Summary
And that’s where we’ll leave things tonight. Here are the day’s key events:
- Scott Morrison has apologised to robodebt victims, telling the parliament: “I would apologise for any hurt or harm in the way that the government has dealt with that issue and to anyone else who has found themselves in those situations.”
- The government’s ensuring integrity bill is off the table, for now, after it consented to Labor’s motion to have it removed from the notice paper.
- The Senate agreed to an inquiry into Rio Tinto’s destruction of 46,000-year-old caves at the Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
- Pauline Hanson’s “all lives matter” motion was denied by the Senate.
- The OECD warned that Australia’s economic output could fall by 6.3% if there was a second wave of coronavirus.
- The remuneration tribunal ruled there would be no pay rise for federal MPs this year.
- The prime minister called on states with closed borders to nominate the date when they will reopen.
- NSW will raise the state’s limit on gatherings to 20 people from Saturday.
As always, thanks for following along with us. Catch you again tomorrow for a rare Friday sitting day.
Updated
BHP will not destroy Aboriginal heritage sites
Some breaking news from my colleagues Lorena Allam and Calla Wahlquist.
BHP has said it will not damage 40 Aboriginal heritage sites which it received ministerial permission to destroy without “further extensive consultation” with traditional owners.
It comes after Guardian Australia revealed the resources giant had permission from the Western Australian government to destroy the sites in the Pilbara and that traditional owners had been legally prevented from speaking publicly about the sites.
Updated
The government appears to have ditched a regulation that reduced the consultation time frame for changes to workers conditions and pay.
The regulation, announced in April, allowed employers to provide just 24 hours’ notice, down from a week, to seek wide-ranging changes including cuts to pay, penalty rates, leave entitlements and changes to ordinary hours of work. At the time the government argued it was necessary to allow employers to deal with the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
Labor sought to disallow it but failed after One Nation voted against the motion. But One Nation’s support of the government was contingent on the regulation being given a sunset clause.
“It now appears Christian Porter was unable to deliver on his deal with One Nation to amend the regulation so he’s been forced to ditch it altogether,” Tony Burke, Labor’s industrial relations spokesman, said on Thursday.
“This is thoroughly humiliating for the minister – but a great win for workers.”
A judgment in a federal court challenge by the CFMMEU to the regulation was due tomorrow.
Updated
From AAP:
The Morrison government has described a push to lock in two lower house seats in the Northern Territory as premature.
The Nationals have formed an unlikely alliance with Labor to guarantee two Northern Territory federal lower house seats in parliament.
But the government is keeping its powder dry ahead of a redistribution tipped to reduce the NT’s seats from two to one.
NT Labor senator Malarndirri McCarthy introduced a bill to parliament on Thursday to lock in the status quo, with the support of all five upper house Nationals.
The government Senate leader, Mathias Cormann, said political parties, parliamentarians and voters would be able to make submissions about the redistribution.
“It is premature to speculate about hypothetical outcomes of an electoral redistribution process yet to be undertaken independently by the Australian Electoral Commission,” said.
The AEC will not start the process before 3 July, with boundaries to be decided before the next election.
Cormann said the government would work with the electoral parliamentary committee to consider if laws were needed after the redistribution.
Updated
Senate agrees to inquiry into destruction of 46,000-year-old caves at the Juukan Gorge
The push for an inquiry into the destruction of 46,000-year-old caves at the Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara region of Western Australia was agreed to without any dissent in the Senate this evening.
Labor senators Anthony Chisholm and Pat Dodson proposed an inquiry into a range of issues, including: the operation of state and federal laws that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage; the decision-making and consultation processes of Rio Tinto; the loss or damage to the traditional owners Puutu, Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people from the destruction of the site.
It was referred to the joint standing committee on Northern Australia for inquiry and report by 30 September.
But the Greens senator Rachel Siewert said while her party was not opposing the move, she had concerns about the task being handled by a government-dominated committee focused on just part of Australia.
“Why is it being referred to a committee being dominated by the government when they’re involved in decision-making on this issue being investigated?” she said.
Updated
In the Senate, a matter of public importance is under way on the the decision to end the jobkeeper subsidy for childcare workers from 20 July.
Labor’s Jess Walsh says the decision comes despite the pandemic having hit women the hardest.
“This is not a government that has the backs of Australian working women,” she says.
As Australia enters a recession, Walsh says the government’s priorities are “giving out bathroom renovations on one hand and ripping away programs that support women with the other”.
She says the removal of free childcare from 13 July will hurt families at a time when many are earning less, “when many families are desperately trying to get back on their feet”.
Updated
On that note, I am going to hand the blog over to Lisa Cox for the evening stretch.
We’ll be back early tomorrow morning for the Friday sitting.
And don’t forget: you have four more days of sittings next week as well! Huzzah! What lucky little ducks you all are.
In the meantime, be kind, be thoughtful, and take care of you.
Updated
And from AAP:
Sunrise host Samantha Armytage and commentator Prue MacSween face a racial vilification lawsuit over a controversial segment on Indigenous adoption aired on Channel Seven.
The potential federal court action comes after settlement negotiations collapsed in a group racial discrimination complaint filed in the Australian Human Rights Commission.
During a March 2018 broadcast, Armytage and panellists on the breakfast TV show discussed Aboriginal adoption.
MacSween said: “Just like the first stolen generation, where a lot of children were taken because it was for their wellbeing, we need to do it again.”
The federal court action is being led by Aboriginal elder Aunty Rhonda Dixon-Grovenor, the group’s lawyers said in a statement on Thursday.
They said the eight Aboriginal complainants were forced to take the action after the commission negotiations broke down.
“Sunrise platformed wealthy white women calling for a stolen generations 2.0 as a means of salvation for our young people,” Dixon-Grovenor said.
“This shameful, profoundly hurtful and devastating display of racism was broadcast by a commercial television station into homes right across Australia.
“The dignity of all Aboriginal people and children was violated in our very own homes and lounge rooms around Australia.”
A Seven spokeswoman said the network was not aware of any actual claim being filed at this stage so could not comment on the case.
“Seven settled the original matter in late 2019 in the federal court with the Yirrkala community and the Yolngu families and offered an unreserved apology on-air shortly after,” she said.
After negotiations broke down the group had 60 days to file a case in the federal court.
AAP understands law firm Susan Moriarty will file proceedings on their behalf once they receive a certificate stating the initial negotiations were unresolvable.
Updated
In case you haven’t seen it:
Pauline Hanson giving Malcolm Roberts a hand in counting the “ayes”.
There were two of them: Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts.
Updated
Australian stock market plunges 3%
From AAP:
The Australian stock market has plunged 3% in its worst day in six weeks, snapping a seven-day winning streak. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed on Thursday down 187.8 points, or 3.05%, at 5,960.6 points, while the broader all ordinaries index closed down 189.8 points, or 3.03% lower, at 6,079.5.
Updated
Awwwwww. Jim Molan reads us! Thanks for the clicks, senator.
Daniel Hurst found this in yesterday’s Senate Hansard, from one of Molan’s speeches:
Senator Wong made reference to ‘Sky after dark’. I’m a proud member of the association of ‘Sky after dark’. If I remember rightly, I was on late last night and it was dark, which is always a lot better than ‘Guardian by day and night’, I must admit. The ideas I hear on Sky after six o’clock or 5.30 these days are, in my humble view, a lot more substantial than many of the ideas that I read in the Guardian. But that doesn’t go, of course, to the purpose of this bill.
Updated
I was in the Senate gallery a short time ago when the chamber divided over Pauline Hanson’s attempt to suspend standing orders to allow consideration of her motion that “all lives matter”.
Hanson’s attempt failed, as she garnered support from only her One Nation colleague Malcolm Roberts. Most others – including the Coalition, Labor and the Greens – united against the attempt to suspend standing orders.
But it’s worth noting that the conservative Liberal party senator Jim Molan stepped out of the chamber immediately before the division on Hanson’s motion and returned straight after the result was read out, 51 votes to 2. It looked very much like he abstained rather than voting with his government colleagues – but we’re chasing a comment from his office.
Updated
Patricia Karvelas: Just finally, there’s something significant that’s happened in the Senate. Pauline Hanson was trying to get her motion up, the all lives matter motion. The government, the Greens, Labor, minor parties ensured that never did go to a vote. Why did you all work together on that?
Concetta Fierravanti-Wells:
I have to say I’m on leave at the moment, so I haven’t been in the chamber. So I’m not fully across what’s happened this afternoon in relation to that. In relation to this, can I just say all lives matter. And therefore as far as I’m concerned, I have to say that the activities that we’ve seen, particularly of some of the protesters at a time when we are in these very difficult circumstances, I think has demonstrated a degree of irresponsibility.
Karvelas: That’s the language of senator Hanson’s motion that all lives matter. The reason the movement is called Black Lives Matter is black people around the world and in the US are disproportionately represented in these kinds of cases, with the police and the justice system. That’s why the movement exists because there is a different treatment.
Fierravanti-Wells
Patricia, can I just say I respect the right of people to express their point of view and to protest. The point being at this point in time, given what we are going through, it wasn’t the appropriate thing to do. I appreciate events in the US. Can I also say in relation to the events in the US, I think we do need to distinguish what’s happening in the US and what’s happening in other parts of the world. I do respect this issue but at this particular point in time I would have liked to have seen a lot more responsibility on the part of Australians and I know this is an issue that a lot of Australians are very upset about. There are people who weren’t able to go to weddings and mourn their families.
