What happened today, Tuesday 15 June, 2021
We’ll leave it there for now.
Here are the main developments of the day:
- The Tamil family detained on Christmas Island will be reunited and released into community detention in Perth, the government said.
- However, advocates are still calling on the government to resettle the family in their former hometown, Biloela.
- Australia and the UK reached a free-trade deal, which was announced by Scott Morrison and Boris Johnson at Downing Street this evening.
- Victoria recorded two new Covid cases, which will be recorded in tomorrow’s results, with the government tightlipped on plans to ease restrictions on Thursday.
We’ll see you tomorrow.
Updated
The ABC is reporting that Nades and Kopika have landed at Perth airport where they will be reunited with the rest of their family.
Government to create an agricultural visa
Scott Morrison was asked how many more people would be able to live in the UK as a result of the deal.
He says it will be “demand driven”.
He says there will also be a new “agricultural visa”.
Australia will now be moving forward with an agricultural visa as well. That is something I have had a positive view on for some time, and that will provide other opportunities when it comes to the agricultural workforce.
Boris quizzed about Australia's climate targets
Bevan Shields of Nine Newspapers asks Boris Johnson if Australia’s climate commitment of cutting emissions to 26% by 2030 is sufficient, given the UK’s ambition on the issue.
Johnson replies that on the “climate change ambitions of Australia, I think that Scott has declared for net zero by 2050”.
Morrison quickly chimes in that this a “preference”.
Johnson says he is “impressed by the ambition of Australia” but adds that “obviously we are going to be looking for more the whole time, as we go into COP 26 in November”.
But we want to work with Scott, with Australia, on the clean tech solutions. Because I think what we both strongly believes that you can have a green industrial revolution that drives high wage, high skilled jobs. You do both. And that is what we are going to work on together.
Updated
Johnson is asked by a UK journalist if he sold out British farmers with this deal.
He says:
There are indeed safeguards. There is a 15 year transition period, which is a long time to wait for, if you can imagine. Our friends in Australia the UK joined what was then the Common Market in 1973, and I have to tell you that was pretty devastating for a lot of farmers in Australia. They committed suicide, some of them, in the face of what happened to Australian agriculture, in the 1970s, when the UK went into the, what was then the Common Market.
So we are opening up to Australia, but we are doing it in a staggered way, and we are doing it over 15 years. We are retaining safeguards and making sure that we have protections against southern in that sudden influxes of goods and also making sure that we adhere to the strongest possible standards for animal welfare and, as you can imagine, but is important.
Updated
Morrison says “I said we would wait for the right deal, and I think we’ve got the right deal between the UK and Australia”.
Johnson, too, says, “it’s the right deal”.
Morrison adds the two leaders also spoke about mental health, especially the mental health of young people.
Scott Morrison says the deal is built “on the foundation, I would say, of broader partnership between Australia and the UK”.
He says:
This is a foundational partnership for Australia as it is for the UK. Everything else we do stems from that relationship. Our cooperation on defence, on strategic issues, on science and research and in dealing with technology challenges to combat climate change, and indeed the economic relationship, our economies are stronger by these agreements. This is the most comprehensive and ambitious agreement that Australia has concluded.
Morrison says it is an “the most modern multilateral trade agreement in the world today”.
Updated
Johnson says the deal “contains the strongest possible provisions for animal welfare”.
But I think it is a good deal, which will fit farmers and consumers. And also, it will mean that it will make it easier for British people and young people to go and work in Australia, without having the traditional compulsion of having to go and work on a farm for 80 days.
Johnson jokes that there will be a “free exchange of British rent-a-Poms” and Australian election campaign managers.
Updated
Australia and UK reach free trade deal
The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, has announced the establishment of a free trade deal between Australia and the UK.
Even before we began these negotiations you will recollect that the volume of trade, the exports between our countries, is extraordinary. We already sell cars, we sell boomerangs to Australia, of the non-returnable variety.
And now, thanks to this deal, we hope that there will be even more trade between the UK and Australia. The broad outlines of the deal, as you can imagine, is that you give us 10 cans, we give you Penguins, you give us Vegemite and we give you Marmite. We give you Burberry and Macintoshes, and you give us RM Williams.
Updated
Johnson is giving a run down of their talks just now.
We have talked just now, we talk about what we are doing together on defence, working together on our security, where we share common perspectives. What the UK is doing to open up and expand our diplomatic presence in thePacific. I remind you that the UnionFlag is going up in six high commissions in Port Vila andVanuatu, in Vatu and Samoa, inTonga. We talked about climate change, and the shared ambition that we have to have a fantastic COP 26 to reduce global emissions, the clean-tech partnership we are working on.
He notes they also talked about the “Rugby World Cup”. Morrison chimes in to say it’s the Rugby League World Cup they discussed.
Boris Johnson and Scott Morrison have started speaking in London.
Updated
Here’s what the UK government’s trade secretary, Liz Truss, says:
🇬🇧🇦🇺trade deal done. The UK-Australia agreement:
— Liz Truss (@trussliz) June 15, 2021
👉 is the first we have negotiated from scratch, showing what we can do as a sovereign trading nation
👉 is a fundamentally liberalising deal
👉 strengthens the bond between two great friends and democracies
Updated
Here are some details about the Australia-UK free trade deal from a UK perspective.
The agreement is Britain’s first major post-Brexit trade deal.
Lisa O’Carroll is the Guardian’s Brexit correspondent.
NEW: UK announced new tariff free trade deal agreement with Australia. After row over farming, "British farmers will be protected by a cap on tariff-free imports for 15 years, using tariff rate quotas and other safeguards".
— lisa o'carroll (@lisaocarroll) June 15, 2021
- "first major trade deal negotiated from scratch" 1/
It will be "eliminating tariffs on all UK goods"
— lisa o'carroll (@lisaocarroll) June 15, 2021
It "means iconic British products like cars, Scotch whisky, biscuits and ceramics will be cheaper to sell into Oz" 2/
Also looks like exemption on Brits doing farm work to get extension on two year work holiday visas.
— lisa o'carroll (@lisaocarroll) June 15, 2021
"Brits under the age of 35 will be able to travel and work in Australia more freely, opening exciting opportunities for young people". Oz farmers employ 10,000 Brits youngsters 3/
Johnson says: “This is global Britain at its best – looking outwards and striking deals that deepen our alliances and help ensure every part of the country builds back better from the pandemic.”
— lisa o'carroll (@lisaocarroll) June 15, 2021
No 10 says deal will mean cheaper Oz wine, as will "eliminate tariffs on Jacob’s Creek and Hardys wines, swimwear and confectionery, boosting choice for British consumers and saving households up to £34 million a year"
— lisa o'carroll (@lisaocarroll) June 15, 2021
Updated
Some Victorians might be waiting beyond this Sunday to have their power reconnected after last week’s wild weather, reports AAP.
About 17,000 homes remained without power on Tuesday, the deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, told federal parliament.
He said 129 Telstra sites and 16 Optus sites also remained down, with 11 communities continuing to face isolation because of the storm damage.
While most households are expected to have power restored by the weekend, Victoria’s emergency services commissioner, Andrew Crisp, cannot guarantee that the work will be done by Sunday.
He said:
Our distribution businesses are working as hard as they can to get those properties back on as soon as they can.
Even though most of them should be on by the weekend, there’s every chance some won’t be because they might be at the actual end of the line and it will take more time.
Crisp added that while flood warnings remain in Gippsland, the weather there later this week might not be as bad as first forecast.
“The weather seems to have backed off a bit for the coming days and into the weekend, might have 20-30ml locally in south and west Gippsland,” he said.
But Crisp warned “we are not through this” amid ongoing concerns about potential flooding at the Yallourn coal mine and the potential disruption to the power station it feeds.
The state government continues to insist Victoria’s power supply will not be at risk because of the flooding.
Updated
Labor’s former Victorian state secretary, Sam Rae, has been chosen by the party to run for the new federal seat of Hawke in outer Melbourne.
The selection of Rae, who is widely credited for state Labor’s overwhelming Victorian victory in 2018, comes amid a fierce brawl between the party’s national executive and state unions, being played out in the Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, the national executive overwhelmingly endorsed Rae, despite a push from some for the party to pick a female candidate in the new seat.
Rae is aligned with deputy Labor leader Richard Marles. Labor’s national executive intervened in the Victorian branch last year, appointing Jenny Macklin and Steve Bracks as administrators and suspending voting rights of branch members.
The intervention was triggered by allegations of branch stacking by former Victorian minister Adem Somyurek, who was also caught making sexist remarks about fellow MPs and party members.
But the federal takeover prompted a backlash from unions, who launched legal action against the move. The court has allowed the national executive to proceed with preselections, but the judge has warned that the selection of candidates could be overturned if the court ultimately rules in favour of the unions.
Updated
Scott Morrison arrives at 10 Downing Street
The prime minister is set to unveil details of the trade deal between Australia and the UK in a press conference with Boris Johnson.
Scott Morrison arrives at Downing Street. pic.twitter.com/XPQAEgXDU5
— Samantha Hawley (@samanthahawley) June 15, 2021
Updated
WA police used contact tracing data in murder probe
Western Australia’s government will move to protect contact tracing data after it was legally obtained by police to assist a murder investigation, reports AAP.
The state’s attorney-general, John Quigley, has revealed senior police have twice issued notices to the WA health department requiring them to hand over data from the SafeWA app since mandatory registration at venues was first enforced in December.
The data was obtained to assist investigations into a murder and an attempted murder.
The opposition leader, Mia Davies, on Tuesday labelled it a “massive breach of public trust”, saying West Australians had been assured their data would only be used for contact tracing purposes to keep them safe during the pandemic.
Urgent legislation will be introduced to parliament to restrict the use of the data for contact tracing purposes.
