people that have mobile phones have not downloaded the app so far.

Updated

Labor leader Anthony Albanesehas acknowledged Pauline Hanson’s One Nation’s apparent intention to vote against extending jobkeeper to 5,500 Dnata workers “it makes it difficult” for the disallowance motion to pass.

What I’d say to all the senators is ... come and talk to these workers, these people who are hard working, don’t earn a lot of money, that are just deserving of a little bit of respect.

Transport Workers Union national secretary Michael Kaine was a little more blunt:

This is a fight that is every day, every hour for these workers. They have taken extraordinary steps over the last three or four weeks to make sure the Australian people understand, the prime minister understands, One Nation in the Senate understands that they will never be forgiven – THEY WILL NEVER BE FORGIVEN – unless they step up and support these Australians now. Because these Australians and their families will suffer and the aviation sector will crumble and, if it crumbles, so too will the Australian economy. Now is the time for them to act.

In her comments at the rally, the Australian Council of Trade Unions president, Michele O’Neil, noted the gendered impact of some of the government’s decisions.

She argued that the majority of airline catering workers at Dnata excluded from jobkeeper are women, just like the majority of childcare workers who will be excluded from jobkeeper from July in favour of an alternate subsidy.

After the rally, O’Neil told Guardian Australia the pandemic “hasn’t treated everyone the same”, with women losing more hours of work and a high proportion of the newly unemployed.

She said the government must first acknowledge and then “respond” to the gendered impact of the recession by supporting the public sector and service industries that are disproportionately female including hospitality, higher education and the arts.

Updated

Just as an FYI, when Peter Dutton, who had been attending cabinet meetings, tested positive to Covid-19, this was the advice from the PMO:

In advice provided to the prime minister this evening, the deputy chief medical officer has reiterated that only people who had close contact with the minister in the preceding 24 hours before he became symptomatic need to self-isolate.

That does not include the prime minister or any other members of the cabinet.

Updated

Queensland high court border challenge update

AAP has an update on the Queensland high court border challenge case:

A legal challenge against the constitutional right of the Queensland government to keep the state’s borders closed has hit a snag.

The high court in Brisbane has refused an application from lawyers for the Travel Essence challenge to access the documents used by the government when it decided to close the border.

Chief justice Susan Kiefel said on Wednesday the application was “a fishing expedition” and “subsidiary” to the constitutional matter at hand.

The matter will return to court for a directions hearing alongside two challenges by billionaire businessman Clive Palmer.

Mr Palmer is challenging border closures in Queensland and Western Australia.

The Travel Essence challenge is understood to be a group of tourism operators arguing the closure is causing them financial harm

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has previously refused to reverse her decision to keep the borders closed, saying she’s keeping Queenslanders safe.

Updated

Universities Australia chief executive, Catriona Jackson, has addressed China’s warning to international students.

She said:

Australia is one of the safest places in the world – and Australian universities are committed to making it even safer.

In 2018, a survey of more than 80,000 international tertiary students found that personal safety and security is one of the top five factors for deciding to study in Australia – surpassed only by the quality of teaching and the reputation of the qualification.

Any violent act is taken very seriously and reported to the police.

Updated

On the Jobkeeper review, Anthony Albanese picked up Labor’s theme from the weekend, which is something the opposition will be running with as the day runs:

Last week, Scott Morrison said, in-ons response to a question, would he guarantee that JobKeeper would remain until September, and he answered very simply yes.

This is a broken promise with regard to childcare workers, and it is the Government that have to explain this inconsistency.

But I’ll say this as well - the government have said they will receive the review in June.

But they won’t release it until July, after the July 4 by-election for Eden-Monaro. This is a government that hides from transparency, that should release the review when they get it, the only reason why they’re delaying it is after the Eden-Monaro by-election.

The Labor leader says the Labor MPs who went to Black Lives Matter protests on the weekend are being tested “out of an abundance of caution”.

Given the tests aren’t accurate until at least five days after potential exposure, it is still pointless.

Anthony Albanese has wandered out to the front of the parliament where transport workers, including some who worked for the aviation catering company dnata, who have missed out on jobkeeper.

They’ve missed out because of a change that was made. I’ve spoken to women here who received one payment and then had to give it back because they weren’t eligible because of the issue of the ownership of this company. Now, these workers didn’t make the decision to change the ownership of the company. That ownership change was approved by this government and one of the issues with jobkeeper is simply people missing out, doing the same job as others, who are getting the payment.