Karvelas: I’m talking about the substantive issue: black lives matter. That’s because black people are not treated the same in the justice system. Do you agree with that?
Fierravanti-Wells
Patricia, I think as myself being a lawyer; I think the justice system has served us well in Australia. As I have said, I think in the end what is really important is that all Australians have the opportunity to be their best. And that includes most especially having a job and so therefore the focus of our government has been on ensuring jobs, jobs, jobs. That means jobs for all Australians.
Karvelas: You say the justice system as the served our nation well. Do you think it has served Indigenous Australians well?
Fierravanti-Wells
I think it has served Australia well. There are concerns and there have been concerns in relation to deaths in custody. But I think in the end when you do look at the reasons why young people go off the rails or things happen, it’s because ultimately there has been a breakdown issue in their family circumstances or their economic circumstances. And as somebody who worked with Father Chris Riley, there are many things that contribute to young people or people going off the rails. So ultimately, stability and a very important component of that is work. So it is vitally important for us to have a strong economy and part of that strong economy is to ensure that as many people are in jobs as is possible.
Updated
Concetta Fierravanti-Wells then says “All lives matter” when asked about Pauline Hanson’s motion.
SIGGGGGHHHHH.
If I have to explain to anyone, again, why all lives matter is an offensive and completely tone-deaf response to Black Lives matter, please send an email to doyourresearchandthentakealookinthemirror@gmail.com
Updated
The Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells who crossed the floor to support a crossbench motion for a Senate inquiry into Australia’s relationship with China, tells the ABC she doesn’t believe it is smart for Australia to have so much trade with one country:
The point is it is not a good business model to put a third of your trade eggs in one basket. I mean, this is something that the universities have seen. They obviously haven’t followed the edicts or the teachings of their business schools in terms of diversifying their investments.
The point that needs to be made particularly after what we’ve seen in the pandemic is that we have to reduce our reliance on overseas supply chains. We have to reduce our dependency on this one economy, which is a communist regime. It is not, it’s a totalitarian regime and not a democratic country.
I think what we’ve seen through this pandemic is a growing need for us to decouple from China, to reduce our dependency on the communist regime and build up our domestic resilience, particularly in relation to non-reliance of overseas supply chains.
Updated
Senate Division on Pauline Hanson's 'All Lives Matter' motion. @SBSNews #auspol pic.twitter.com/RQ3GT41r00
— Jamie Travers (@JamieTravers) June 11, 2020
'Ensuring integrity' union busting bill officially dead
The “ensuring integrity” union busting bill is officially dead (for now). The government consented to Labor’s motion to have it removed from the notice paper.
Updated
On Scott Morrison’s comments this morning that “there was no slavery in Australia” (which is not true. We didn’t call it slavery, but naming a steaming pile of awfulness something other than a steaming pile of shit, doesn’t change what it is).
Pat Dodson is of course, much more eloquent in his response, when asked by Patricia Karvelas if he thought people would be “surprised” by the prime minister’s comments:
I would be as well if I was a South Sea Islander. They were all indentured labourers on the cane fields and shipped back, and thousands of them dropped back on the islands, as well as the Aboriginal people who were basically incarcerated, enslaved on pastoral properties under acts which indentured them to these employers without any pay.
I think whatever Mr Morrison’s experience is, he really should have a really serious look at Australian history and understand – I saw people carrying water and being slaved without pay. So prior to 1967 the world was a bit different to what Mr Morrison might recall.
Updated
Pat Dodson spoke to Patricia Karvelas about Pauline Hanson’s latest attempt to divide the Senate:
Well I don’t think it was designed to generate any light. It was more designed to generate more heat and unconstructiveness.
And One Nation is the master at that. So I’m glad that the parties combined to put a stop to that form of nonsense. Of course all lives matter, but in the unwritten subliminal message there’s that black lives really don’t matter and the white lives do.
It’s never the debate we need in this country if we’re trying to rebuild relationships.
Updated
The government also denied formality for the Greens motion calling for the Senate to stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, so you know, balance.
Updated
Ahhhh there we go.
.@PaulineHansonOz has labelled her Senate colleagues as “gutless” for not allowing a Notice of Motion titled All Lives Matter to proceed.https://t.co/kWiht6o2uC
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) June 11, 2020
Updated
Pauline Hanson's 'all lives matter' motion denied
Mike Bowers was in the Senate when Pauline Hanson learned she wouldn’t be allowed her latest “white boomer Karen” platform.
Updated
Question time as seen by Mike Bowers:
“But first, let me take a selfie.”
(Before the chamber reps write me a letter, this is a joke. I have no idea what Barnaby Joyce was doing with his phone. That’s just a general life rule of mine.)
*Randy Newman starts playing through the chamber.*
Michael McCormack is that guy your auntie married who calls you “BBQ sauce!” every time he sees you because of that one time you dropped some on your shirt 10 years ago.
Updated
Commenting on today’s report that a person who attended Saturday’s Black Lives Matter rally in Melbourne has tested positive for Covid-19, Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance said:
Many Australians proudly took action for the families of the victims of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths in custody, who don’t have a choice but to continue the call for justice.
The moment was bigger than the protest itself. It was the product of hundreds of years of systemic racism and racist policing that state governments and police have directly contributed to.
Individuals weighed up carefully the decision to protest and the importance of the lives of 434 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have died in custody without anyone held accountable for their deaths.
Safety was paramount and people did their utmost to support the official advice on social distancing, using masks and hand sanitiser. Anyone feeling unwell was urged to stay home.
The official advice stands that any person who attended the rally and is feeling unwell should get tested.
We will continue to campaign for justice, and to push Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths in custody to the top of the national agenda.
Updated
It has sort of been forgotten about, because it is a very restricted policy, but Andrew Leigh managed to eke out a speech ahead of question time which included homebuilder:
The prime minister needs to stop taking his policy ideas from reality TV. Just because you gave 300 grand to Scott Cam doesn’t mean The Block is a good basis for our economic recovery. It’s as absurd as the minister for multiculturalism downplaying racism by pointing to MasterChef. In reality, this government is more like Married at First Sight – a train wreck Australians can’t look away from.”
Knighthoods, robodebt, right to be a bigot... and now HomeBlunder, a Coalition policy so badly designed that it will worsen inequality & do nothing for jobs or growth. https://t.co/g2r6UOap5k #auspol pic.twitter.com/wht0EbK5Cx
— Andrew Leigh (@ALeighMP) June 11, 2020
Updated
Over in the Senate, Mathias Cormann has denied Pauline Hanson’s latest “it’s OK to be white” motion – this time couched as “all lives matter”. Labor supports the government’s position on this one (obviously).
So she’ll be getting her angry tweet on about being gagged in about five ... four ... three.
Updated
Oh – question time ended.
I just needed a moment to sit and recover from yet another hour of dazzling democracy in this country.
Updated
It is five hours out, but the Guardian AFL blog has begun.
Updated
Just a small point – while this from Scott Morrison is more contrition than has been previously shown by the Coalition government:
And in relation to the particular gentleman that you referred to, that is a very distressing situation that you have raised. I would apologise for any hurt or harm in the way that the government has dealt with that issue and to anyone else who has found themselves in those situations. But the issue is the one of ensuring how the government can best do this. Where there are lessons to be learned here they will be learned. That is what the minister for government services is employing now. I will ask the minister for government services to add to the answer.
Morrison did not apologise for the scheme. He apologised for the hurt or harm in the way the government dealt with the issue, to the individual raised by Bill Shorten, and “anyone else who has found themselves in those situations”.
You may remember Christian Porter said there could not be an apology because of the ongoing legal issues:
David Speers: Do you now apologise for putting this flawed system in place?
Porter: The system was flawed. I’m not going to use that word because there’s litigation ongoing and as attorney general I can’t use that sort of language in the context of the litigation.
Speers: You can’t apologise because of the prospect of further damages?
Porter: There’s an argument which we will resist in the courts about the way in which the government ran the system. But what we do acknowledge is that using average, annualised ATO data, which many governments – Labor and Liberal – have done has, as it transpired, been shown to be an insufficient basis for raising those debts.
Speers: So this was a flawed system, you were wrong to do it, but you won’t apologise?
Porter: Well there’s litigation ongoing and that litigation argues amongst other things negligence and we don’t concede that.
Speers: Does legally insufficient mean illegal?
Porter: There wasn’t a lawful basis, that’s what it means.
Speers: Is it illegal?
Porter: You can you use that, but that’s a criminal term very often, but civilly, it was unlawful. There was no lawful basis for it.
Updated
Scott Morrison uses the end of question time to wish his daughter Lily a happy birthday.
Brendan O’Connor to Scott Morrison:
My question is to the prime minister: 97% of funding in the first round of the small- to medium-enterprise export hub grant scheme was awarded to Coalition electorates just before the last election. Did the prime minister approve exports reports like he approved sports reports?
Morrison:
I will ask the minister to add to my answer but I absolutely reject the assertion and allegation just made by the member in the question that he put forward. Once again, the member is putting forward completely untruthful statements and he has a habit of making untruthful allegations, Mr Speaker.
The assertion that the member made regarding myself and the assertion against my character is completely rejected. It is completely rejected and I think it reflects badly on the member for making that assertion.
Karen Andrews:
“I am very happy to add to the answer to this question and I’m happy to assist the member in his understanding of the program because he clearly does not understand how this particular program works. Now the name of this program is the SME rxport hubs and that’s probably an indication of how it operates because it is a hub which means that it services an entire region.