Businesses will be required to keep the data for 28 days then destroy it as soon as possible.
Individuals found to have shared the data with a third party face 12 months’ imprisonment or a $20,000 fine. Corporations face two years’ imprisonment or a $250,000 fine.
“I make no criticism of the police for issuing those notices. They operated according to law,” Quigley told reporters.
“However the government has had to do a balancing act ... it is so critical that the public have continuing confidence in SafeWA and contact registering.”
Quigley said he was confident the decision would not hamper any police investigations.
“They have, at their resources, far more sophisticated methods of locating someone’s whereabouts,” he said.
The government promised upon introducing mandatory registering that records “would only be used for the purpose of Covid-19 contact tracing”.
Premier Mark McGowan told parliament he had become aware of the breaches in April and requested that police no longer access the data.
He said Police Commissioner Chris Dawson had responded that his officers were simply doing their jobs by accessing information available to them under the law.
“Both of those investigations were very serious matters,” McGowan said.
“Our view is the SafeWA app should only be used for contact tracing purposes.”
Updated
Just to let you know we are expecting a press conference with Scott Morrison and Boris Johnson at Downing Street in London soon.
They’ll be discussing the details of the new free trade agreement between Australia and the UK. Stay tuned.
Updated
Swimming Australia chief executive Alex Baumann has held a press conference.
It follows allegations of mistreatment made by star swimmer Maddie Groves.
Swimming Australia has decided to set up an all-female panel to investigate complaints.
Swimming Australia is committed to a zero-tolerance approach to inappropriate level across any level of swimming associated with our organisation. In addition, we acknowledge the complaints process should be easily accessible and we have committed to ensuring all our members are aware of the avenues to access this process.
The independent pathways through the Australian Institute of Sport and Sport Integrity Australia may not have been communicated clearly in the past. We could have done better.
In the next 24 hours we will be sending a communication to all of our community, reiterating the avenues of process for any complaint. This information will be communicated on the Swimming Australia website as well.
Updated
AMA says Tamil family should be permanently resettled
The Australian Medical Association says the Biloela Tamil family should be resettled in Australia permanently.
The call follows the immigration minister Alex Hawke’s decision to allow the father and sister to be reunited with the mother and ill daughter in Perth.
In a statement, AMA president Omar Khorshid said:
While we welcome the decision of Immigration Minister Alex Hawke to allow the family to live in community detention in Perth, we call on the minister to immediately exercise his discretion to resolve this issue once and for all by allowing the family to settle in Australia.
The Australian government has discretionary power to permanently settle the family. It has dragged on for three years and the Australian-born children have lost their early childhood years to immigration detention. This provides enough justification for a compassionate approach despite fact that the parents have not been able to prove their refugee status.
Khorshid said doctors were “very concerned about the harm being caused to the two young girls, Tharunicaa and Kopika, by being in detention since August 2019 at such a crucial time in their development”.
The AMA says it has grave concerns about the mental health and wellbeing of all refugees and asylum seekers who are in detention in onshore and offshore immigration detention centres.
Some 7,000 doctors signed an AMA petition calling for the release of the Australian-born sisters and their parents from Christmas Island detention.
Updated
Thanks Amy. Hi everyone, it’s Luke Henriques-Gomes here. I’ll be with you for the next short while.
The controversial online safety bill will likely pass the Senate tonight or tomorrow after Labor agreed to support the bill with more government amendments designed to address the party’s concerns with the bill.
The bill is aimed at giving powers to Australia’s eSafety commissioner to target bullying and harassment online, extending existing powers protecting children from online bullying to adults.
But the proposals go beyond stopping online bullying and blocking extremist content, allowing for content with a rating of R18+ to be blocked or for removal notices to be issued, by giving the eSafety commissioner sole discretion over whether the content is rated for adults and therefore should be removed.
The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, has said adult content is not her focus, but she has separately also been tasked with putting together a “roadmap” for forcing sites hosting adult content to verify the age of people visiting those sites.
Labor raised concerns about the lack of review mechanisms for removed content, except for taking the matter to court, and the amendments make it easier for people to get an internal review of decisions made by the commissioner.
Social media companies have also been concerned the scheme would cover private messaging services, but it is expected the explanatory memorandum will be clarified around how the commissioner would regulate such services.
Labor will support the legislation, but will try to move more amendments, such as enhancing the reporting around how the powers are used and requiring an independent review of the adult cyber-abuse scheme.
Updated
On that note, I am going to hand you over to the wonderful Luke Henriques-Gomes who will take you through the evening. There are still the details on the in-principle free trade agreement with the UK to come out – that should be a little later tonight.
The environment minister, Sussan Ley, is at the press club tomorrow – so I’m sure you’re looking forward to that.
We’ll bring you all the rest of the political news as it happens (and everything else, because the world just doesn’t stop these days) and we hope to have comments back on. We know how much you love it – we do too.
In the meantime, you can always reach me here and here. I’ll be back tomorrow for day two of ‘how much does Michael McCormack not know’ but in the mean time – take care of you.
Updated
Nick McKim is speaking to the ABC about the Murugappan family.
He’s asked about the ‘opening the floodgates’ claim if the family were allowed to stay in Australia. The Greens senator says:
This is one of the great lies that is always told by the government. In the policy of cruelty to people. The government made this claim during the medevac legislation. So I don’t accept the government argument and what needs to happen is that this family need to be let home to Biloela where the community wants to see them and there should be a pathway to permanent residency and citizenship.
Updated
Labor will be officially unveiling this tonight – a wall of honour for Labor women.
It sits opposite the leader’s wall in the caucus room, making Julia Gillard one of the only Labor figures to be pictured twice.
From left to right:
Dame Dorothy Margaret Tangney was an Australian politician. She was a member of the Labor party and served as a Senator for Western Australia from 1943 to 1968.
Joan Child was the first woman to be Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives.
Susan Ryan achieved historic firsts – as the first female Labor minister and the first female minister for women.
Roslyn (Ros) Kelly represented the division of Canberra from 1980 to 1995. She was a minister in the governments of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating.
Jenny Macklin served for 23 years as the federal member for Jagajaga. Jenny was the longest-serving woman in the House of Representatives, and the first woman to become the deputy leader of a major party.
Julia Gillard, the first female prime minister of Australia
Penelope (Penny) Wong has been a Senator for South Australia since 2002. She has served as Senate leader of the Labor party since 2013, and is currently leader of the opposition in the Senate.
Nova Peris became Australia’s first Indigenous woman elected to federal parliament.
Linda Burney was the first Indigenous person to serve in the NSW parliament in 2003, and also the first Aboriginal woman to be elected to the House of Representatives in 2016.
Updated
Queensland may be the greatest state on earth, but we did not deserve to win last week.
I don’t know what’s worse - losing Origin Game 1 shifted onto home turf, or having to make good on my bet with @AlboMP and don the Blues scarf in Parliament. Giving birth to twins comes in third of Most Painful Events #qlder pic.twitter.com/sg5R1McSDL
— Anika Wells MP (@AnikaWells) June 15, 2021
Updated
Flight carrying Nades and Kopika leaves Christmas Island
The chartered flight with Nades and his daughter Kopika has left Christmas Island for Perth.
BREAKING: A plane with Nades and Kopika onboard has left Christmas Island bound for Perth.
— HometoBilo (@HometoBilo) June 15, 2021
After nine long days, this family is finally being reunited.
When will they be allowed #HomeToBilo? pic.twitter.com/o8rOZLtuDf
Updated
I meant to do this earlier, but it was a tad busy – but Michael McCormack repeated the line that hotel quarantine in Australia has been “99.99% effective”.
That is something Scott Morrison has used repeatedly too – but it’s not based in fact.
As the Conversation reported earlier this month:
“We identified 21 failures that have occurred between April 2020 and June 2021 in Australia:
- three in Queensland
- eight in New South Wales
- two in South Australia
- five in Victoria
- three in Western Australia.
“One of these caused more than 800 deaths and the most recent is causing the current lockdown in Victoria.
“There were 4.9 failures per 1,000 SARS-CoV-2 positive cases in quarantine. This means that one outbreak from hotel quarantine is expected every 204 infected travellers.
“Since April 2020, on average 308 infected travellers arrived in Australia each month, so that is 1.5 expected outbreaks per month.”
This doesn’t sound like a system that is 99.99% effective. We now know there have been at least 21 failures.
Updated
Meanwhile, the ACTU secretary, Sally McManus, has responded to the pause in the Pfizer roll out in Victoria, which is because of supply issues.
McManus is pushing back, saying disability and aged care workers now can’t get their first shots:
These workers were in the 1A priority group, which was meant to take six weeks to vaccinate, mostly through in-workplace vaccination programs. It’s June, the government has abandoned workplace vaccinations and now there are no shots available for anyone in that group under 50.
These are the workers who kept our community safe through the pandemic, working with and caring for our most vulnerable. The Morrison government’s refusal to ask for help and sheer incompetence is delaying the recovery and leaving people exposed to a deadly virus. This has to end.”
Updated
Stephen Jones and Russell Broadbent are now arguing over “caring credentials” when both are asked about Alex Hawke’s assertion that letting one family stay would encourage people smugglers.
Broadbent:
I do not have to lay out my caring credentials to anybody but Stephen was not here when we have been through this so many times before and it leads to brick walls everywhere.
Jones:
Russell, I am not for a moment doubting your caring credentials. You have been on the right side of this more often than many so I am not doubting for a moment your caring credentials. You are a decent bloke.
Broadbent:
I did not argue around floodgates at all. I am talking about there has to be some consistency.
Updated
Liberal MP Russell Broadbent is on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing and he’s asked whether he’s happy with the Murugappan family decision:
There is always more work to be done. There is always another family to deal with, always another situation in these really complicated areas of immigration. That is why I have been very disappointed with some politicians who have just used this for their own coverage rather than in the interests of the people involved.