Anthony Albanese speaks with TWU workers during a protest in front of Parliament House.
Anthony Albanese speaks with TWU workers during a protest in front of Parliament House. Photograph: Sam Mooy/Getty Images

Updated

The top spot in that ballot draw is the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers candidate, Matthew Stadtmiller.

Preference deals just got super exciting.

This seems unlucky.

Updated

In Victoria:

Michelle Rowland chatted to ABC radio this morning.

Labor is pushing back against the Australia Post changes and hopes to have the regulation disallowed.

Rowland:

Australia Post have said that there will be job losses, and the government needs to be up front about this. These regulations are supposedly about a measure to deal with the impact of Covid-19, and these were announced in April. But in effect, these changes effectively halve the delivery and frequency of postal services and the concern is that this is not a short-term measure and indeed, it could be being used as cover for long-term detrimental changes to jobs and conditions of workers.

Q: Well Australia Post has issued a statement saying it needs its workers more than ever to help deliver the increasing parcel volumes. What’s your response to that?

Rowland:

Well, we support that. And in fact, the parcels boom is an opportunity to do more with one of our great government business enterprises. We need to be forward-looking about a post-Covid world and have a GBE from which we should be leveraging, in everything from logistics to technology to banking services, we should capitalise on those strengths. And around the world, you see Amazon, for example, their share price having skyrocketed, and even locally here domestic retail grocery services are all investing. Now, we support the surge in parcels. We support Australia Post doing more with that. But they can do it with or without regulation.

Updated

For those wondering about pairs, with the social distancing going on, the parties have been granted a surplus of pairs, to choose who is in and out of the chamber at will.

This should not come as a surprise:

Chris Bowen has officially responded to the dental extension announcement:

It is good that the federal government has today finally announced that it will extend the National Partnership Agreement on public dental services, after months of calls from Labor. However it is very disappointing this extension is for just one year.

Labor consistently urged the government to ensure these services do not cease on 30 June, only three weeks away.

But a one year extension is not enough for the vulnerable Australians who rely on public dental services for care.

By the government’s own numbers the NPA has provided services to 763,000 Australians since 1 January 2017.

Disappointingly the announced one year extension guarantees only 180,000 patients public dental services over the next year.

With waiting times for public dental already over 12 months in most states, someone who needs care today may not be seen under this scheme at all.

Updated

Luke Henriques-Gomes has an update on robodebt:

The true value of all welfare debts unlawfully issued through the federal government’s robodebt scheme and soon to be wiped is expected to easily exceed $1bn, the Guardian has learned.

In a humiliating backdown, the government last month promised to repay $720m to 330,000 past and present welfare recipients over 470,000 unlawful demands for money calculated using faulty “income averaged” annual pay data as part of Centrelink’s income compliance program.

But as new polling showed significant support for a royal commission into the debacle, it can also be revealed internal estimates have shown the total value of those 470,000 unlawful debts will be close to $1.5bn, according to a source familiar with the refunds process.

Since 2015, a total of $2.1bn is estimated to have been raised through the income compliance – or robodebt – program, including about 200,000 debts the government still considers legal and which it is not proposing to refund.

The total value of the debts raised is much larger than the refunds being issued because much of the money has not been paid back, in many cases because people have sought payment plans, including through forced deductions from their Centrelink benefits.

Overall, it means about three-quarters of all money banked from the robodebt program will likely need to be either repaid or wiped.

NSW reports zero community transmission

No community transmission in NSW reported today – the three new cases of Covid-19 which were reported were from overseas travellers and all are in quarantine.

Updated

This probably doesn’t make any sense, given the tests aren’t really accurate until at least five days after a possible contamination.

Multicultural affairs minister cites Masterchef as proof of Australia's diversity

I found that entire Alan Tudge quote on MasterChef, while speaking on Sky News.

Even when you look at pop culture, some of the most successful and popular people have got a more diverse background, such as on MasterChef at the moment, which is the most popular TV show, where one of the judges is Chinese, has an ethnic Chinese background, and many of the contestants, who are hugely popular.

This is an indication to me of what Australia is, where we treat people as individuals, we accept them for who they are and their contribution to our great country and that is the way I hope Australia will always be.

For the record, Melissa Leong was born in Sydney. She is a first generation Singaporean Australian and her grandparents were originally from China.

Updated

Transport workers have been protesting outside parliament, with many, particularly those in the aviation sector, having been left out of the jobkeeper program.

Updated

Well this is cheery.