“So the assertion that the member is making clearly just demonstrates a very limited understanding of the program. So the SME export hubs don’t just help those businesses located just next door to them; they actually assist a number of businesses across wide regions.
“Now a clear example that I’d like to actually put to the House, and this might also assist the member with his understanding, is that in South Australia we have Food South Australia. They received a grant to establish a hub in round one. They are explicitly offering to assist all businesses across South Australia. Now, let’s be clear, it is based in a location but it provides support right across South Australia. So I would also like to take the opportunity to point out, Mr Speaker, that this is a competitive grant program.
“All applicants provided evidence of how they met the criteria through a two-stage application process. They were independently assessed. Now, Mr Speaker, I will just finish on this point, and that is for both funding rounds I, as the minister, accepted advice of the committee and their recommendations without change.”
Updated
Bill Shorten to Scott Morrison:
Does the government agree that it owes all Australians, including Centrelink recipients, a duty of care to behave lawfully?
Morrison:
Thank you, Mr Speaker. The government of course, in all of its activities, seeks to do those in a lawful manner. That is the responsibility of every citizen let alone every government.
And that is what the government will always endeavour to do. Where we have advice and where matters indicate, as has been the case in relation to the use of income averaging as the sole determinant of raising a debt, then obviously government practices change and I just note simply again that this is a practice that has been in place over at least two governments. That elected in 2013 until now and the previous Labor government that applied the same practice.
(Again, the Coalition removed the human element of the program. It automated it.)
Updated
Queensland LNP senator Gerard Rennick continuing to paint himself in glory.
At the end of the day, if you can keep a child at home and if you can keep a parent at home, you’re going to halve the congestion on the roads, you’re going to halve the pollution, and you’re going to increase the quality of life for young children and their parents ...
Dorothy didn’t tap her shoes together and say: ‘There’s no place like childcare.’ She said: ‘There’s no place like home.’ I guarantee you, when people grow up, they don’t pick up the phone and call their childcare guardian from when they were at childcare 20 years ago. They talk to mum and dad. This party will always stand up for the rights of the family and will always try and encourage a bond between the child and the parent.
Queensland Coalition senator on why childcare is a bad thing. pic.twitter.com/7LzJG539nD
— Hugh Riminton (@hughriminton) June 10, 2020
Updated
Bill Shorten to Stuart Robert:
Is the government aware how many Australians suffered severe psychological trauma or attempted to take their own life or indeed sadly did take their own life due to the pressure of an unlawful robodebt?
Robert:
I will again reiterate to members of the House that mental health and suicide are delicate areas and there are many factors that contribute in these circumstances.
We all know that talking about suicide and talking about issues of mental health require sensitivity and can I caution the House before jumping to any unfounded conclusions.
As I say again, Services Australia runs a very large social network support for people in times of crisis and vulnerability and I could encourage members to point those experiencing issues to those services.
Updated
Scott Morrison apologises to robodebt victims
Bill Shorten to Scott Morrison:
I refer to the prime minister’s illegal robodebt scheme. Cancer-suffering grandfather Raymond Murphy had to sell his house and move to his shed to afford medical treatment. He said debt collectors ripped him to shreds over a $2,300 robodebt while he was in hospital. Why won’t the government apologise to Mr Murphy and thousands of other Australians ... with their unlawful robodebt scheme?
Morrison:
I’ll ask the minister for government services to add to the answer. The business of raising and recovering debts on behalf of taxpayers is a difficult job and it deals with Australians in many very sensitive circumstances.
Of course I would deeply regret –deeply regret – any hardship that has been caused to people in the conduct of that activity. The government has many difficult jobs that it has to do dealing with Australians in very sensitive circumstances and that is true particularly at this time.
It is our instruction that we would hope that all agents of the government when pursuing the debt recovery option that they would be sensitive to people’s circumstances.
And in relation to the particular gentleman that you referred to, that is a very distressing situation that you have raised. I would apologise for any hurt or harm in the way that the government has dealt with that issue and to anyone else who has found themselves in those situations.
But the issue is one of ensuring how the government can best do this. Where there are lessons to be learned here they will be learned. That is what the minister for government services is employing now. I will ask the minister for government services to add to the answer.
Stuart Robert:
I would say to the member, if any member can refer any hardship cases through to me and I will ensure the department looks at it. Mental health and suicide, as we all know, and we all appreciate, are very delicate issues. There are many factors that go into them. Services Australia assess people facing difficult situations every day. We have the largest social services network to support people within federal government departments in times of crisis and vulnerability and we do this everyday.
As the prime minister said, the collection of debts is a lawful responsibility of all governments. Right now, just so that colleagues are aware in the House, 939,000 Australians have debts over $5bn that the government lawfully has to collect across a whole range of programs.
And governments of all persuasions have done this across the divide. The government has paused all debt collection across all programs as we work our way through the Covid crisis but government will have to restart that debt collection and will do it sensibly and do it engaging all people, do it in a very transparent manner.
It is incumbent on us all if we have constituents who are hurting or suffering, bring them through to me. All colleagues know where I am. Give me a buzz and we will seek quickly to help you out with that.
Updated
Alan Tudge took a dixer, and somehow managed to avoid pointing to a popular TV cooking show as proof Australia is not racist, as well as not once again point out the trope of multicultural Australian’s contribution to food in this country.
Probably because it was on city planning, and not multiculturalism, but in this day and age, it’s a feat.
Just in case anyone was in doubt that politics was absolutely back as normal, that last part of that answer from Scott Morrison should put that to bed.
Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:
Does the prime minister accept responsibility for the illegal robodebt scheme that he created and announced?
Morrison:
I thank the member for his question. I made reference to this in answers yesterday. The issue of legality goes to one single point and that is the use of income averaging as the sole purpose upon which a debt may be raised for the purposes of reclaiming that debt where money has been made in excess of a beneficiary’s entitlements.
Now, Mr Speaker, it is true, as a minister in previous portfolios and indeed as prime minister, I always accept responsibility for the decisions we take and the policies we support and that policy was to use income averaging as a determinant to raise debt. It was the same policy that the Labor party used and would account for some or more than 20% of the debts they raised on exactly the same basis.
(For the millionth time, the difference is the Coalition removed the human element from the process.)
Morrison:
The hypocrisy that is put forward by the Labor party when the legal issue that is involved here is about income averaging as being the basis of raising the debt.
Now, my government is not going to make – is not going to walk back from the idea that when monies have been overpaid, when benefits have been overpaid, then we owe to it taxpayers to ensure that we reclaim those debts.
Of course that is what is necessary. Mr Speaker, it has to be done lawfully and where issues of lawfulness are raised in relation to ... income averaging – I will accept responsibility as prime minister and ministers previous are involved certainly do.
The hypocrisy that is put forward by the Labor party is that the very practice that they followed in government, that was continued by our government, they now seek to draw some distinction with. It is not the case. The leader of the opposition in his long six weeks as a member of the expenditure review committee, when he was in government, may not be familiar with how these things work as some of us who have spent a bit more time managing these issues than he has.
For someone who has spent such a long time in this place he has a very narrow set of experience.
If you want to ask about standing orders or how the parliament works, then this fellow’s your man. When you ask him though when it comes to matters of economic policy and doing the right thing by Australian taxpayers, this leader of the opposition would not have a clue.
Updated
Labor’s Nita Green has asked a volley of questions to Mathias Cormann about extending jobkeeper, citing remarks from Liberal MP Warren Entsch that there is a “strong argument” to extend the support (in some sectors).
Cormann replied the government will make further decisions after the Treasury review but “the most important thing” voters in far-north Queensland would like to see “ is a removal of state borders”.
That sets off shouts of “OPEN THE BORDERS” from the Coalition – senator James McGrath is certainly the loudest.
Penny Wong notes that South Australia has a border ban despite having a Liberal premier, Steven Marshall.
Sarah Hanson-Young threw the switch to something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT by asking Corman “does art matter”.
Cormann: Yes.
SHY follows up by asking how many times Scott Morrison has said “art” or “artist” since the coronavirus crisis compared to references to “footy”.
Cormann took it on notice.
The third and final question is about whether women’s jobs matter. Cormann replied – yes – then quoted statistics about workforce participation from before the coronavirus crisis. Nothing about the gendered impact of the contraction.
Updated
Jason Clare to Josh Frydenberg:
The OECD has specifically called for extra government investment in social housing to protect the economy from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Why is the government ignoring the OECD’s advice on social housing?
Frydenberg:
The government contributes around $6bn a year for housing assistance – around $6bn a year, Mr Speaker, for housing assistance. When it comes to social housing and other support we know that under the former treasurer, now prime minister, we established the [national housing infrastructure facility] program which is to help grow the community housing sector.
We established the $1bn national housing infrastructure facility. $30m was in the Hobart city deal to build more than 100 social and affordable homes. $78m for domestic violence housing services, Mr Speaker, and $60m to build emergency accommodation and $18m for keeping women safe in their homes program.
Now governments at all levels have responsibility when it comes to social housing and this is primarily a state responsibility but the commonwealth continues to invest significantly in social and community housing, particularly through the $1bn NHFIC program, Mr Speaker.
Updated
'Not there yet' on Indigenous voice: PM
Linda Burney to Scott Morrison:
The minister for Indigenous Australians said yesterday: “We’re confident that the Australian people will be able to have their say on an Indigenous voice this year.” When will his government – your government – hold a referendum to enshrine a voice to the parliament in the constitution?