I would like to do what is right.
Labor’s Stephen Jones responds to that:
I do not know who or what Russell is referring to but what I do know is we have kids and their family who are no longer stuck in a jail-like facility on Christmas Island. That is a good first step.
They need to be reunited in the community that wants them and loves them. When they have meaningful roles, they have jobs, they can contribute, in a town where there is a labour shortage.
That would be a good outcome. I think the minister should use their discretion under the immigration act, a discretion designed just for circumstances like this and the humanity of the situation overwhelmingly should override whatever the tough policy is that drives the current law. The humanity should be given priority and I hope that is what follows.
And so Broadbent responds to that:
I have been around for a while and I know there are thousands of other cases where I have had to say to people, you cannot stay.
I have had to say to them face-to-face, you have run out of options, and they are in the same situation these people are in and the communities wanted them to stay as well.
Some of them have gone back and re-applied to come to this country and received full citizenship. If you do for one ... you have to do for everybody.
Updated
You may have noticed there were no questions in that QT regarding the QAnon Four Corners episode. That’s mostly because Scott Morrison isn’t here, and they would all be dead-batted on that basis.
But both Chris Bowen and Tim Watts spoke about the lingering questions ahead of question time. Here is what Watts had to say:
Credibility, like integrity, is something that you build over time through actions, not words.
That’s a problem for this prime minister, particularly when it comes to fringe conspiracy theories and extremist ideologies. This is a prime minister who always seems to be conspiracy adjacent, a PM who always seems to want weirdos in the room with him.
Last night’s Four Corners episode told Australians about a member of the prime minister’s inner circle who believes the world is run by a cabal of paedophiles, a very creepy individual who has bragged about his influence over this prime minister while posting photos house-sitting at Kirribilli, all while his family has become so concerned about his bizarre extremist views that they have reported him repeatedly to the national security hotline.
The prime minister took great offence at this journalistic accountability, but his protests lack credibility after his refusal to condemn the attacks on the US Capitol building earlier this year, when he opportunistically took the side of the QAnon shaman against the defenders of democracy around the world.
His protests lack credibility after years of playing footsy with the crank conspiracy ravings of his party room, principally from the members for Hughes and Dawson and from Senators Canavan and Rennick.
The PM has done nothing to shut down conspiracies being run by coalition MPs on Covid-19, on climate change, even on Dan Andrews’s back. This isn’t just a Canberra-bubble issue.
This prime minister’s crank-curious tendencies have real world consequences for the Australian public. They are undermining the Covid-19 rollout and he deserves to do better.
Updated
Here is how Mr Bowers saw QT.
There was a lot of this. More than anyone needs, really.
Which led to a lot of this.
And also this.
And this.
Updated
Here is some more from how photographer Mike Bowers saw the day.
Updated
Outstanding statement in Parliament just now from @M_McCormackMP honouring the life of @DuncanPeggMP
— Tim Watts MP (@TimWattsMP) June 15, 2021
It was very decent and genuine – which should be acknowledged.
It is unusual to have state MPs honoured in the federal parliament. Duncan Pegg was that sort of guy. But it was good of Michael McCormack to make room for it.
Updated
Craig Kelly is still very upset he is being censored by private companies, this time YouTube.
The internet giant removed one of his parliamentary speeches. He wants to refer YouTube to the privileges committee for what he alleges is an attempt to interfere with his duties.
Tony Smith shuts him down once he starts talking about the bill of rights and says he’ll consider the request in the usual way.
Updated
Michael McCormack gives a statement on indulgence commemorating the life of the Queenland state Labor MP Duncan Pegg who passed away from cancer, just short of his 40th birthday.
By the time Duncan was diagnosed with bowel cancer in October 2019, it had already spread. When he found out his cancer was terminal he kept all his afternoon appointments. He never said a word to anyone – he just held his meetings and did what he could.
I knew Duncan. He was a very good person, and his loss will be felt, most keenly by his family, but also by his community in Stretton, who adored him. He was the sort of person who learned Mandarin so he could communicate more freely with people in his community. He was the sort of politician who put his electorate above all.
Jim Chalmers, who knew Duncan as a friend, thanks McCormack for his genuine and kind words.
“He was our mate, and he was our brother,” Chalmers says.
Above all, I found Duncan to be a very kind person. He will be greatly missed. And remembered.
Updated
Michael McCormack ends question time.
It may be his greatest achievement to date.
Jim Chalmers to Michael McCormack:
The government continues to spend taxpayer money on advertising its so-called ‘comeback’ even as it fails to meet its vaccine rollout targets.
How much taxpayer money has been spent spruiking the prime minister’s slogans compared to communications encouraging Australians to get vaccinated?
McCormack:
It is always important that a government, be it outside or when they were in power, as dysfunctional as it is, to ensure that important information ... that is why we have a transparent advertising system by which we advertise such things as the vaccination rollout, the availability, working in conjunction and collaboration with states and territories to ensure just that.
We want Australians to get vaccinated. There is no more important task for Australians and to get that jab and that second vaccination and indeed we are making sure that any advertising is always transparent, it is always made public, the information, important information the government gets out to advise what Australians should be doing.
Updated
Clive Palmer back in court
The high court has begun hearing Clive Palmer’s case against the Western Australian law purporting to extinguish his rights to claim damages in a long-running commercial dispute.
Palmer is self-represented in one of the proceedings, and entered his appearance in Canberra this afternoon, although it was counsel for his company Mineralogy, David Jackson, who began the substantive argument.
Jackson took the court through the history of the 2002 agreement between Mineralogy and Western Australia relating to project proposals to mine iron ore, the three wins Mineralogy had in arbitration and the right to compensation it had sought to enforce in November 2020 before Western Australia passed the extraordinary law.
Jackson submitted that the Iron Ore Processing (Mineralogy Pty. Ltd.) Agreement Act employed “fake” titles and descriptions when it referred to disagreements about Mineralogy’s project proposals as “disputed matters”.
Jackson said this was “not an accurate depiction” because some disputed matters had “already been decided against the state”. He suggested the legislation used “untrue or bland terms” to make extinguishment of rights to compensation “more palatable”.
Justice Stephen Gageler was skeptical – he questioned if the matters “are, were, or might be in dispute”, then what was wrong with describing them as disputed matters? Jackson replied that MPs might have been misled by how the act presented the issue.
The matter is expected to last for four days – with Palmer himself not due to give submissions until Wednesday afternoon at the earliest.
Updated
Anika Wells to Michael McCormack (even typing that name out so often hurts).
As we heard in Senate estimates, the Department of Health has not even been asked to provide advice about a fit for purpose quarantine facility in Toowoomba, is that correct?
McCormack:
Mr Speaker, we are happy, as we said, to take a detailed submission on any detailed facility but it has to be detailed and they need to address commonwealth key assessment criteria for such a quarantining facility. A quarantining facility, I have to say, would complement what we’re doing as far as the hotel bar inventory system has been doing which has been critical.
That system has been 99.9% successful at preventing the spread of Covid-19 in the community and you can yell all you like but that is the truth. Other countries elsewhere would love to have that statistic over their quarantining, over their ability to reduce and minimise Covid-19.
On the 4 June, the commonwealth key assessment criteria was released and the commonwealth is using these criteria for any proposal for purpose-built quarantine facilities seeking federal support. Key considerations include, value for money. When Labor is in power, a lot of infrastructure was not value for money. But when we do something, there is value for money.
Tony Burke brings up the Leppington triangle purchase ($30m for a piece of land valued at $3m, which Michael McCormack said would one day be considered “a bargain”) in response to ‘value for money’.
McCormack continues:
The state and territories need to identify the most appropriate site reflecting that experience and technicalities which needs to bring together healthcare, logistics and law enforcement to minimise risk and that is what we all want.
We want to continue what we have done and that is keeping the case rates low, keeping the death toll where it is now, 910. And we are mourning Australians that loss their lives and families left behind, but on behalf of the government, to all of those Australians, who have done the right thing during Covid-19, who have worn masks when they were a long way from Covid cases. I thank Australians for what they have done.
Updated
Victorian government locks down Southbank apartment building
In case it wasn’t clear earlier – the Victorian government has confirmed that everyone who lives in, or has visited, the Melbourne townhouse complex between 2 and 14 June is considered a primary close contact and is required to isolate for 14 days.
The Kings Park Apartment Complex, on the corner of Dodd and Wells streets in Southbank, has now been publicly listed as an exposure site.
Previously, contact tracers had only identified 61 people in the housing complex as primary close contacts and the rest were just marked as tier two, meaning they just have to isolate until they receive a negative test result.
But after two tests came back positive, everyone is locked down.
Updated
Peter Dutton warns of how uncertain the times are that we are living in, and how we need big planes and military spends to combat all these uncertain times.
Unrelated – anyone seen that movie Wag the Dog?
Updated
All we have learnt this question time is where Michael McCormack would rather live.
In order:
He’d rather live in Australia “than anywhere else in the nation”.
He’d rather live in Australia “than anywhere else”.
He wouldn’t want to live anywhere else other than regional Australia.
Updated
Tony Smith skips over the government question accidentally and goes to Milton Dick (the acting prime minister has caused a pretty big glitch in the matrix today. Everyone is just trying to get through it the best they can.)
Dick:
There have been 22 Covid outbreaks from hotel quarantine since the start of the pandemic. Why has the government rejected a proposal for a purpose-built quarantine facility in regional Queensland, which would provide local jobs and keep Australians safer from coronavirus?
Michael McCormack:
And as per my previous answer, we are happy to work with my state and territory [colleagues] to build a proper quarantine facility so long as we have those criteria answered, as well as community support, local community support.