Updated

There is still social distancing going on in the parliamentary chamber, which means MPs are on a roster for who is allowed in the chambers, and when.

So expect a lot of desk photos in your Auspol social media feed. Look for strategically placed ‘I’m a human’ props.

Updated

Next election 'battle lines' being drawn says Josh Frydenberg

Josh Frydenberg, sounding like he is reading from notes, says he sees government as “an enabler” as he speaks to 5AA.

Which is exactly what my friends call me, as I’m always on the ‘buy the thing, eat the thing’ bandwagon.

Life is short people.

But Frydenberg has a different view of enabling, than I do, apparently. His view of enabling is more about ‘do it yourself’.

It is clear the role of government and the future role of government will be much debated. The Labor party always want to see government as the big spender. Limitless spending and as the continuous provider of everything across the economy.

We see government as an enabler. An enabler to ensure that people can be their best. That businesses can go out there and innovate, hire and grow. That individuals can provide for themselves, but if they need a helping hand, that there is a generous safety net, that is there, that at the same time there for them.

I think that battle line will be very clear at the next election. Labor was promising to spend more before the coronavirus, during the coronavirus, and no doubt after the coronavirus. We are very much focussed on ensuring responsible, prudent, economical management, that don’t leave an unnecessarily debt burden for future generations to pay.

Updated

I mean, surely Tina Arena could just call up her number one fan, given how often the prime minister bangs on about her.

Josh Frydenberg is continuing the ‘curve is flattening, so, so is the stimulus’ line on Adelaide radio 5AA.

Updated

Simon Birmingham was also talking the Chinese government warnings to students when on Sydney radio 2GB this morning.

He managed to avoid pointing to MasterChef.

Ben Fordham: Is there an increase in racist attacks against Chinese students in Australia?

Birmingham:

No Ben, we don’t believe that there is. Australia is country that holds ourself to an incredibly high standard. Far higher standard than most other nations and where racism occurs, it’s condemned. Where there are incidents, we encourage it to be reported. Where there is any violence that occurs in our community, racist or otherwise, we encourage it to be not only reported, but insist that it be investigated and that people be brought to justice wherever possible. But also we widely report on statistics that are collected around these matters. Now, students in Australia from overseas continue to report that they choose Australia as a study destination, not only because of our high quality education standards, but also because of the safety and security that Australia offers them.

Updated

Asked if Australia does have a problem with racism, Tudge said there were some “high profile” instances of incidents directed against people of Asian descent but they were the “actions of a tiny minority of cowardly idiots”.

He said:

The vast majority of Australians would be appalled [by them] and would call it out. Just as the prime minister has, just as I have. 99.99% are as disgusted as I, the prime minister or anyone else is. It’s not the Australian way and I don’t think it is by any stretch of the imagination the Australian norm.

Updated

The bells are ringing for the start of the parliament session.

I now know what the Hound of Baskervilles sounded like.

Updated

He was one beat away from saying that some of his best friends watch Masterchef.

Alan Tudge is on Sky News pointing to Masterchef as an example of how multicultural Australia is, because there are judges AND contestants from multicultural backgrounds

You read that right.

Australian universities says China's warning to students is 'disappointing'

The Group of Eight universities’ chief executive, Vicki Thomson, has responded to China’s warning for international students to reconsider coming to Australia.

She said:

Our duty of care extends to all of our students – domestic and international – and never more so at this time whilst we are in the middle of a global pandemic. It is for this reason that it is disappointing to see this statement from the ministry of education which speaks directly to Chinese students and urges caution when considering Australia as a study destination. Australia and our universities remain safe destinations for all of our students. The Go8 is absolutely committed to our international students and to maintaining a positive and collaborative relationship with China, but, statements such as this do make things more difficult at an already difficult time. We know students will do their own research about our health and safety as it relates to them - as they should - and we look forward to being able to welcome them back to our campuses as soon as the Australian government’s health advice indicates that we can.”

Updated

Minutes are a long time in politics.

Via AAP:

NRL fans in NSW will have to wait a little longer before they can return to the grandstands with Premier Gladys Berejiklian shutting down a call of a dramatic relaxing of crowd restrictions before this week’s round of matches.

It comes as NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro says he wants to see fans flocking back to the game – starting with Thursday’s clash between Manly and Brisbane in Gosford.

The federal government is considering “decreased capacity” for NRL games, according to deputy chief medical officer Dr Nick Coatsworth.

The NSW government has already ticked off on the reopening of corporate boxes from this week at NRL stadiums, for one person per four square metres up to 50 people.