Morrison:
Thank you, Mr Speaker. I want to thank the minister for Indigenous Australians and indeed the shadow minister for how they have sought to work together on this issue because it is my personal hope that Australia will reach a point where we could have a consensus where this could be achieved but, Mr Speaker, it has always been my view that I am not interested in seeing issues go forward that may fail and will divide Australians.
I want to do things that bring Australians together around this proposition. I hope that we will be able to do that as soon as possible and I can’t say when that will be because we have not arrived at that point and I still think there is quite a journey that we are all on.
I want to thank the minister for Indigenous Australians for his commitment, his dedication, his passion and his persistence as he has sought to build consensus on this issue. But we are not there yet and I hope one day we may be.
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Adam Bandt to Scott Morrison:
There have been 437 Aboriginal deaths in custody since the royal commission delivered its final report. Prime minister, if you don’t want Black Lives Matters protests to continue, why don’t you do something about institutionalised racism in this country? Will you agree with the Greens proposal to put action on black deaths in custody on the national meeting this Friday and make it a future item for the future national cabinet meetings and come up with a law so we stop locking up Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at such high rates.
Morrison:
I thank the member for the question on what is an extremely important issue and that is Indigenous deaths, whether it be in police custody or it be in custody more generally.
As the minister for Indigenous Australians pointed out yesterday this is already a matter of significant attention of not just the government but state and territory governments as well.
It previously did feature with more specific goals more broadly under justice headings in this area that related to the previous Closing the Gap objectives but as also featuring in the new reform set of Closing the Gap goals which is now coming to agreement for the first time involving the direct involvement of Indigenous peak groups in agreeing what those goals should be.
It is also the case that in NSW, for example, we are pleased that there has been progress that has been made in police custody. In NSW there has been one death in police custody, I’m advised, since 2000 and in particular since 2000 when the new arrangements were put in place to provide for access for Indigenous persons who would find themselves in police custody to make those calls and get access to that legal advice.
Now the government is now funding that program over the next three years and that has proven to be a very effective mechanism to prevent deaths in police custody.
Every death in custody, and particular Indigenous deaths in custody, is an absolute national shame and tragedy and what the minister for Indigenous Australians has been working to do is also to address the contributing factors which find Indigenous Australians in custody.
You asked about the agenda of the national cabinet. When I announced the formation of the national cabinet going forward, I also announced the establishment of the national federation reform council. There are only two national taskforces that report to that council; importantly one deals with these very issues in Indigenous affairs, the other one deals with violence against women.
We all agreed, premiers, myself, chief ministers, that they were the issues that needed constant national priority and attention by the national federation reform council which brings all the key decision-makers together and for progress to be tracked against the successes that we hope to achieve in that area. So our government is very committed to action in this area.
It is an important issue but when it comes to the issue of gatherings and protests, the health advice says it put other Australians’ lives at risk including, in particular, Indigenous lives.
And I, I’m sure the leader of the opposition would agree with me: “Do not go to those rallies. You are putting others’ lives at risks.”
The issue you raise is important and it is understood and acknowledged by all in this chamber – that is a great reflection on this country.
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Multi-tasking Scott Morrison style: talking in question time, while tweeting (allegedly).
It’s going to be a long, tough road out of this crisis but Australia is doing better than many other countries and we’re heading in the right direction. Our government is going to continue to do everything it can to ensure Australia bounces back stronger on the other side. https://t.co/bYALUkPfYJ
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) June 11, 2020
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Jim Chalmers to Scott Morrison:
Will the prime minister listen to 81% of company directors who want a cautious phasing out of fiscal support such as jobkeeper rather than the government’s hard economic snapback?
Morrison:
Once again the member for Rankin misrepresents the government’s position and he misrepresents the government’s policies. He seems to be unaware of the broad range of measures that the government has been putting in place, globally recognised, that are providing the necessary economic supports. We have listened carefully right across the economy.
Those working, those running businesses, and particularly to those running businesses, that’s why the treasurer announced the extension of the instant asset write-off, a very important measure.
It is why the measures that kick in in July that involves further support and stimulus payments in the economy in July will be occurring. It is why one of the first things we did was to ensure that jobseeker would be at a sufficient level ...
What the government will continue to do is make decisions about the level of supports we provide into the economy based on the best possible advice and the best reading of the economic situation as that becomes increasingly clear. That’s what we’re doing as a cabinet.
That is what the expenditure review committee is doing, which is a committee of cabinet that is considering these issues and we are looking at all of those matters extremely carefully.
Now that may not suit the convenience of the member for Rankin or indeed the leader of the opposition or anyone else but if they want to work to a political timetable and agenda that is up to them.
The government has the important responsibility of calibrating our support for economic lifelines into this country and to ensure they are done in a way that limits the burdens on future generations, that is targeted and comprehensive, that uses the mechanisms that are already in place so as to not risk the sort of waste that we saw when stimulus measures were put in many years ago.
We have learned the lessons of Labor’s failures in this area where they, I’m sure, if they had the opportunity to sit on these benches, which I’m sure would put a shudder through the spine of all of Australians if they believed that the Labor party were dealing with this issue right now, it would put a shudder through their spine and they will feel very comfortable that this government is taking a mature and responsible approach to calibrating our economic supports on the best available economic data and not rushing off for a headline, which is what the member for Rankin seems to be only interested in.
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Michael McCormack takes a dixer, but I just remembered I have a very important appointment staring at a wall, which is just as illuminating.
Jobkeeper in place until end of September: PM
Justine Elliott to Scott Morrison:
Prime minister, the government’s been all over the place on how long workers who rely on jobkeeper have guaranteed support or whether they’ll be left behind. Why won’t the prime minister give a straight answer to this simple question: will more Australian workers be kicked off jobkeeper early or not?
Morrison:
The only people talking out of both sides of their mouth when it comes to the issues of the Covid response is the Labor party. They oppose the very measures that they support. Each way on every issue has been the response of the Labor party.
Feigning, Mr Speaker, so much support for the government’s response but taking every single opportunity to niggle and undermine for their own political purposes.
This is disappointing.
That that is the approach that the Labor party has sought to take during this crisis.
I am pleased that there are better examples.
There are better examples and that has been exhibited by my colleagues who sit around the national cabinet table, the Labor states who sit around that table. I have made it abundantly that jobkeeper is in place for the legislated period we have put in it place, which is until the end of September. That is what we are doing, Mr Speaker. We have been saying that consistently but those opposite have sought to sow confusion and to undermine these positions and the interjection comes about childcare.
The interjection comes about childcare. I explained the matter very clearly yesterday. We put in place a better support for workers. Over $700m in direct subsidy support to the childcare sector to support those jobs on top of the rebates, which extend to 95% rebate for childcare fees for persons who are on the jobseeker payment.
So Australians know that they are getting the leadership from this government when it comes to the economic policies and lifeline that they need to move through this crisis and as we’ve seen from the OECD that has been recognised. It is recognised across this country, it is recognised internationally, but because of the political motives of the Labor party they just don’t want to see it.
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The government’s first dixer in Senate question time is to the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, asking about how Australia’s economy is faring relative to others in the OECD.
Cormann responded by expounding on the OECD’s report about the risk of a second wave, and how it could compound a 5% GDP contraction this year with a further 1.5% downturn.
And in the course of answering, Cormann claimed Australians have a responsibility to do everything to avoid a second wave, including a “patriotic duty not to attend mass rallies” such as the Black Lives Matter protests.
Labor’s Penny Wong was disgusted at that answer, reminding him over the despatch box that “patriotic Australians also want to stop Aboriginal Australians dying”.
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Question time begins
It is straight into it.
Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:
Why is the prime minister committed to the hard snapback of jobkeeper in September despite warnings from the OECD about withdrawal of support?
Morrison:
The government has a review of the jobkeeper program, which is currently under way.
As I said it has been conducted and will be concluded in the month of June. The government then will consider the recommendations of that report.
These things are not done in haste, Mr Speaker, as I outlined yesterday to the member for Rankin when he put this matter and I made reference that he may not be familiar with those processes of government but you do things in a very considered and careful way when you do these things, so that’s what we’re doing.
As I stressed to the leader of the opposition yesterday, jobkeeper, Mr Speaker, is not the only measure of support and I note that the OECD has acknowledged Australia today and the extensive measures that Australia has put in place, comprehensive, right across the board, and recognise at an international level for being of sufficient scale to ensure that Australians have been getting the economic lifeline they need during this crisis.
So the government will continue to plan for the many months ahead and indeed the many years ahead. The government’s plans go forward to ensure that we can rebuild the economy, that we can get Australians back into jobs, and we will be using the full suite of measures that have been available to us very early on in the crisis.
Indeed, on that very first day when the last meeting of Coag was held, the governor of the Reserve Bank presented to the premiers and myself, as well as the secretary of Treasury, and, Mr Speaker, both of those experts in this area encouraged the government and all the states and territories to ensure that the government did the fiscal heavy lifting as we went through this crisis, and that’s exactly what we have done.
We have responded to the crisis in historic levels, unprecedented in this country, which has been giving Australians the confidence that has been building day after day, week after week, Mr Speaker, under the strong economic policies and response of this government.
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It is the downhill slide to question time.
Hold your loved ones close.