But what we’re not going to do, what we’re not going to do is subject regional areas to any potential outbreaks because regional areas have been the safest place in all of the world during this Covid-19 pandemic and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else other than regional Australia right now because it has proven to be leading the economic recovery out of Covid-19 and the safest health-wise in all of the world.
And so, we will be happy to work with the Queensland government ... happy to work with the Queensland government should they decide to bring a detailed proposal that meets the criteria. Happy to talk with them.
Updated
Catherine King is the latest one to get a pass on QT under 94A
Again. Lucky.
Anthony Albanese to Michael McCormack:
“I refer to comments by the New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian in relation to quarantine when she said, “In the future, you can’t have a hotel built for tourism as a quarantine facility”. When will the Morrison government do its job and create a safe national quarantine system?”
McCormack:
And the quarantine system which came about as a result of National Cabinet, using hotels for quarantining has worked largely successfully. It has. Mr Speaker, we have indeed placed health as the number one priority as we work through Covid-19. We’ve also made sure we had the economic outcomes.
We’ve put the money into the budget in successive budgets, to build out of a better ... into a better place out of Covid-19. So we’ve made sure that we’re strengthening the economy.
At the same time we’re placing at the heart of everything we do the welfare and the health of Australians. And, indeed, the federal government stands ready to take any detailed submissions from state governments to build quarantine facilities.
But there will be criteria around such facilities. They’ll have to be close to an international airport with international routes. They’ll need to be close to a tertiary hospital where there are extremely good medical facilities and medical expert it’s there to help any outbreaks, Mr Speaker.
We are making sure that if it comes to quarantine, we’ve got an MoU with the Victorian government on quarantining. But when you look at the statistics worldwide, the latest figures in the United States - 615,000 deaths, and that is tragic. They have a very good health system in the United States. In the UK, 127,000.
Tony Smith:
I’ll just say to the acting prime minister ... he’s drifting off what was a very specific question. He’s been relevant up until this point. But there’s not an opportunity to compare and contrast internationally.
McCormack:
Thank you Mr Speaker, but I know that I would prefer to live in Australia than anywhere else. And that is because of the health outcomes that we have put in place. Thing that we have put in place for vaccinations.
Smith:
No, the acting prime minister I’m sorry, the question was very specific relating to a quote from the New South Wales premier. He has certainly been relevant up to this point. He needs to return to that or wind up his answer.
Look, McCormack keeps talking, but honestly, none of it makes any sense. It’s just a bunch of words, that maybe resemble a sentence if you squint your ears, but no one has the time for that.
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Libby Coker to Michael McCormack:
“According to the Sunday Herald Sun, patients could be forced to pay a $1,200 gap fee for a common hip surgery thanks to this government’s changes to the MBS. Can the acting prime minister explain why life changing surgery will become so much more expensive for Australians in just two weeks?
McCormack:
It’s just not true. It’s simply not true. Now, I will ask the minister for health to address this, but this is what Labor tried in the 2016 election. This is the stunt they pulled. They tried to say to Australians, they tried to strike fear, indeed, into the hearts of older Australians that the rug was going to be pulled from under Medicare, from under vulnerable patients, and it is just not true.
I would go as far as to say Mr Speaker, it is a Labor lie.
Tony Smith makes him withdraw “Labor lie” and he does.
But he is very proud with it – and starts smiling into the middle distance, while tapping his pen (which is McCormack’s version of wagging his tail).
Someone from the government benches yells out “truth is a defence” and the pen taps harder.
Greg Hunt then takes over:
The facts of the matter are that hip arthroscopy for A-I has never been allowed or available under Medicare. There were some who wanted it to be available, but it was not done. What we also know is that the medical services advisory committee has been concerned that some doctors were inappropriately claiming for items which were not entitled to be done.
And that is a very important principle that we shouldn’t have improper claiming.
Now, there has been no change to the access to hip arthroscopy because the hip arthroscopy for A-I is not available under Medicare. There are some who wanted it. There are some, sadly, that the medical services advisory committee of Australia, the independent medical umpire, has identified as having been inappropriately co-claiming. It would be a very small minority, I am certain, but the fact that they have pointed that out and highlighted it has meant that this will mean that these doctors will not continue to proceed with what was inappropriately done, inappropriately claimed.
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Dan Tehan is talking about cheese now.
If I wasn’t already lactose intolerant, I would be now.
Updated
Pat Conroy has also been booted out under 94A.
Lucky him.
The ‘how much does Michael McCormack not know’ hour continues:
Mark Butler:
Can the acting prime minister guarantee that no patient costs will rise as a result of the government’s changes to the Medicare benefits schedule on July 1?
McCormack:
I will ask the minister for health to add to my remarks. But Mr Speaker, we are Medi-friends over there, they are Medi-frauds. (McCormack also said this in the party room meeting, I’m told. Even his lame burns are reheated)
Indeed, you just heard from the minister for health talking about the amount of bulk billing rates.
And that’s certainly prevalent in regional Australia. Sixty million telehealth consultations. We are getting on with providing the assistance, the support and indeed the boost in funding to Medicare as you would expect, and indeed, the overall health system. We will always support health. We will always put the record funding into health. Whereas, those opposite, they just run a Twitter campaign and a social media campaign.
Greg Hunt takes over, because it was running off the rails:
Medicare investment in new items is going up by $711 million in this budget. What that means is that we are seeing an increase – there should be no case for any increase, for any patients anywhere in Australia in terms of their out of pocket costs. And what we’ve actually seen in terms of out of pockets is an increase of 6.7% in the bulk billing rate, which means that we’ve gone from 82% of patients who paid nothing to visit the GP under Labor, to 88.7% under us.
A 6.7% increase in the number... An increase in the number of patients who are able to visit the doctor without having to pay. And what that means is that we see an increase in the number of bulk billed procedures.
And then, critically, critically, what we see as part of this is that there are multiple increases right across the Medicare schedule. New and amended items. Increased items. All of these things that are occurring and what we’ve done.
What we’ve done is follow the evidence of the doctors and the medical expert panels. There is one important difference here though between the two sides. When the member for Hindmarsh was the minister in this space, what we saw was a $580 million...
Tony Smith pulls him up on relevance (there were no alternative approaches in the question).
Hunt sticks around to reheat the already reheated lame burn (surely there is a limit to how many times you can reheat this stuff).
An increase of $711 million in new Medicare items, an increase of $6 billion in Medicare expenditure over the forward estimates.
As the acting prime minister said, we are Medi-friends and ultimately, they are Medi-frauds.
I have come to terms with the fact that I will never earn six figures. But it hurts, in terms of actual physical pain, that the people who do this stuff get paid so much more than us all. I mean, read a book.
Updated
Zali Steggall has the independents’ question today and its to the home affairs minister Karen Andrews:
“Will you commit to broadening the definition of immediate family for travel exemptions to include parents and also prospective marriage visa holders? As if this definition remains unchanged and the government does not provide a clear roadmap, we do face the risk of a skills drain. I presented a petition to the House today and some of the signatories are in the House and they’re awaiting your response.”
Andrews:
I take on board the very serious issue that she has raised. And there are a couple of parts to it. The first part clearly deals with the definition and whether or not that should be broadened and allow me to come back to that in my answer now. The second deals with skills shortages here in Australia.
And can I say that this government takes very seriously both of those issues. Now, in relation to the skills shortages issue, I do understand that the minister responsible is looking very closely at what we can do to address the significant skills shortage in a number of areas here in Australia.
And I am very much prepared to work with the minister to make sure that we can do all that we can to ensure that Australia has the skilled workforce that it needs, not only now, but for the months and the years ahead. In terms of the question that you asked in relation to broadening the scope and the definition – all I’m able to say at this point in time is that there are a number of investigations that are taking place at this point in time. I would be more than happy to meet with you directly to pursue this further. Thank you very much for your question.
Updated
The chamber is incredibly quiet. I’m not sure if this is the new Smith regime, or a collective breath hold triggered by the acting prime minister.
Ed Husic to Micheal McCormack:
Can the acting prime minister confirm (evidence) from the industry department to Senate estimates that it may be up to four years before mRNA manufacturing begins in Australia?
McCormack:
I’ll ask the industry minister to answer that question.
Christian Porter jumps up to sort of confirm it, but also not, using the phrase “you would race to failure” without a proper process.
With the approach to market that was put out by the government very recently, with an eight-week turnaround for individual consortia to return, obviously, timing was an important part of that.
The report to government, which preceded that and gave us very good information about what was a reasonable time frame for any of those consortia to put to the government as to what might be a reasonable time frame for them to propose that time in which manufacturing could actually occur.
In some reports, media have said, based on information that they’ve received, that a reasonable time frame would be 3-6 months. Based on all of the information that we’ve received, we think that that is not a reasonable time frame.
That it would be significantly longer than that. Information that we’ve received suggest that a reasonable time frame would be more likely to be 12-18 months. Four years would be an absolute outside time frame.
... But again, the purpose of having an orthodox, orderly, informed process, informed by a very detailed report done by McKenzie is that ... you would race to failure without proper information.
And you would race to failure without proper knowledge and you would race to failure as you have in the past without proper preparation, but that’s not something that this government would intend to do.
So we have gone into this in an informed way about what we might reasonably expect is a proper time frame.
Updated
Labor seems to have embarked on a strategy of ‘how much does Michael McCormack not know’.
Time may be infinite, but thankfully question time is not. The sun would probably burn out before we were done.
Josh Frydenberg is yelling about things which were announced in the budget.
We’ve already been yelled at about that.
Chris Bowen gets thrown out under 94A, but apparently there is no rule in the standing orders that you should probably learn how microphones work before you’re allowed near one, because Frydenberg is still yelling.
Anthony Albanese to Michael McCormack:
“My question is to the acting prime minister. The government first announced that it was “looking at manufacturing facilities” for mRNA vaccines in August – 10 months ago. A year and a half into this pandemic, why has the government failed to deliver on its announcement?”