On Wednesday morning, Berejiklian told the Nine Network there would be no further change to the restrictions just yet when asked if fans will be permitted to return to the footy.

“No, not this weekend, no,” she said on the Today Show.

“However, we we’ve said, the use of corporate boxes and the like is the first stage of that engagement.”

Updated

If you pay pay-as-you-go tax, you might need to pay attention to this: the government will legislate to suspend the indexation of tax instalment amounts for the 2020-21 financial year in response to Covid-19.

This change will affect instalments payable to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for an estimated 2.2 million taxpayers paying Pay As You Go (PAYG) income tax instalments, and around 81,000 taxpayers paying Goods and Services Tax (GST) instalments in 2020-21.

The decision to suspend the indexation of tax instalments is yet another tangible way the Morrison Government is supporting Australians as we respond to the COVID-19 health crisis.

Tax instalments help spread taxpayer obligations over the year and to reduce a taxpayers’ balance on assessment.

Historical Gross Domestic Product outcomes are normally used to index a range of instalment amounts annually to reflect anticipated income growth.

Given the economic impact of COVID-19, the Government has decided to suspend this indexation for 2020-21.

In addition to suspending indexation, taxpayers can still vary their instalment amounts if they believe they will pay too much tax for the year.

Other taxpayers who pay instalments based on their current income are not subject to indexation because their instalments already adjust to changes in income. While these taxpayers are not affected by the suspension of indexation, they have the same right to vary their instalments.

Taxpayers who do not pay GST by instalments are unaffected.

It you require urgent assistance with your tax affairs due to COVID-19 you should contact the ATO’s Emergency Support Infoline 1800 806 218.

Updated

It’s a big day for Angus Taylor – the “big stick” legislation, which is actually more of a toothpick, comes into effect today.

As the energy minister says in his statement:

The ‘Big Stick’ legislation will ensure reductions in wholesale costs are passed on to customers, while penalties will apply for anti-competitive behaviour or moves to manipulate electricity prices.

This new law comes at an important time, with an increased number of households and small businesses experiencing hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ACCC will be responsible for enforcing the legislation, and will have a graduated range of penalties at its disposal to punish misconduct ranging from public warnings and court ordered fines.

For the most egregious breaches, the legislation makes available two additional significant remedies:

· Treasurer-issued contracting orders that will require electricity companies to offer electricity financial contracts to third parties; and

· Federal Court ordered divestiture orders relating to misconduct in the wholesale market.

What does this mean for you?

Nothing, really.

Updated

The great nation of Queensland has been under attack.

Updated

Jobkeeper really is the topic of the day, at least at this early hour of the parliament’s return.

Jim Chalmers stopped by the Mural Hall to declare that the wage subsidy was a “very good idea being very badly implemented”.

Childcare workers are about to be carved out of the subsidy program, as the government stops the free childcare program and returns to the status quo.

Labor says it is too early.

Chalmers:

It wasn’t that long ago that Scott Morrison was saying, ‘If you have a go, you get a go.’ Well, now he’s saying to so many workers, ‘You’ve had a go, now off you go, to Centrelink.’”

Updated

Let’s see if the parliament is still as passionate for change as it was before the pandemic.

Australia’s arts and entertainment workers are again hoping the government will change the jobkeeper wage subsidy program to include more people in their industry.

Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg have both said that the program will be more “targeted” as it moves forward.

The Australia Institute has crunched some numbers and found that, so far, there has been a bit of an imbalance in how the stimulus has been handled:

Between March and April the number of women employed fell 5.3 per cent compared to 3.9 per cent for men, and for hours worked the pattern was the same with women losing 11.5 per cent of their hours compared to the loss by men of 7.5 per cent. It is clear that women are facing the brunt of the recession so far,” said Dr Richard Denniss, chief economist at the Australia Institute.

“But despite the clear evidence that women are disproportionately losing their jobs and incomes, the Morrison Government is developing stimulus policies that disproportionately favour male dominated industries.

The new research paper shows that every $1 million dollars spent on education creates 10.6 jobs for women while every $1 million spent on construction creates only 0.2 jobs for women.

“If the Government is serious about maximising the number of jobs it creates then it needs to focus its stimulus spending on industries like education, health and tourism.”

Updated

Via AAP:

NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro is pushing for a dramatic relaxing of crowd restrictions for NRL matches and the opening up of Sydney’s ANZ Stadium for up to 40,000 fans as soon as round six.