No pay rise for federal MPs
Breaking: no pay rise for federal MPs. pic.twitter.com/jZMZCkodR2
— Tom McIlroy (@TomMcIlroy) June 11, 2020
Updated
Treasury has released data on the top 10 postcodes in each state which are most reliant on jobkeeper (as in, the most applications).
The top 10:
NSW 2000 – 10,290
Vic 3000 – 6,693
NSW 2170 – 3,995
Vic 3029 – 3,681
Qld 4870 – 3,607
Vic 3030 – 3,211
Vic 3175 – 3,211
Qld 4000 – 3,048
SA 5000 – 3,046
NSW 2153 – 2,841
Updated
Just weeks before the last election was called, 97% of SME Export Hub grants went to LNP electorates. This is the 8th grants process that has been rorted. The PM needs to explain why he continues to politicise grant applications. How many small biz were over looked? #auspol pic.twitter.com/v2a73aOKkK
— Brendan O'Connor (@BOConnorMP) June 11, 2020
Labor's Linda Burney on Sky: "Of course slavery is part of Australia's story". She says the blackbirding was a slave trade between Australia and Micronesia and many Stolen Generation children were forced into indentured labour.
— Tom McIlroy (@TomMcIlroy) June 11, 2020
In terms of what resources NSW police will be deploying tomorrow, the officer holding this press conference (I didn’t catch his name and I am not from NSW, so I don’t recognise him) said:
We will be well resourced for any eventuality.
My colleague Elias Visontay has since informed me it is assistant commissioner Mick Willing
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I’ve spoken to the diagnostics industry about the federal government’s deal to source $200m Covid-19 tests from Andrew Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation back in April.
It is less than impressed about the circumstances of the purchase. You may remember that Minderoo managed to source 10m Chinese-manufactured Covid-19 tests for the Australian government at a crucial time, which the government is paying it back for.
But Pathology Technology Australia, the peak group for 90% of the companies supplying diagnostic devices to Australia, says the deal lacked transparency, consultation and brought new testing technology to Australia at a time when it wasn’t really needed.
Dean Whiting, the PTA’s chief executive, said:
Where we have a problem here was that there was a complete lack of transparency upfront and a complete lack of consultation and discussion with how this would fit within the current laboratory setup that we have in Australia. We had completed and submitted a very detailed audit of the current technology already in Australian laboratories for this kind of testing, and we had determined there was more than enough technology already in the field to significantly ramp up testing.
The office of the health minister, Greg Hunt, has defended the deal, saying it was crucial to diversify testing technology and that the Minderoo-sourced tests were being used. A spokesman also said it would have been “highly inappropriate” to consult PTA on procurement.
Updated
NSW police are also headed to the supreme court to stop a protest planned for the weekend that is for a “different cause” to have it declared unauthorised under the health orders.
The difference is police have not received any notification of tomorrow’s BLM protest, which means it can deem it “unauthorised”, while they have received notification of the weekend protest.
Updated
NSW police deem tomorrow's BLM protest 'unauthorised'
NSW police say they will be enforcing the current health order at the planned Black Lives Matter protest for tomorrow.
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Linda Burney spoke to the ABC about the prime minister’s comments this morning about Black Lives Matter protests:
The last thing we need at the moment are statements such as [that made by] the prime minister, which are quite contentious and antagonistic.
What’s required right now is strong political leadership, an understanding that people are very serious about deaths in custody, and in particular the number of First Nations people [who] have died in custody since the end of the royal commission in 1991. There are ways to deal with this issue, and it is not by being antagonistic.
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Tanya Plibersek has been talking about this for a while:
According to troubling new independent data, the number of people taking up construction trades last year plunged by nearly 12%.
This is further proof that the Liberals’ cuts to Tafe created a tradie shortage before coronavirus.
Under Scott Morrison, Australia has gone from having a tradie shortage before coronavirus, to having a tradie crisis now.
We will need tradies to help Australia recover after coronavirus – to lift us out of recession – so why won’t Scott Morrison help save tradies now?
Seven years of the Liberals has seen $3bn cut from Tafe and training, widespread skills shortages, and 140,000 apprentices and trainees lost.
On top of that, we recently learnt that another 100,000 apprentices and trainees will go this year if Scott Morrison doesn’t do something serious to help.
There was a 73% fall in apprentice job ads between January and April this year.
The Australian Industry Group says youth unemployment will skyrocket if there isn’t a substantial increase in federal government support.
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Increase unemployment payment permanently: ACOSS
Head of the Australian Council of Social Service, Dr Cassandra Goldie, is talking to the ABC about the need to permanently increase the unemployment payment:
Well, I’m urging members of parliament, parliamentarians, to listen deeply and carefully to the communities that they represent. Look, people are telling us now that with the level of payments that are being received, people are spending this money carefully and wisely on desperately needed [things].
That’s what we need in the economy, is people, of course, participating in the economy.
The government did the right thing by doubling the rate of the jobseeker payment because we could have confidence that it was going to people who needed additional support and it would be money spent in the economy.
You remember those debates about how we support the economy? Well, now more than ever we need to be really disciplined about what we should do here. So listen.
The thing that we’re being told is that people are sleeping better because they are not so desperately financially distressed.
They are paying for fresh fruit and vegetables and they’ve been able to do that [but couldn’t in the past when] living on $40 a day. They are not having to skip meals that they were routinely having to do before ...
For many people, the main game is always going to be about getting back into employment.
That’s exactly what we all want to work on. But in order to be able to do that, you’ve got to be able to live with a level of covering the basic costs, and of course housing is a big problem for people.
So ... we know the government has to grapple with its reality. We cannot allow so many people to be plunged back down into deep distress. It’s not what the economy needs and socially it would be just devastating.
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We do need to be honest about our history:
It was important to be “honest about our history”, the PM said, but neglected to mention the exploitation of South Pacific Islanders brought to work on Queensland plantations, or the well-documented cases of Indigenous people being used for free labour https://t.co/RWuukA9F3u
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) June 11, 2020
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Jim Chalmers has responded to the OECD report:
“Echoing concerns raised by the Reserve Bank, the IMF, private forecasters and Labor about the rapid withdrawal of support in September, the latest economic outlook noted that:
- ‘The authorities should be considering further stimulus that may be needed once existing measures expire at the end of the third quarter 2020’; and
- ‘In particular, some income support measures may need to be extended beyond their September expiry date.’
“The OECD makes it clear that much more needs to be done to support jobs and secure a strong, inclusive and sustainable recovery, including investment in social housing, highlighting a major failure of the government’s HomeBlunder program.
“The less done to protect jobs and support vulnerable workers, business and communities in the coming months, the harder and longer the recovery will be.
“The virus struck an economy experiencing slower investment and the effects of severe drought and catastrophic bushfires, ending a 29-year economic expansion.
“Having introduced support for the economy too narrowly and too slowly, Australians can’t afford for the government to withdraw that support too quickly or too bluntly.
“Australia desperately needs an effective, well-executed response to this crisis, and a plan that bolsters the recovery and sets Australia up for the future.
“Australians have worked together to combat the virus, but more work must be done by the Morrison government to ensure that our hardest-hit Australians are not left out and left behind in the recovery.”
Updated
Jobkeeper gets big tick from company directors
The Australian Institute of Company Directors has released a survey of 2,371 of its members about the government’s response to coronavirus.
The jobkeeper wage subsidy was identified as the biggest support to business during Covid-19, with 44% nominating it as the biggest support. Small and medium enterprises (47%) and not-for-profits (51%) were the most likely to nominate jobkeeper as the biggest support.
37% said government policy measures had not supported them, and 7% nominated industry-specific packages.
Company directors were overwhelmingly (81%) in favour of “a cautious phasing out of government policies, such as the jobkeeper subsidy scheme and coronavirus supplement”, even at the cost of increased government deficits and debt, as opposed to 19% of respondents who would prefer “a rapid wind-down of government policies in order to start to rebuild public finances and restore the economy to normal operation”.
Updated
There were no new cases of Covid reported in WA in the past 24 hours.
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Brendan O’Connor held a press conference to talk about this story from David Crowe at the SMH and the Age:
The curious case of the small business grants. https://t.co/824RteJ8Ok
— David Crowe (@CroweDM) June 10, 2020
The fact is there were eight grants, seven and a half of the grants went into government-held seats, in terms of the money, 90% of the money went into government-held electorates.
It beggars belief it is not another politicisation by Scott Morrison just prior to the election. It is clear they have chosen to act in a base political way in order to get a political dividend and this needs to be explained. If there’s another reason, if there is some other reason as to why this has occurred, yet again, because this is the ninth grant process where there has been questions of honesty, integrity, in relation to these matters, then the prime minister should answer those questions, explain himself, not just too to the parliament, not just to the people of Australia but the businesses in all non-government electorates who were deprived opportunities to grow their businesses.
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’Twas a foggy ole morning in Canberra on Thursday:
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NT introduces tourism voucher for Territorians
Michael Gunner, the NT’s chief minister, has announced a tourism voucher for Territorians, to kickstart territory domestic travel:
The Territory Labor government has announced the scheme to encourage Territorians to explore their Territory and support local tourism businesses until borders can safely reopen to interstate visitors.
More than 26,000 vouchers worth $200 will be available from 1 July, Territory Day, for Territorians to put towards a tourism experience, tour, accommodation, hire car or recreational fishing charter, so long as they match the spend with their own money.
The $5.2m initiative is supported by a marketing campaign “Never have I ever …” encouraging people to book something they have never got around to enjoying.