McCormack:
We are getting on forward with making sure that we have sovereign manufacturing of vaccines.
And I tell you what, I would much sooner, much sooner live in Australia than anywhere else in the nation.
CSL are getting on with the job in Melbourne. ... We are getting on with the job of making sure that the vaccinations are not only manufactured here, but delivered right across the nation.
Christian Porter then steps up to try and answer, but we are all just stuck on the realisation that McCormack just admitted he lives in a completely different Australia to the rest of us. I imagine it’s like one of those Escher drawings, where Australia just leads to another Australia, within Australia. But alas, no coffee to be found anywhere.
Updated
Ugh. The only thing worse than a Michael McCormack dixer, is a Michael McCormack dixer after a question to Michael McCormack as the acting prime minister.
Murph tells me (she is in the chamber) that Josh Frydenberg has requested his first water bottle. I bet he, like the rest of us, is wishing it were something stronger.
Updated
One question in and Tony Smith has to rebuke Michael McCormack about how to answer questions.
Anthony Albanese to the acting prime minister:
“The government has kept four-year-old Tharnicaa in detention most of her young life. The Biloela community, I know, has made it clear that they want Tharnicaa’s family to come home. Why won’t the Government let this family go home to Bilo?”
McCormack:
“These matters in relation to immigration are never easy. Are never easy. They are difficult. They are complicated. And indeed, we are providing, and the minister for immigration has made a statement this morning to ensure that the support and that the health outcomes for the family will be there in Perth for them. And indeed, we will continue to support the family. But I note that the opposition leader asked the question, Mr Speaker. It was not asked, it was not asked by others and it well could have. It was not asked indeed by the member for McMahon, Mr Speaker.
Tony Smith:
I’ll just say to the acting prime minister - the question from the leader of the opposition was very specific and it didn’t ask about alternatives. But I’ll listen to him. I’ll just caution him in that regard.
McCormack:
Today, the Immigration Minister exercised his power under section 197 AB of the migration act to make a resident’s determination to allow the Sri Lankan family currently held in detention to reside in the Perth community. He made this determination, he balanced the Government’s ongoing commitment to strong border protection processes. And there is a process that is being worked through. And I appreciate that there is still a legal process which is being worked through with this family. But we are providing the humanitarian support. We are providing ... health support. We are providing the necessary economic support, Mr Speaker.
It is a bit rich, and I will not be lectured to by Labor who under their watch put 8,500 children in detention ... as part of more than 50,000 people who arrived on 800 boats and I will not take lectures. I was here in the House, I was here when sadly those people who tried that risky voyage were dashed up on the rocks and did not survive that. We do not know how many people lost their lives attempting to make that risky voyage. Labor put more beds in detention centres than they ever did in hospitals.
McCormack said the last line on Labor’s hospital beds in the party room meeting as well.
Smith tells him to get back on track, so he goes back to the lines.
Updated
Michael McCormack says he will be answering questions on the behalf of Scott Morrison and then waits, like he is expecting applause.
It’s already been a very long week and we are barely into it.
Anthony Albanese delivers his own statement on the Victorian floods:
Floods have transformed parts of Victoria into a brown inland sea. Other parts of the state have been battered by winds of up to 125km/h.
Homes and businesses have been flooded or destroyed by trees brought down by wild winds. The Victorian SES experienced its busiest 24-hour period in its history. There were stories of heroism, near misses and lucky escapes.
Stories of families who just happened to be in the right part of the house when a tree crashed through the roof.
As Kalorama resident Braeden told the Herald Sun, “Had we been sitting on the couch, we’d’ all be dead. It’s by God’s grace alone that we’re here to talk about it.” But tragically, two people have lost their lives. Nina, aged 20. She was driving to work when things went wrong. Remembered by friends as incredible and one of a kind, she’d barely started the adventure of adulthood and now she is gone.
The other victim was Brian Gilliland, a father of four and an auto electrician in his 60s. Remembered by his friends as being down to earth and gentle. A great bloke. Our hearts are with their families and friends as they try to come to terms with what has happened.
Updated
Michael McCormack opens with a statement on the Victorian floods:
I wish to update the House on the storms that have wreaked havoc on regional Victoria in the past week.
The storms have turned roads into rivers, paddocks into lakes and plunged entire communities into darkness. And sadly, so very tragically, two lives have been lost. A man in his 60s lost his life in floodwaters in Woodside in eastern Victoria on Saturday. And on Friday, a woman, just in her 20s, was lost in the state’s south-west.
We extend to the families, loved ones and friends, our deepest sympathies. The storms and resulting flooding have upended so many communities and lives, during a time when many might be asking – how much more do we have to face?
To all affected today, know that we face what is ahead together.
Just yesterday, McCormack was talking about how coal was “here to stay”.
Updated
Question time begins
It’s the Michael McCormack hour (and a bit)
There is no way to make this easier, so just strap in.
Health authorities in Victoria have continued speaking about those two new Covid-19 cases reported today.
The two new cases are in residents of a townhouse complex in Southbank, which has about 100 units.
A child who was a close contact of the Saturday case tested positive yesterday. So, that’s three in the one housing complex. All three have been in hotel quarantine since they tested positive, but there is a risk that others may have picked up the virus before the new cases were detected.
Victoria’s coronavirus boss-of-all, Jeroen Weimar, said they had seen “evidence of infection” linked to two shared hallways and staircases.
But the complex has multiple entrances. It’s not a case where the residents of all 100 units are using the same stairs.
Asked if there would be a hard lockdown of the complex like that imposed on public housing towers last year, Weimar said “this is a very different scenario”.
Weimar said the apparent neighbour to neighbour transmission did not mean that health authorities would require every positive case who lives in an apartment building to go into hotel quarantine. The chief health officer does have the ability to make such an order, but has not done so.
Weimar also said apartment buildings did not necessarily have the same risk of transmission as hotel quarantine.
“I don’t think we see the direct parallels with hotel quarantine in terms of what we ask or expect people to do.”
Weimar also moved to reassure people that they would not miss out on their second shot of Pfizer, after the Victorian health minister, Martin Foley, said they would not accept any new first dose bookings this week to ensure all second doses could be fulfilled.
Weimar said:
“There’s no anxiety here, there’s no fear here. People who have got their first Pfizer dose should be confident and calm that they will get their second Pfizer dose.”
But he did urge anyone who had not yet booked their second dose to do so now. The Victorian government now finally has an online booking portal for Pfizer doses – previously it was relying on a phone booking system.
Updated
“They have been on a removal pathway before this. That’s because they are unlawful non-citizens,” Alex Hawke says.
Notice the language there? It’s both passive, and dehumanising.
Make no mistake – this is only happening because of the public outcry. And now, you’ll start seeing attempts to calm down that outcry, by using the language we saw in the wake of Tampa, medevac and the ‘stop the boats’ campaign.
Updated
Minister says people smuggling could restart if Tamil family resettled
Alex Hawke says allowing the family to resettle in Australia could lead to the people smuggling trade to restart.
He refers to “IMAs” which is a dehumanising term meaning “illegal marine arrivals”. It’s illegal because Australia made it so – it’s an arbitrary decision governments made. It is never illegal to seek asylum.
Hawke:
The government’s position has been clear. We do not believe anyone who has come by boat should be allowed to be permanently resettled in Australia. That’s been tested at several elections, subject to a whole border protection framework put in place.
Our advice regularly is from agencies that the trade in human misery that is people smuggling can restart at any moment. The people smugglers are there, they watch developments closely, they take account of any decisions we make. We have to make a tough decision to continue our border protection but it is the right decision because the trade in human misery means lost life, it means more expense and a loss of social cohesion.
No matter what the status of their case, whether it comes to the public attention or it doesn’t, we have to remember there are still thousands of IMAs in different cohorts. It can lead to a restart in the smuggling trade. If the people smugglers see weakening, they will restart the trade. And these are a family of IMAs in the parents who in 2012 and 2013 came to Australia by boat. No one will permanently resettled in Australia who is an IMA.
Updated
The family cannot return to Biloela. They will remain in Perth while the legal processes make their way through the courts.
They remain in detention.
Updated
Alex Hawke press conference on Biloela family
With just under 20 minutes to question time (which puts a time limit on the number of questions), Alex Hawke is speaking on his decision to not allow the Biloela family out of detention.
The decision will only allow the family to reunite on the mainland. There is no pathway to permanent residency with this decision.
Hawke makes that very clear – the government wants the family to return to Sri Lanka.
The Australian government makes clear in everything we do that we are not weakening our resolve on our border protection.
People can be granted temporary protection, people can be granted permanent protection if they arrive before a certain date. But if they are not found to be owed protection obligations, the expectation is that they return home and that remains our position.
When we came to office there were thousands of children in detention under the Labor party, thousands of people from Sri Lanka ... and about 900 children from Sri Lanka were in detention.
The Australian government’s policy under the Coalition has been to get every single child out of held detention and the only time we take children into held detention is where there are matters concerning parents migration.
I have determined today that the family will live in the community and have access to health and support services that they need while their outstanding matters are litigated and resolved.
Updated
Madeleine King, the opposition spokeswoman for resources, has issued an official statement on Labor’s position on the nuclear waste dump:
“Labor is still consulting with government and the Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation (BDAC) to finalise a position on the government’s proposed amendments that recognises the rights of the Barngarla people as Traditional Owners of the land, as well as the need to establish a waste facility under the remit of the National Radioactive Waste Management Amendment Bill.
“We have long supported the need for a national facility to store radioactive waste.
“Much of this waste is a by-product of the manufacture and use of nuclear medicine that plays a vital role in modern medicine. As a nation we have an obligation to deal with the waste that we create.
“Labor is pleased that the Government has addressed our concerns about the legislation and has listened to the Traditional Owners, the Barngarla people.