Barilaro says he wants to see fans flocking back to the game following the sport’s restart after the Covid-19 shutdown, starting with Thursday’s clash between Manly and Brisbane in Gosford – with sufficient social distancing.

The federal government is considering “decreased capacity” for NRL games, according to deputy chief medical officer Dr Nick Coatsworth.

And the NSW government has already ticked off on corporate boxes, for one person per four square metres up to 50 people, open from this weekend.

Discussions have begun about opening up the grandstands, with ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys aiming for a July 1 return for fans.

But Barilaro believes it wouldn’t make sense preventing supporters attending NRL matches now when 20,000 protesters took part in the Black Lives Matter rally with minimal social distancing rules in Sydney on Saturday.

“In my mind, it’s now clear we need some ­consistency with what is being approved,” Barilaro told the the Daily Telegraph.

“Hypocrisy at its best … the NRL have already proved they have the right plans in place. So as far as I’m concerned the evidence is clear that we can open up these ­restrictions.”

Suggesting just one or two empty seats are needed to ensure adequate social distancing, Barilaro believes venues like the 80,000-capacity ANZ Stadium should start being used up as soon as possible.

“I want to see stadiums opened to the fans this weekend,” Barilaro said.

“There is no longer any need to keep these lockdowns in place. We can have crowds back and still be abiding by some social-distancing rules. The evidence is there to support that.”

Nationals leader Barilaro also said he wanted social-distancing restrictions lifted at grounds altogether by July 1.

“If we open everything now with these social-distancing measures and there are no more problems, then come July, open everything.

“This shouldn’t be just about corporate boxes. We want people in the grandstands and people playing sport at grassroots level.”

Updated

In NSW, community sport will return on 1 July.

Geoff Lee, the NSW sports minister, told Sydney radio 2GB that from the first of next month “everyone can play”.

“It’s game on for the whole community,” he said, using phrases that normal people absolutely use every day.

“All ages, whether it’s under 18, over 18 competition can return July 1 this year.”

Updated

Mathias Cormann is not too fussed about the ABC’s announcement that between 200 and 250 jobs as well as programs will have to be cut, after the latest round of cuts.

As AAP reports:

Finance minister Mathias Cormann has shrugged off the ABC’s budget concerns as the national broadcaster prepares to cut more than 200 jobs.

Senator Cormann says the ABC receives “significant” taxpayer funding, even as the broadcaster offers voluntary redundancies because of an $84m budget cut.

“The growth in funding hasn’t been as high as the ABC might have hoped, but the ABC is in a much stronger position than any other media in Australia,” he told the ABC on Wednesday.

Since the Coalition came to power, and Tony Abbott stood in front of a “no cuts to the ABC” sign, the ABC has lost $783m in funding.

The IPA must be thrilled.

Updated

A police auxiliary officer has been charged with assaulting a 36-year-old man who was held in the Perth watch house. The 27-year-old man allegedly assaulted the man in the watch house on 11 April.

He was issued with a summons for common assault and is scheduled to appear before the Perth magistrates court today. He has been stood aside for operational duties.

WA police employ auxiliary officers in the Perth watch house and other police station lock-ups to support operational police officers in managing the admission, custody and release of detainees.

Updated

Good morning

Parliament is officially back and the coronavirus truce is off.

You can expect a return to politics as normal, normal, from this week. Jobkeeper – who is in and who is out – is on the agenda, with Labor continuing to push for a win. Labor will also be moving a disallowance motion to try to overturn planned changes to how Australia Post operates.

But of course the pandemic response continues. Yesterday Australia had its first day of no community transmission since March, when the virus peaked. That doesn’t mean that the politics over the Black Lives Matter protests won’t continue.

But it is mostly about the economy now. Scott Morrison told the party room meeting yesterday that there were “difficult decisions” ahead. He wanted you to know – the speech, usually delivered behind closed doors, (except when it is more for the public than the party room), was put up on the prime minister’s social media.

Why? Well, you are being prepared for a strong return to Liberal principles. So don’t expect any of the Covid-19 changes to stick. Unless of course, it is tax cuts, or support for traditional industries. Take a look at the recent announcements and you’ll get an idea of where we are headed.

We’ll cover all the day’s events as they happen. You have Mike Bowers, Katharine Murphy, Daniel Hurst and Paul Karp, plus the entire Guardian brains trust at your disposal.

I’ve only had two coffees, so obviously that is not enough. But still. We go on.

Ready?

Let’s get into it.

Updated

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