It has been developed in partnership with Northern Territory regional tourism organisations, Tourism Top End and Tourism Central Australia.
From 1 July, Territorians aged 18 and over will be able to register and redeem their voucher at www.territoryvoucher.nt.gov.au.
They can then book online, over the phone or in person through their visitor information centres in Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs. The vouchers must be used on a bookable product available through the centres.
Hospitality venues can also benefit by packaging their offerings with a tourism product such as a “stay and meal” deal.
Vouchers are valid for 30 days; bookings and travel must be completed by 31 October.
Earlier this year the government injected $2m into an immediate tourism resilience plan to minimise the impact on the tourism industry from the bushfires and the coronavirus pandemic.
Updated
George Christensen is, of course, an “all lives matterer” – and of course he is all in.
Here he was yesterday in the parliament:
All lives matter, but during a pandemic mass protests breaching our public health laws could cause lives to be lost.
Just days ago, tens of thousands of activists engaged in protests which turned violent, triggered by an event which occurred not here but in the USA.
Behind these protests were the extremist Communist party of Australia and antifa, a group that engages in terror tactics. Protesters waved signs saying: ‘The only good cop is a dead cop.’
Police officers were punched, kicked, spat on and abused, with chants of ‘Eff the police’. Protesters threw bricks at, bashed and jumped on top of police cars. We don’t need this anti-police, race-baiting violence and division here in our country. What of social distancing restrictions in force to deal with the pandemic?
What a slap in the face these protests were to our diggers and veterans who couldn’t attend Anzac Day ceremonies.
What disrespect to those in mourning, who couldn’t go to the funerals of loved ones. To think Labor and Greens politicians attended these rallies.
To think state Labor governments gave wink-and-nod approvals for the protests to go ahead. I know I speak for the silent majority when I say this race baiting is not welcome here, this violence is not welcome here, and this disrespect for public health and the Australian community is most certainly not welcome here.
Updated
On 29 May the PM said that new cases are "not something that should restrict moving ahead and getting progress on implementing the 3-step plan".
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) June 11, 2020
So let's not lose our minds now ONE of those new cases was at a protest.#auspol #blacklivesmatteraustralia pic.twitter.com/mBF8iF4ZEn
The Senate has 39 motions in its general business list today. Which is 53 pages worth.
We are truly in the worst timeline.
Q: The prime minister said today those who do attend another Black Lives Matter protest later in the week should be charged. Do you agree with that sentiment, given that those arrested could also be disproportionately Indigenous?
Josh Frydenberg:
Well, in terms of protecting Indigenous lives, that’s been an absolute focus for our government through the course of this pandemic. We have put in place lots of different measures to ensure that weekend we could get as much support and as much protection to those communities given their vulnerable vulnerabilities.
When people gather for the debates and protests, they need to consider what is the broader impact on the community? We do know it puts people at risk. As to whether charges should be laid that would be a matter for state authorities.
Q: You’re a leader, the deputy leader of the Liberal party, should they be charged, in your view?
Frydenberg:
I absolutely support the measures being taken by our legal authorities in response to those who break the law.
Updated
How can Josh Frydenberg push to have the borders open now, while also criticising the protests as threatening public health. Is it contradictory?
Absolutely not. What we have been absolutely clear about is that people shouldn’t have gathered in those numbers for those rallies. In doing so, they put the broader community’s health at risk. That was the obvious message from the medical experts about those rallies. And it was very unfortunate that they proceeded in the way that that did. Obviously, we’ll wait and see what the health outcomes are in the weeks ahead.
'Closed borders cost jobs,' Josh Frydenberg says
The treasurer says the OECD report is not great but Australia is in a good position to once again open again. He is pushing for the borders to be opened.
The prime minister and the states are looking at July. We know this. But still. Here we are.
As we have success on the health front, we are starting to ease the restrictions, and it’s critically important that we maintain that momentum, that we lift those restrictions on the domestic borders, closed borders cost jobs.
There is no clear medical reason as to why those domestic borders should be closed. So, we need to continue to follow the medical advice, but we also need to ease those restrictions that are in place and let Australians get back to work.
Queensland gets its own special shout-out. As it always does:
We do know the restrictions more generally, if they’re eased, will see about 850,000 people get back to work and more than $9bn added to the economy each month.
It depends on various states and the sectors that will benefit. So, take Queensland. They have a $30bn tourism industry.
It’s critically important for Queensland, for them to lift those border restrictions to get people in their tourism industry back to work.
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How Mike Bowers saw the chamber this morning:
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One new Victorian Covid-19 case attended BLM protest
Victoria has recorded eight new cases of Coronavirus in the last 24 hours – including someone who went to the Black Lives Matter protest.
From the state’s chief medical officer, Prof Brett Sutton:
The case who attended the Black Lives Matter protest in Melbourne developed symptoms after attending, but really, within 24 hours. So, it would be very unlikely that it’s been acquired from the protest. Normally, people develop symptoms four to six days after being exposed to coronavirus. As you know, up to 14 days, the incubation period can be, so the time from being exposed to develop symptoms so to develop within 24 hours it would be very unlikely acquired from attending the protest.
Nonetheless, because of attendance at the protest, within 24 hours of developing symptoms they were potentially infectious.
So the lesson about warning people not to attend applies, the directions in place that limit mass gatherings that limit gatherings of any size to 20 are for a reason. I hope that anyone who has attended that and indeed, across Victoria, who developed symptoms that are compatible with coronavirus, really need to isolate themselves, get tested, get that result back and become well before they get out and about again.
Updated
Mike Bowers is in the building.
Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud races from a press conference to a division in the House @amyremeikis @guardianaus #politicslive https://t.co/qQLc6Wwu3c pic.twitter.com/dRfjsxwZEm
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) June 11, 2020
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And to finish up that 3AW interview came this exchange between Neil Mitchell and Scott Morrison:
Mitchell: What was your attitude personally when you were getting all this [Covid] information in the early days?
Morrison: Well, I knew we were in completely uncharted waters.
Mitchell: Were you frightened by it?
Morrison:
I don’t know if I put it that way. I was very conscious of the gravity of the situation, and the responsibility that now fell on my shoulders and particularly the shoulders of the premiers as well.
And I, you know, I’m interested in history, always have been. And, you know, I knew that during the Spanish flu pandemic of 100 years previous, one of the things that led to so many more lives being lost is the federation didn’t work together, and I knew one of my first responsibilities was going to have to be to keep the country together and make sure the states and territories work together with the commonwealth.
And, you know, it hasn’t always gone to plan, but I tell you what, it has been a standout example to the rest of the world about how people can come together and work together.
Mitchell: I know you’ll be modest about this but if the optimism is right and if we get it through, through it without significant death rates and with the economy rebuilding and there’s some hope of that – you will have your place in history.
Morrison:
That’s for others to judge. All I know is that I learned many years ago from a guy called General Norman Schwarzkopf. When placed in command, take charge.
And that’s what that situation required and, and I had the very willing cooperation of my fellow leaders around the country, my cabinet ministers of my own cabinet, an extraordinary job – Greg Hunt, an extraordinary job Josh [Frydenberg], tremendous job so, look, everyone’s been doing their bit, and it’s everyone’s been doing their bit, that’s where we need to keep doing our bit and not get complacent about it.
And so anyone thinking of, you know, going out there this weekend, [protesting] just don’t do it.
Updated
Josh Frydenberg will be holding a press conference in the next 10 minutes or so – that will be on the OECD report about a second wave.
Updated
One new case in Queensland
Queensland has one new case – a returned traveller in quarantine.
So there has been no community transmission in Queensland again today.
Updated
If you haven’t watched this as yet, you should.
Scott Morrison calls on closed states to nominate reopening date
But then the next minute, the prime minister wants a date for the states to reopen their borders:
Neil Mitchell: The other point of this though is if we do get through the next two or three weeks without a surge, is that an indication that we’re in a pretty good position – if you can have tens of thousands of people on the streets and you don’t get an outbreak and, god let’s hope we don’t, doesn’t that say well hang on, we’re in a pretty good position we can start easing things even more? It’s sort of an experiment in a sense?
Scott Morrison:
And not one that was welcomed and a highly risky and dangerous one, and it is certainly our hope that that is the case, but the only reason that would be the case is because so many Australians made sacrifices to ensure that there wasn’t that sort of community transmission occurring that would have made that event, an absolute certainty of causing a second wave.
So everyone paid the price in their own businesses, their own lives, their own liberties. And that produced that that that scenario where the risk was clearly a lot lower than it might otherwise been and I’m just saying to people, look, it’s a free country, and we have our liberties, but the price of that liberty is exercising it responsibly and respecting fellow Australians, people who would turn up to a rally this weekend, we’d be showing great disrespect to their neighbours.
Mitchell: You want to reopen state borders as quickly as you got the power to make it happen – if Queensland wants to stay closed they can, can’t they?
Scott Morrison:
Well, look, I’ve sought to do this, working in concert with people. And that’s been how we have run the national cabinet.
I am getting a bit frustrated with it.
The steps three process would see interstate borders, interstate travel I should say, happening in July. That was the timetable that was agreed.
And so what I would like Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania to do is to nominate the date that those borders will be open in July.
Now, I’m not confident, all would do that. Western Australia has made their position pretty clear.
But I would be hopeful that the other three states could, as soon as possible nominate a date in July, that borders will be open.