“Under the original legislation, an aggrieved party would not have the option of judicial review of a site selection. This was also the primary concern of the Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation (BDAC).
“Labor has been consistent on this. We said we would not support passage of this legislation unless the Traditional Owners were comfortable with it.
“Labor insisted over many months that BDAC must be consulted on the Government’s amendments before they went to the Parliament. This happened last week.
“The Barngarla people broadly support the amendments and are confident the revised Bill provides the legal recourse they need to ensure their voices are heard.
“These amendments allow for judicial review, while acknowledging the work that has already been done in shortlisting three sites for the facility.
“Labor is seeking clarity on technical elements of the amendments, including the potential for new sites to be assessed as suitable to host the facility.”
Updated
As Calla Wahlquist points out:
You'll recall from yesterday's presser that the first case in this complex is a person who works at Arcare Maidstone and has been quarantining in a hotel since they tested positive. So the transmission between them and case 2, who tested on Friday, happened some time ago.
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) June 15, 2021
Two Covid cases reported in Melbourne
Today’s number may be zero, but two additional Covid-19 cases have been recorded, linked to an existing cluster.
These two will appear in tomorrow’s figures. The Victorian health minister, Martin Foley, says:
Our contact tracers were able to establish a link between the facilities, including two residents from a residential complex in South Bank.
We immediately established a public health response around that centre, with messages sent to the list provided by the body corporate on Sunday night, and we set up specialist nurses on site yesterday, with pop-up testing set up there from about 9am yesterday, and still in place today.
Yesterday, we had over 200 people tested over at that particular pop-up centre. We’ve started to get those results this morning. I can confirm that we have been notified of two further positive cases inside that building amongst people that we have identified as primary close contacts through those testing actions yesterday.
On that basis, and under further investigations that the public health team have undertaken, we are formalising the decision to expand the number of primary close contacts linked to that complex.
Victoria has recorded two new positive cases connected to the Southbank townhouse complex - they'll be in tomorrow's numbers.
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) June 15, 2021
Contact tracers began testing all residents yesterday - there are more than 100 units in the complex, more than 200 people tested yesterday.
Updated
And a reminder, the family is not out of detention. As Carina Ford says:
Any overnight guests have to be approved. They can’t visit overnight to other places unless they seek approval. They can’t work. They can’t do voluntary work unless permission is given. They must comply with any interview requirements. They must make sure the girls go to school - which is not really an issue.
And they also have restrictions in terms of other bits and pieces relating to reporting.
So the reporting requirements haven’t been made clear yet, but it could be anywhere from twice-weekly phone reporting or monthly, depending on what the department decides to do.
Biloela family's lawyer says fight not over
The Murugappan family’s lawyer Carina Ford is holding a press conference, where she says the fight is not over and calls on the immigration minister to use his power:
We would still be of the view, though, that the minister can use his power at any time. He does not need to wait until the court proceedings are finished. They are dealing with a completely separate issue.
One deals with an application for citizenship made over a year or so ago – in fact, it took the department over a year to even process it.
It’s now at the AAT, and it is not relevant to the application currently before the High Court. The High Court application is a separate decision. In fact, if the minister was to intervene, the High Court application would go away.
Our other position would be that, you know, even continuing them in community detention still costs the taxpayers money. And I don’t reflect that it does really meet Australian community expectation.
If I could add that, of all the emails that we’ve received, we have so far only received one email, or one message, that has been against what we have been doing.
Finally, I’d like to just correct something that has been mentioned by a couple of ministers in relation to it being a lawyer’s picnic and that we will make a lot of money out of doing this.
I will tell you that is not the case. In fact, I run a busy practice. We deal with lots of clients. And this is, if anything, taking me away from actually assisting them. I am not doing it for the benefit of making money.
I want to make that really clear. And nor are they pawns in the process. We keep them fully informed of all the decisions that need to be made.
In fact, I’ve spent about two hours on the phone to them this morning explaining the various conditions that are attached for community detention. Finally, I’d like to thank everyone for their support.
Updated
Here is David Littleproud speaking on the decision to allow the family to reunite on the mainland. He was chatting to the ABC:
It’s a fair decision. We’re a fair country. No one’s above the law in this country, no matter who you are. Due process has been provided to this family, as should be provided to every person in this country. We’ve made sure that’s happened. I think what Alex has done is found the balance in making sure that it’s fair, that due process can continue on.
But saying we are a “fair country” doesn’t make it true. And ministerial discretion exists, and has been used previously. The minister has the power to make a different decision, and is choosing – actively choosing – not to.
Updated
In case you missed it, here is the whole interview Alex Hawke did with Sky News a little earlier.
As Kieran points out, there is absolutely no indication the family will be allowed to stay.
My interview with Alex Hawke.
— Kieran Gilbert (@Kieran_Gilbert) June 15, 2021
No indication from him that the Murugappan family will be allowed to stayhttps://t.co/xad4b70u5J via @YouTube
Updated
While the Murugappan family dominated discussion in the Coalition party room, a range of other issues were also discussed.
Michael McCormack, the acting prime minister, gave the usual pep talk to MPs about the benefits of being in government compared to the “desolation and desperation” of opposition.
He reminded MPs that the government continued to do a good job, because we are all being “our best selves”.
Josh Frydenberg talked to colleagues about the Victorian lockdown, with particular reference to the 22 weeks that kids had not been in school.
He talked about the government’s decision to support locked down communities with economic support linked to a commonwealth declaration of a hotspot.
He also urged colleagues to talk about the economy, saying Labor wouldn’t.
Queensland MP George Christensen also talked about his private member’s bill that would force doctors to provide medical assistance to foetuses with signs of life during an abortion.
He asked the government to support the bill, saying criticism that it could force doctors to keep non-viable babies alive was false.
In response, another MP said these “were very complicated issues and it is difficult to make them simple”, and warned against taking these things out of control of medical practitioners.
Another MP said there needed to be “middle ground” found on the issue.
There was also some discussion about power prices, diesel fuel stocks running out in the NT, renewed consultation on the religious discrimination bill and Medicare.
The trade minister, Dan Tehan, said that Scott Morrison had done a “sterling job” on finalising the Australia-UK trade deal over dinner with Boris Johnson, with a formal announcement to be made this afternoon.
Updated
Alex Hawke will hold a press conference at 1.40pm – just before question time (which limits questions).
It’s in the opposition courtyard, which will make it easier to sprint into the chamber.
Updated
Coalition MPs have discussed at length the decision to allow the Biloela family to be reunited in Perth. But only one MP has called on the immigration minister, Alex Hawke, to go further and grant an exemption that would allow them to be resettled in Biloela.
The acting prime minister, Michael McCormack, told MPs that the government was dealing with “difficult and challenging issues” and said Labor while in government had “put more beds in detention centres than they ever did in hospitals”, resulting in 8,000 children being in detention.
One MP said the plight of the Murugappan family was the most common issue raised in their electorate, and thanked Hawke for the decision, but another said “if we could make an exemption, that would be well received”, according to a government spokesman.
Another MP said it was “the opposite” view in their electorate and there was “no need to open a Pandora’s box”.
Several other MPs spoke out in favour of the government’s border policies, saying the coalition had dealt with maritime arrivals under John Howard and under Tony Abbott and “we know that the slightest little gap and it will start again”.
Another said the family had been exploited by lawyers, while someone else suggested the father, Nades, had returned to Sri Lanka three times after arriving in Australia.
Hawke thanked colleagues for their “engagement” on the issue, and said that “it was important that we strike the right balance”. He said the courts and the tribunals had found that Australia did not owe protection to the family because “they are not refugees”, and reminded MPs that hundreds of thousands of people had returned to Sri Lanka safely.
Hawke was asked a question in relation to the citizenship of the children, which the minister said was an issue currently before the administrative appeals tribunal.
The treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, also commended Hawke on the decision saying the government needed to “hold the line” to maintain the “integrity of our borders”.
“We know that people smugglers are ready to put their model back to work,” he said. But he also said that he respected his colleagues who had spoken publicly on behalf of their constituents, which has included Jason Falinski, Katie Allen and Trent Zimmerman.
“The decision does not water down our policy nor is it a green light to people smugglers,” Frydenberg said. “The alternative was the chaos, cost and loss of life that we saw under Labor.”
Updated
Our photographer Mike Bowers has been out and about this morning.
I could not do without his eyes and ears in this place.
Updated
Parliament has just started sitting
And Labor has moved an attempt to suspend standing orders.
The government has gagged it, and so the divisions are playing out in the House as they do – with the government winning.
Updated
How will one family restart “the boats”?
Alex Hawke:
Well, because there’s a trade in people smuggling (and it’s) always live. They watch developments in Australia very closely. And if anyone is resettled under that system our advice continues to be that people smuggling trade will restart.
Updated
It seems Scott Morrison’s bid to rough Labor up by accusing it of blocking national security bills has already produced results.
This morning the Labor caucus discussed the Transport Security Amendment (Serious Crime) Bill 2020, to which it has been seeking amendments to ensure security checks apply to foreign as well as local crew.
Labor has agreed to split the aviation aspects of the bill from the maritime crew. It has also shifted its position from opposing the bill if it doesn’t secure amendments to making a decision among its leadership group. Together, these give Labor latitude to wave the aviation aspects of the bill through immediately, then make a stand on maritime crew, but ultimately to support the bill even if it doesn’t win the argument there.
The nuclear waste site bill was also discussed. A caucus submission, seen by Guardian Australia, notes the government has changed its position. The Coalition will no longer insist on the bill specifying one site, but instead giving a shortlist of three for the minister to choose between. This will guarantee judicial review of the selection.