Frankly, what is more important now is that they give the certainty of a date because you know hotels have to be provisioned, planes have to be fuelled.
They have to be ready to get back in the air and the crews have to be brought back and training has to be done on Covid-safe operating environments and sanitiser needs to be placed in these areas, there’s a lot of work to do.
So nominate the date and let’s get on with it.
Updated
Scott Morrison says protesters should be charged if rallies continue this weekend
Neil Mitchell: If we hadn’t had those protests would you now be looking at easing things a bit quicker?
Scott Morrison:
Yes, no doubt, and, and let’s let’s put the $1 figure on it. The OECD has come out and said that a second wave would say Australia’s GDP fall by 6.3%, not 5% – now that is a $25bn cost to the Australian economy.
And this is why, you know, people should – I think people wanting to take this further this weekend, are showing a great disrespect to their fellow Australians.
Mitchell: Should they be charged?
Morrison:
I think they should.
I mean, I really do think they should, because they’ll be kind of a double standard here.
I think the issues of last weekend were very difficult, but I think people carrying it on now, it’s not about that.
It’s about pushing people pushing a whole bunch of other barrows now, and it puts others lives and livelihoods at risk.
I saw some people say, when they attended this rally, oh, I knew the risk I was taking by attending – they were talking about themselves, they were talking about the Australians who weren’t there, you know, millions of quiet Australians who have done the right thing.
And, you know, they didn’t seem to be that concerned about their health, or their businesses or their jobs.
Updated
For those who might need a little light relief this morning, either because of what we have been hearing this morning, or just because it is Thursday, the worst day of the week:
I am absolutely fucking LOSING IT this has sent me 😂😂😂😂 I don’t know if YouTube’s GCSbro has twitter but all credit to that legend. pic.twitter.com/QdV8zw5BfV
— Steph (@auntystevanie) June 9, 2020
As expected …
Astounding.
— Adam Bandt (@AdamBandt) June 10, 2020
Libs are gagging a debate about transparency!
A Greens bill to set up national integrity commission has passed Senate but gov won’t bring it on in House.
It’s rort after rort & gov won’t establish a national anti-corruption watchdog.
What have they got to hide? pic.twitter.com/HSOspiKCpW
Updated
Neil Mitchell calls Indigenous deaths in custody 'a furphy'
Neil Mitchell: There is a very, sadly high level of Indigenous incarcerations, about 30% compared to 3% of the population, but black deaths in custody, I mean, that’s a furphy isn’t it? I mean since the royal commission as I saw it, there have been fewer Indigenous people per head of the prison population dying in custody than have white people.
Scott Morrison:
And that is welcome news and initiatives that our government has put in place has contributed to ensuring that that continues to be improved.
There are targets specifically, both in in the former and in the new closing the gap targets which address this issue. In my home state, there has been, I understand one death in custody since 2000.
Mitchell: It has painted Australia as a racist country – do you think we are?
Morrison:
Look, like any country we’ve got to be mindful of it. And that’s why I say, being mindful of this issue is a positive thing I urge people to express this view, not by attending rallies.
I mean, if we can stand on the end of their driveways on Anzac Day and remember that those who gave us liberty we can exercise that liberty, I think in a more respectful way to our fellow Australians who have undergone great sacrifices.
Updated
Alan Tudge has moved to shut down Adam Bandt’s motion.
The government has the numbers.
Updated
He wants a national integrity commission:
MEMBER: I seek leave to move the following motion —
That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Melbourne from moving the following motion:
That the House:
(1) notes that:
(a) the Senate passed the National Integrity Commission Bill 2018 (No. 2) on 9 September 2019 and the Bill was sent to the House for debate on 10 September 2019;
(b) the Government has prevented all attempts to debate and vote on the National Integrity Commission Bill 2018 (No. 2) in the House;
(c) the Government ignored a resolution of the Senate on 10 February 2020 calling on the House to vote on the National Integrity Commission Bill 2018 (No. 2); and
(d) in May 2020, the Attorney-General said that legislation to establish a Commonwealth Integrity Commission would be further delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, despite an exposure draft being “ready for release”; and
(2) calls on the Government to stop blocking debate and vote on this critically important issue; and
(3) agrees that government business order of the day no. 49 National Integrity Commission Bill 2018 (No. 2) be called on immediately and passage of the bill through all stages take priority over all other business during periods of government business until its completion.
Updated
Adam Bandt is now moving to suspend standing orders.
Scott ‘there was no slavery in Australia’ Morrison says he has “always” had an interest in history.
Meanwhile in the Senate, Pauline Hanson still struggles to understand the basic concept of how supporting one group does not push back on others.
Like, for instance, if you were holding a fundraiser for cancer and I ran through screaming WHAT ABOUT DIABETES?!!!!
I’d be a dick.
Don’t be a dick.
SENATE VOTES - DO ALL LIVES MATTER?
— Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) June 10, 2020
Today @OneNationAus leader Pauline Hanson will ask the Australian Senate to answer a very simple question- do all lives matter?#OneNation #AllLivesMatter #Auspol pic.twitter.com/7VGYajGHJ9
The bells are ringing for the beginning of parliament – Scott Morrison is still talking to Neil Mitchell.
Updated
Scott Morrison says he “does not feel defensive” about China, because “we have done nothing to offend the relationship at all”.
Updated
NSW to raise limit on gatherings to 20 people from Saturday
Gladys Berejiklian says there has been no community transmission in NSW – so she is announcing a further easing of restrictions:
So, from this Saturday, you will be able to welcome 20 people into your home as well as having gatherings outside with 20 people. This is based on the health advice, given the data and how well we’ve been doing.
And from Saturday also you will be able to attend food courts in a socially distanced way. Can I say, that whilst we’re easing restrictions on the number of people that can come into your home and the number of people that can gather outdoors and the number of people who can attend food courts, can I make the statements, please do not let your guard down and when you are around vulnerable people, how you treat your loved ones and those with underlying illnesses that can be impacted more heavily with the virus. We cannot forget the virus is still amongst us.
Updated
Scott Morrison is now calling on all the closed states to nominate the date they will re-open in July.
Because he is getting “frustrated” at the interstate border closures.
Sooooooooo I guess he is not too worried about that second wave from the protests then.
“People who rallied this [past] weekend, showed great disrespect for their neighbours,” Scott Morrison says.
“Not surprisingly” – because if Covid were picked up by anyone during the protests, the tests won’t find it. It is too early.
Hi Brett, I have my results back now and am COVID-free. Looking forward to heading back into the Senate fight for 2 Territory seats!
— malarndirri mccarthy (@Malarndirri19) June 10, 2020
Updated
Exciting news for L-Platers – licence tests are back.
From Victoria:
Based on advice from Victoria’s Chief Health Officer, learner permit and licence testing including drive tests will progressively resume from Monday 15 June.
The first priority under the staged resumption will be to re-book tests for those whose appointments were postponed due to coronavirus restrictions.
As part of the resumption, more than 200 new staff will be hired to help work through the postponed appointments as quickly as possible, with testing to resume at all VicRoads testing locations.
Six new, temporary licence testing sites will also be established to increase testing capacity, which will commence operation in the coming months.
The Chief Health Officer has outlined a range of measures to allow drive testing to commence safely for the workforce and public.
This includes appropriate cleaning of vehicles used in tests, proper comprehensive hygiene for applicants, instructors and testing officers and the use disposable seat covers, particularly if the customer is using their own vehicle.
No one should be participating in a driving test if they are unwell.
Customers with a postponed appointment will be contacted by VicRoads directly to reschedule their test in the order of cancellation. New appointments will be available once the backlog of postponed tests is cleared.
Updated
Waiting for the prime minister to speak to Neil Mitchell, on Melbourne radio 3AW, the Karens are out in force and they have the call line saved and they are not afraid to hit it.
Scott Morrison has called in now.
He is very against renaming his electorate – Cook. Very against it.
Updated
And on the funerals:
Scott Morrison:
I’ve always found that this issue on funerals has been the hardest decision that was taken and the most heartbreaking, and of all the letters and, you know, there’s been over 100,000 that I’ve received on so many issues. This has been a very constant one and I do agree.
The timing has been complicated, frankly, by these rallies last weekend. We don’t know what the health impact of that is. And while I think people were respectful of the issue that was being raised, broadly, I think the double standards that they allowed themselves to perpetrate by turning up has offended, rightly, I think Australians right across the country.
There’s no disagreement about the importance of the issue that they were talking about. But, you know, the way that was done and the suggestion that they might do it again, sort of, I think, risks public support for even the issue they raise. And so I think they need to think carefully about that and again, I say don’t do it and I’m glad that the police in New South Wales and the state government will take a strong approach on that.
But on the issue of funerals, I do want to see that go back to normal. I want to see people going back to church and places of worship. I want to see Australia getting back to normal. I want to see planes in the air and we want to see that happen as soon as it can and the health evidence of what’s been happening is all pointing towards that.
Ben Fordham:
So there’s no reason why the New South Wales government couldn’t double the number of people going to funerals, and that would account for the vast majority of funerals if people were allowed to have 100 immediately. And then you can double it to 200 in a fortnight or whatever and then get back to normal. But this is the only thing that pops up in every email I get – funerals.
Morrison:
Oh, look and for me, too. But I would only say this one thing, the rally last weekend is the only legitimate real block to this at the moment, because we actually don’t know right now whether those rallies on the weekend may have caused outbreaks. We actually don’t know at this point and we won’t know, my health advice is for at least another week. And we do know that in other countries where there have been these sorts of rallies, that they have led to those sorts of outbreaks and if there’s, you know, it just puts a massive spanner in the works. And that’s why it’s so frustrating.
And that’s why I appealed to people before last Saturday.
By all means, raise your issue. But by doing this, they have put the whole track back to recovery at risk and certainly any further action on this front would be absolutely unacceptable on any terms because we want to see all this stuff come back in and the funerals for me personally, I mean, we both have lost a parent recently and we were both in a position to have our fathers well remembered and that was incredibly important to us. And it breaks my heart about every funeral story that I hear and I want to see that come back like so many other things. But people going out and going to mass rallies puts that at risk. Just do the right thing by each other.
Updated
For those questioning what the lead-up to the “no slavery in Australia” comment (which is demonstrably untrue) from the prime minister was, here is the exchange:
Ben Fordham: PM, we’ve seen countless statues pulled down around the world because of links to slavery. This is off the back of Black Lives Matter. In London, the mayor is saying that every monument is now up for review and one of the statues in the UK with a question mark now is of Captain James Cook. How do you feel about the removal of these statues?
Morrison:
Well, when you’re talking about Captain James Cook, in his time he was one of the most enlightened persons on these issues you could imagine.
I mean, Australia when it was founded as a settlement, as New South Wales, was on the basis that there’d be no slavery. And while slave ships continued to travel around the world, when Australia was established yes, sure, it was a pretty brutal settlement.
My forefathers and foremothers were on the first and second fleets. It was a pretty brutal place, but there was no slavery in Australia.
And so I think what we’re seeing with some of these protests, they start on a fair point when they’re raising issues about, you know, people’s treatment in custody or things like that.
Fair, fair issue.
But now it’s being taken over by other much more politically driven leftwing agendas, which are seeking to take advantage of these opportunities to push their political causes. And, you know, we’ve got to ... I’ve always said we’ve got to be honest about our history. We’ve got to acknowledge the positive and the negative.
But, you know, I think we’ve also got to respect our history as well. And this is not a licence for people to just go nuts on this stuff.
Updated
So this was Mathias Cormann at the Senate Covid-19 committee on Tuesday:
Q: So the prime minister’s guarantee that jobkeeper will be there and that people can count on it isn’t really a guarantee at all, is it?
Cormann: I completely disagree with that. Again, jobkeeper will be there –
Q: Based on your last answer, where you won’t rule out more people being removed from jobkeeper, what are they counting on?
Cormann: I won’t rule out adjustments at the end of a review. I can’t pre-empt or hypothesise –
Q: So people can’t count on it, because at the end of the review there may be adjustments and those adjustments might be people.
And this was the prime minister on Sydney radio 2GB just a few minutes ago:
Q: Jobkeeper is due to expire in September but there’s a chance it might end earlier for some industries like it will for childcare on July 20. Do we need to be upfront, PM, now, about the fact that some other industries will not have jobkeeper until September as first indicated?
Scott Morrison: Well, I don’t know why people are suggesting that. Childcare was a fairly special case because we had moved to that free childcare arrangement. What has been done is that the normal fee arrangements have come back but when working with the childcare sector, when there was a choice between going with ongoing jobkeeper or a 25% subsistence payment to the sector – so we’re talking about the same amount of support which means more employees will be helped in our consultations – that was seen as the better way forward. So I think this is a very special case. Jobkeeper is there until the end of September.
Q: What about industries other than childcare?
Morrison: Well, there are no other sort of special arrangements like we had in childcare so we’ve dealt with that one quite specifically.
Q: Will jobkeeper remain until the end of September for everyone else?
Morrison: Well, I’ve already said that. So I don’t know what that other speculation is about. That just sounds like Labor making mischief.
Q: I thought it was because you guys said it was under review.
Morrison: That’s about how you’re implementing the program, that’s a lot of administrative issues and things like that. I mean, the reason we put jobkeeper in place for six months was to provide that confidence and certainty and that’s what it’s done.
Updated
It is Collingwood v Richmond in the AFL tonight as Australia’s best football league resumes its season.
(Go Pies!)
Updated
The number of deaths in custody has risen since Saturday.
Listening to the PM on 2GB. Just on the funerals: there have also been funerals after deaths in custody. The problem in this country isn’t that some pain is somehow more terrible than others, the problem surely is a lack of empathy #auspol
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) June 10, 2020
Scott Morrison also said the only impediment to loosening restrictions further was the Black Lives Matter protests at the weekend.
Authorities are waiting to see if there is an increase in cases in the next two weeks which could be traced back to the protests.
Scott Morrison describes Black Lives Matter protests as "the only real blocker" to having 50 people at a funeral. Rallying to improve justice system is a "spanner in the works", apparently. #auspol
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) June 10, 2020
The deputy chief medical officer Prof Michael Kidd had a chat to the ABC about that this morning:
Well, clearly with the protests, what we saw was very large numbers of people coming together and as we saw from the media reports in many cases people had difficulty maintaining physical distancing from other people and if we had had a person or a number of people with Covid-19 amongst those crowds, then there would have been the risk of significant transmission.
Now, we still don’t know if that has occurred or not because, of course, the incubation period for Covid-19 is five to seven days, up to 14 days. So we will only start seeing new cases occurring if that transmission had occurred on the weekend over the days ahead.
So, yes, we’re continuing to be very cautious and obviously we need to see what happens over the next few days …
The good news is we have had very low levels of community transmission occurring in Australia.
Over the last week, we had 43 new cases diagnosed and two-thirds – sorry, three-quarters of those have been in people who have come into Australia from overseas and who had been in quarantine.
So only a very small number of people with community transmission. Obviously with each of those cases, we’re concerned and the state authorities are moving very quickly to trace the contacts of those people.
Updated
Australian economy could contract 6.3% if coronavirus has second wave
The OECD is warning of the economic hit of a second wave of coronavirus:
This report is from AAP:
Australia’s economic output could fall by 6.3% this year if there’s another wave of coronavirus cases, a key global economic body warns.
But even without a second wave, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says Australia’s gross domestic product will still fall by 5% this year, with severe and long-lasting consequences.
The federal government should consider what support might be needed once the existing measures ends in September, such as strengthening the social safety net and investing in energy efficiency and social housing, the OECD said.
Education, training and improving job search programs should be focused on getting unemployment down, it added.
Expanded loan guarantees and accelerated insolvency processes could result in a more dynamic recovery, the organisation said in its latest economic outlook.
States and territories have begun easing restrictions with no resulting surge in cases, so far.
But there’s another week to go before it’s known if the virus spread at mass anti-racism protests across the country last weekend.
The government has said it’s unlikely broad restrictions will be applied if there’s another outbreak of cases, and its strategy will focus on local containment areas.
The OECD said a second outbreak could be smaller in Australia than elsewhere, due to the nation’s geography and continued restrictions on international travel.
The report acknowledged the virus had hit Australia’s economy at a time when investment was already weak and the impact of severe drought and devastating bushfires were being felt.
This led to a 0.3% drop in growth in the March quarter, prompting the government to warn Australian is now in a recession given another fall is expected in the June quarter data, due later this year.
An economic recovery could be faster if consumer sentiment rapidly rebounded, the OECD said.
But a key risk to its outlook is high levels of household debt, as well as a downturn in the housing market.
Updated
Ignoring history, Scott Morrison says there was no slavery in Australia
Scott Morrison is speaking to Sydney radio 2GB. That is two weeks in a row.
Last week was with Ray Hadley, where he bumped Peter Dutton. This week it’s with Ben Fordham.
You’ll be pleased to know that there has been no slavery in Australia, according to the prime minister.
Morrison: there was no slavery in Australia. Says treatment in custody is a "fair issue" but left wingers are hijacking BLM to "push other causes" and are "going nuts on this stuff" (re the statues) #auspol
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) June 10, 2020
Except … there was slavery in Australia. It’s well documented. We just didn’t call it slavery.
For almost 100 years between the 1860s and the 1970s, Indigenous people were taken from their homes and lands to work on sheep and cattle properties across Australia. They were taken with the consent of the state and federal governments. It was very rare that the stolen people were paid for their work.
It wasn’t just the land – Indigenous people were installed in kitchens and homesteads as house staff as well.
We like to say that this land was built on the sheep’s back, but anyone with an understanding of Australian history, beyond the “Captain Cook rah-rah” you may have been taught at school, knows that is not true.
You can read more about it here, but you’ll find plenty more sources with not much trouble. Governments have been ordered to pay back wages, for those people still alive.
You can call it what you want – we named it the “Protection Act” for a long time – but taking people from their homes, forcing them to work and giving them pittance in return is something Australia’s past is just as familiar with as the US.
Updated
Good morning
Well, in the last 12 hours, we had a Liberal senator cross the floor and an incredibly passionate demand to take Indigenous issues seriously from a Labor senator who sat on the 1991 royal commission.
Parliament is back. In terms of Covid-19, it’s all about the economy now. You saw that yesterday with question time and you’ll see it again with the “calm and considered” government MPs who seem to be banking on at least another term.
Or at least that’s what Scott Morrison’s “five-year plan” seemed to point to yesterday, as he was speaking about the economy.
We’ll have that and everything else that happens today. You have the Guardian Canberra crew and the whole brains trust at your disposal.
I have only had one coffee, so am now climbing walls. But onwards and upwards!
Ready?
Updated