The shadow Indigenous affairs minister, Linda Burney, congratulated shadow resources minister, Madeleine King, for her handling of the issue. Labor’s final position will be determined by the leadership group and the two shadows after consultation with the Traditional Owners. But the fact there were five contributions all supportive of passage confirms our earlier reporting there has been a deal and Labor and the government will now pass the bill together.
Anthony Albanese told caucus the government had made a “pathetic announcement” on the Biloela family, by releasing them into community detention in Perth. He said it was possible to be “strong on borders without being weak on humanity”.
Albanese also said of the robodebt debacle that the government was “strong against the weak and weak against the strong”, contrasting its vow to “hunt down” people that received social security payments with its inaction on getting jobkeeper paid back by profitable companies.
Updated
Alex Hawke has spoken to Sky News about his “compassionate” decision to reunite the Murugappan family in Perth (where they remain in detention, and are unable to return to Biloela)
The family DO NOT have a pathway to permanent residency under this decision.
Hawke talks about the “framework” – that’s what we are calling our indefinite detention border policy at the moment – a “framework”.
Hawke:
Every circumstance is unique. The government’s policy position has always been clear, and that is if you’ve arrived by boat, you won’t be permanently resettled here.
The bells are ringing for the start of the sitting at parliament.
Huzzah.
Updated
What even is this?
The Coalition have been in power for eight years now. EIGHT.
Acting PM spoke about the Murugappan family when Coalition party room met this morning. He told colleagues these are ‘difficult and challenging issues.’ He went on to accuse Labor of putting more beds in detention centres than they did in hospitals. @SBSNews #AusPol
— Pablo Viñales (@pablovinales) June 15, 2021
Updated
Parliament will officially begin at midday – party room meetings always delay the Tuesday sitting.
Updated
The communications minister, Paul Fletcher, will introduce the online safety bill into parliament today.
Here is some of Josh Taylor’s coverage regarding concerns about the bill from earlier in the year:
Updated
NSW also records no new Covid cases
NSW recorded no new locally-acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, NSW Health says.
Four new overseas-acquired cases were recorded in the same period, bringing the total number of cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 5,434.
There were 8,287 tests reported to 8pm last night, compared with the previous day’s total of 9,479.
NSW Health administered 12,653 COVID-19 vaccines in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, including 5,986 at the vaccination centre at Sydney Olympic Park.
The total number of vaccines administered in NSW is now 1,718,964, with 598,248 doses administered by NSW Health to 8pm last night and 1,120,716 administered by the GP network and other providers to 11:59pm on Sunday 13 June 2021.
Updated
The Greens believe the government has done a deal with Labor to pass its bill to set up a nuclear waste dump in South Australia.
In October, Labor caucus called for amendments to the bill – which previously specified Napandee as the site – allowing the minister to instead select a site, despite the fact some in Labor feared this would leave the decision vulnerable to judicial review.
The government has now circulated amendments doing precisely that, allowing the minister to select a site rather than specifying Napandee in the act.
The issue is back before Labor caucus this morning, and if they agree the bill is now acceptable it would sail through the Senate.
Updated
A reminder that Michael McCormack will be answering questions as the acting prime minister today.
Brace yourself.
Updated
AAP has an update on how New Zealand is dealing with terrorist threats – including a growing threat from white supremacists:
A counter-extremism conference in Christchurch has heard fresh terrorism attacks remain a realistic possibility in New Zealand, two years after the Christchurch Mosques massacre.
The “He Whenua Taurikura” hui, which translates to the “A Country At Peace” gathering, is being staged annually as a recommendation of the post-Christchurch terror Royal Commission.
A suite of experts, intelligence and police chiefs gathered for the two-day conference beginning Tuesday.
All stressed the need for community cohesion as a primary defence to future attacks.
Rebecca Kitteridge, New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) Director General, said the primary threat came from “identity-motivated” and particularly white supremacists, akin to the March 15 terrorist, Australian man Brenton Tarrant.
Behind the threat of white supremacists, lie faith-motivated and politically motivated actors.
Ms Kitteridge said a fresh attack remained a “realistic possibility”.
“We need to confront these realities without sensationalising them,” Ms Kitteridge said.
“If a terrorist attack were to be committed in New Zealand in the next 12 months, we think it would most likely be carried out by an extremist lone actor, without any detectable forewarning.”
Cameron Bayly, the Chief Counter-Terrorism Adviser at NZ police, said community members prevented two further possible attacks around the time of the 2019 massacre.
“In one instance (there were) highly detailed plans, and a state of intention to undertake a school shooting,” Mr Bayly said. “He was an avid consumer of extremist material.
“The difference between those cases and March 15 is one relatively vague report from the community.”
Updated
For those wondering, here are some more details of the in-principle free trade agreement:
Details of a trade deal between the UK and Australia will be announced on Tuesday morning [UK time], the Guardian understands.
A Department for International Trade spokesperson confirmed that the broad terms had been struck on Monday night, after Boris Johnson and the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, had dinner at Downing Street.
Further information is set to be released by No 10 at about 9am on Tuesday, an official confirmed. The Guardian understands there are plans for a press conference afterwards.
If confirmed, the deal would be the first to be negotiated from scratch since the UK left the EU in January 2020. The government signed a free trade agreement with Japan in October 2020, which built on the existing arrangement that had been in place between Tokyo and the European Union.
Johnson and Morrison dined on Welsh lamb, Scottish smoked salmon and Australian wine while finalising the agreement, the BBC reported.
Updated
Here was Alex Hawke a little earlier, on ABC radio, on why he made the decision he did:
There has been a medical situation emerge which I have taken into account on advice from WA hHealth and other people who wanted to provide support services. It is close to all of the necessary school and support services and the government’s view hasn’t changed on our border protection regime which means, if they are not found to have matters where we owe them protection or they’re not refugees, we will ask them to leave for Sri Lanka.
Again, it does not mean the family can stay in Australia. They remain in detention.
Updated
It’s party room meeting day – we will bring you the updates from those when they break.
Matt Canavan will continue to have a seat in the Senate for as long as he wants it.
If Twiggy Forrest is so concerned about carbon emissions why does he do so much business with China - the world's biggest emitter of carbon?
— Matthew Canavan (@mattjcan) June 14, 2021
Also, in the other news of the day, the free trade agreement with the UK will be “in-principle”, not the final done-and-dusted deal.
There will be an announcement on the in-principle agreement soon(ish).
It’s one of the final steps but it still has to be signed off by both parliaments yadda, yadda, yadda.
Updated
Anthony Albanese appears to be borrowing from Daniel Andrews when it comes to his social media style lately:
A few months after I became Labor Leader in 2019, I visited Biloela.
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) June 14, 2021
I saw how much this community loves Priya, Nades, Kopika and Tharnicaa – and how badly they want them to return.
It was clear to me that this family should be allowed to go #HomeToBilo. Let's just get it done.
But a reminder – Labor’s border policy is no different to the Coalition’s. Applying ministerial discretion is one thing (and the Coalition has done that previously) but on paper there is no difference between the major parties when it comes to immigration detention.
Updated
Kopika and Tharnicaa are not the only children we are letting down.
As Daniel Hurst reports:
An 11-year-old Australian girl collapsed due to malnutrition in al-Roj camp in north-east Syria, an aid group says, raising fears it is only “a matter of time before an Australian child dies”.
Save the Children revealed the girl had needed help from ambulance medics, as it stepped up calls for the Morrison government to urgently repatriate dozens of Australian children and their mothers from the camp.
Those detained at the camp include family members of men who travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight for Isis. Supporters of the women and children say their individual stories vary but many were tricked into going there or were trafficking victims.
Simon Birmingham was also asked about the episode this morning on ABC radio. He stuck pretty close to the script (the wording here is very close to the previous PMO statement on the episode):
The prime minister’s made it very clear that he sees QAnon as being a discredited and dangerous fringe group. And I can assure all listeners that the first primary and most important source of advice on security matters the prime minister takes it from Australia’s national security agencies.
Updated
Chris Bowen also addressed the Four Corners episode:
Let me be clear what this is not about – the prime minister is entitled to his personal friendships. The prime minister is entitled to personal relationships, and he’s not accountable for the political views of his friends.
He is accountable for allowing his friends to have input to important government statements as prime minister of Australia.
He is accountable to this building and the Australian people for that. I believe the evidence is there that he’s allowed that to occur.
He has been asked on multiple occasions, his representatives in the Senate have been asked on multiple occasions in their Senate estimates, about the employment of a staff member with links to QAnon and about his relationship with QAnon. He has failed, the government has failed on every single occasion, to provide proper answers and indeed, they continue to do so.
They must now, the prime minister and the government must now account and answer the allegations, credible allegations made by Four Corners last night.
If the prime minister of this country has allowed a discredited conspiracy group, which is dangerous and regarded as a terrorist threat by the FBI, to have input to government statements, then that is a matter of the most serious grievance.
Updated
Chris Bowen spoke about the Labor and Greens attempts to disallow changes to Arena (the fund which is meant to only fund renewables projects, but which the government wants to extend to include fossil fuel projects).
Both disallowance motions are the schedule to be brought on today by the government, in an attempt to kill them off. Bowen says now is the time for the Liberals who are working to address climate change to step up:
This is an opportunity for those Liberals who pretend to be environmentalists who pretend to care about climate change who pretend to back renewables like Katie Allen, like Trent Zimmerman, like Tim Wilson like Dave Sharma, to put their vote where their words are. I predict, they’ll walk into the chamber and vote with George Christensen and Craig Kelly, to protect and defend the government’s changes to Arena, which would allow Angus Taylor of all people to designate a technology as low emissions in the future and therefore allow Arena funding. We are not going to give that blank cheque for somebody with an appalling track record on renewables like Angus Taylor, we simply won’t be doing that. We’ll be voting and moving in the House and the Senate to disallow this regulation.
Updated
Victoria records no new Covid cases
Some good news in Victoria again:
Reported yesterday: 0 new local cases and 3 new cases acquired overseas (currently in HQ).
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) June 14, 2021
- 9,997 vaccine doses were administered
- 15,067 test results were received
More later: https://t.co/0xmnS4N9DN#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/5d0iniyMwB
Updated
The family is still in community detention.
This is a stopgap measure, not a solution.
"They'll have access to schools and all the usual support that is provided while those processes are completed," says @AlexHawkeMP.
— RN Breakfast (@RNBreakfast) June 14, 2021
Updated
'Positive meeting' on UK free trade deal
A spokesperson for the prime minister has an update on the UK free trade deal:
Both Prime Ministers have held a positive meeting in London overnight and have resolved outstanding issues in relation to the FTA.
Their agreement is a win for jobs, businesses, free trade and highlights what two liberal democracies can achieve while working together.
Both PMs will make a formal announcement on Tuesday morning in London and release further information.
Updated
Josh Taylor has let me know about this statement from Angela Fredericks, a family friend and Home to Bilo group organiser in response to Alex Hawke’s statement today:
We welcome today’s first announcement from Minister Hawke that the family will be reunited. Bringing this family back together is the first important step in getting them home to Bilo. At this stage it is unclear when Kopika and Nades will be reunited with Tharni and Priya.
We are pleased that the Department of Home Affairs is finally taking this family off Christmas Island, after more than three years of sub-standard care in immigration detention in Melbourne and on Christmas Island.
We acknowledge today’s second announcement by Minister Hawke, that the family will now be placed into community detention in Perth. We hope and assume this is only a temporary step. Community detention is no guarantee of safety and peace for this family.
Nades is keen to get back to work in Biloela to support his young family, which he cannot do while the family is forced into community detention. Priya wants to enrol Kopika at Biloela State School to continue her education. And we promised little Tharni a big birthday party when she got home.
Australia knows this family’s home is in Biloela.
We note that Minister Hawke has connected the community detention of the family in Perth to continuing legal action which has prevented the removal of the family from Australia.
The truth is that the courts have never had the power to assess the merits of this family’s refugee claims or grant visas. Under the Migration Act, only the Department and Ministers can do that. There are various visa types available to the Ministers that do not require the Government to recognise the family as refugees.
The Minister’s power to grant visas is completely independent from the decisions of any court. We cannot say what – or who – is preventing Minister Hawke from bringing this family home to Bilo. But it is not this court matter.
Updated
Seems like Jim Chalmers is in a bit of a mood this morning. (I don’t blame him. Coming from a Queensland winter to whatever it is Canberra calls this is enough to make anyone cranky.)
Or it could be that Josh Frydenberg loves calling Chalmers a “shadow of a shadow minister”. It’s hard to say:
Chalmers:
We open the papers this morning and we see another desperate, cynical attempt by Josh Frydenberg to spin last month’s budget which has otherwise sunk like a stone. What we see in the papers this morning is reheated numbers from the budget, more than a month ago, which Josh Frydenberg is trying to pass off as new, which are the jobs which he claims will flow from the tax cuts which are already in place, that Labor supported through the parliament – stage one and two – which are already flowing into Australian workers pockets. We supported those tax cuts. we want tax relief for people on low and middle incomes.
The treasurer is now wandering around parliament expecting a round of applause for numbers which were published more than a month ago in the budget. Australians have learned to be sceptical about numbers that Josh Frydenberg provides, not just because of the $60bn error with jobkeeper – the biggest single mistake ever made by a treasurer in the history of the commonwealth of Australia – but also because we’ve seen this before.
Updated
Michael McCormack is in charge this week, what could possibly go wrong? What a country. A parliamentary sitting week with Michael McCormack in charge.
That’s Jim Chalmers, speaking for the country.
Your daily reminder that Australia is being left behind when it comes to renewables:
Just to go through that statement, you’ll see a lot of qualifiers.
This isn’t a major decision. It doesn’t change anything – other than reunite the family on the mainland temporarily. There is no change to their visa status. They are not free and there are no promises they will not be returned to detention.
Updated
Josh Frydenberg was also very defensive about the ABC’s Four Corners program shown overnight, while he was chatting to the Seven Network, a little earlier:
You obviously did not have anything better to do last night and watched that show, I [didn’t] and I am not going to give those sort of accusations credence because the main issue at play is if they are trying to link the Prime Minister to QAnon that is absolute rubbish.
For the record, the program did not link Scott Morrison to QAnon. It reported that one of the Morrison family friends was heavily involved in the Australian arm of the conspiracy and had bragged to others in the conspiracy group that he could get information directly to “Scott”.
Chris Knaus (along with Josh Taylor) first broke the story for the Guardian in 2019. Here is what Chris wrote last week:
Immigration minister confirms mainland move for Biloela family
Alex Hawke has released a statement:
#BREAKING MAJOR DEVELOPMENT - Immigration Minister confirms his decision “to make a residence determination to allow the Sri Lankan family currently in held detention to reside in the Perth community.” https://t.co/6XuX8Kf5EA pic.twitter.com/vTvwp6in19
— Anna Henderson (@annajhenderson) June 14, 2021
Updated
Josh Frydenberg is now on the Nine network saying the same thing – the Biloela family will be reunited in Perth. But he won’t say anything about their future.
And that’s the key issue.
Supply issues means there have been some changes to Victoria’s vaccination hubs for those who are eligible for Pfizer.
Book in to avoid disappointment – chances are you won’t be able to walk in any longer.
This is from the Western Health website:
Due to ongoing vaccine supply issues, from Monday 14 June changes have been put in place for people wanting to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine:
Pre-existing bookings for first dose of Pfizer vaccine: Everyone who has already booked a first dose of Pfizer will receive their vaccine.
Access to second dose of the Pfizer vaccine: There is a commitment to ensuring everyone receives the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. To receive your second dose, please call the hotline 1800 675 398 to make a booking. From Monday 14 June 2021 until further notice, you cannot walk in to any COVID-19 Vaccination Hub to receive a Pfizer vaccine.
New bookings for first dose of Pfizer vaccine:
From June 14 2021 until further notice unfortunately you will not be able to book in to receive a first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. The only exceptions are: people who work for Hotel Quarantine, people who work for Tidewatch, high rise accommodation residents and staff, Red Zone airport and marine port staff, and those with travel exemptions.
Walk-in attendance at the Vaccination Hubs: Unfortunately you will not be able to walk in for any Pfizer vaccination. You will be required to make a booking by calling the hotline 1800 675 398.
Access to the AstraZeneca vaccine: Walk ins and bookings for AstraZeneca will continue without change until further notice.
Updated
Scott Morrison will meet Boris Johnson late afternoon (Australian time) to discuss trade and all things UK-Australian alliance.
Just in case anyone was wondering
Updated
All Josh Frydenberg has done this morning is confirm what we knew – the family will reunite in Perth:
The minister will make a statement, but the fact that they will be reunited on Australian shores is correct. That will happen very soon and the minister will make a statement today.
Updated
Just a reminder – the government has spent nearly $7m keeping this family in detention.
$7m.
Labor MP Andrew Leigh was just asked about Josh Frydenberg’s announcement on Sydney radio 2SM and said:
The government has finally made the right decision, but only after spending millions of dollars and putting this family through years of heartache.
This is a family that was deeply loved by the Biloela community. The dad worked in the abattoir and supermarket, volunteered on the weekend at Vinnies.
The mum volunteered at the local hospital, and then two little girls were born in Australia. It took one of them getting terribly sick, spending two weeks with a high fever and finally being taken to Perth hospital, and then Barnaby Joyce, Katie Allan, Trent Zimmerman, Tony Abbott, all speaking out for this to become a political problem for Scott Morrison.
He’s done the right thing, not because it is the right thing, but because it solves a political problem.
Updated
Josh Frydenberg made his comments about the Murugappan family on the Seven Network.
He says there will be an official statement later today. The family will be reunited while Tharnicaa undergoes medical treatment in Perth, but don’t expect any change to their visa status (yet).
#BREAKING: Treasurer Josh Frydenberg confirms the Biloela family will be reunited "very soon". No confirmation on their future visa status. @sunriseon7 @7NewsAustralia
— Taylor Aiken (@tayloraiken_) June 14, 2021
Updated
Good morning
Welcome to a new sitting fortnight and a new round of Politics Live.
As is usual in sitting weeks, the blog will become more politics heavy as we focus on what’s happening in Parliament House (and the corridors) but we’ll keep you updated on any other important news as well.
Most eyes though, are looking west, to see if a four-year-old girl will be reunited with her family.
BREAKING: Josh Frydenberg just confirmed that the Biloela family will be reunited. No other details about resettlement. #HomeToBilo
— Nic Holas (@nicheholas) June 14, 2021
Sarah Martin reports there is to be an official decision today. But don’t expect anything major, like their visa status, to change:
The immigration minister, Alex Hawke, is set to announce on Tuesday that the Murugappan family will be released from detention on Christmas Island and allowed to reunite on the Australian mainland.
Hawke will use his ministerial discretion to allow the family to return but the government is not expected to make any substantive changes to their visa status which is still being argued in the courts.
In other news, we’re still waiting for the in-principle agreement for the UK-Australia free trade deal, with Scott Morrison still overseas. That means Michael McCormack remains acting PM while parliament is sitting. Huzzah.
And you may have watched Four Corners as well. We’ll bring you any fallout from the program (but as a reminder, please remember that comments are considered publishing as far as Australian courts are concerned. Same with your social media)
You have Mike Bowers, Katharine Murphy, Paul Karp and Sarah Martin in Canberra, as well as the rest of the Guardian brain’s trust at your service. Being a sitting week, Amy Remeikis is on the blog. I’ll be with you for most of the day.
I’m about to start on coffee number two, but there will, of course, be more.
Ready?
Updated
