What we learned: Monday 3 November
We will wrap up the live blog here for the evening. This is what made the news:
Independent MPs are pushing for changes to Labor’s proposed new nature laws, with one claiming the bill contains “gigantic loopholes that you could drive a heavy hauler through”.
The Optus CEO, Stephen Rue, was questioned over the telecommunications company’s triple zero outage, which left multiple people dead after they could not reach emergency services.
Sussan Ley says the Nationals are “entitled” to make their own position on net zero emissions targets, and says she and the Liberals will join their partner in developing a joint position on energy.
Senior Liberal frontbencher Andrew Bragg says net zero emissions must be retained “in some form” and is confident the Coalition will agree on such a position – despite the Nationals’ decision to abandon its commitment to the climate target.
Bragg said the Coalition had ditched its super for first home buyers policy due to the pressure it would place on demand.
Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh has admitted Australians aren’t happy with the opposition amid low polling numbers.
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, says Australia shouldn’t be a “laggard” on emissions reduction, but we also shouldn’t be “streaking ahead”.
Barnaby Joyce isn’t completely sold on the Nationals’ energy policy despite being one of the most vocal advocates to scrap net zero emissions.
The deputy Liberal leader, Ted O’Brien, was booted from question time after shouting at the prime minister responding to a question.
Almost all of the users of video game chat platform Discord who were caught up in October’s data breach are located in Australia, Guardian Australia has confirmed, making up 68,122 of the disclosed 70,000 users.
We’ll be back for another sitting day tomorrow bright and early – until then, enjoy your evening.
Nokia engineers relied on old manual in upgrade that caused Optus outage
The 55-page Optus submission to the parliamentary inquiry goes into deep detail on what caused the triple zero outage – and why the company did not realise it sooner.
Optus’s network provider, Nokia, was upgrading its firewall in Regency Park, South Australia. Optus sent Nokia instructions on how to do the upgrade by off-loading phone traffic elsewhere while the upgrade was taking place. Nokia personnel instead relied on an “outdated method of procedure” document that did not include this step, and when the upgrade was commenced, calls could not connect.
Automated email alerts just after the outage commenced were also just dismissed as normal activity during an upgrade.
The submission reveals of the 605 unique numbers that attempted to call triple zero during the outage, 150 had successful calls, 65 connected through another Optus exchange, 19 were ultimately successful in connecting after a delay, and 66 connected via emergency camp-on to other mobile networks.
Optus said 455 did not connect to triple zero.
Optus customer who reported triple-zero outage directed to visit retail store instead
An Optus customer who reported September’s triple zero outage was advised to go into a store where they bought a new phone, the company has revealed.
On Monday, Optus executives faced a parliamentary inquiry on the 14-hour outage, during which four people died while 455 calls to triple zero went unanswered.
The telco’s submission to the inquiry revealed during the outage, five calls were received from Optus customers to its contact centres reporting difficulty reaching triple zero. None of these were callers in imminent danger, Optus said, but they were not appropriately escalated internally.
One customer was given the details for the Norwood, South Australia store and told to go in person due to the urgency. The customer then went into the store just before 1.30pm on 18 September to purchase a new phone, telling Optus their phone was old and “not functioning properly”.
The South Australian ambulance service called Optus three times in an hour to inform the company there was a triple zero issue, and the South Australian police also contacted Optus about the issue.
Updated
Discord age-assurance data breach includes 68,000 Australian users
Almost all of the users of video game chat platform Discord who were caught up in October’s data breach are located in Australia, making up 68,122 of the disclosed 70,000 users, Guardian Australia has confirmed.
Discord informed in October that a third-party customer service provider that the company was using for age verification had been compromised, with approximately 70,000 users affected, and usernames, email, billing information, IP addresses, and a small number of government ID images.
Discord began using facial age assurance to check the age of users in the UK and Australia earlier this year. The company said facial images and ID images “are deleted directly after” ages are confirmed, but Discord’s website noted that if verification fails, users can contact the trust and safety team for a manual review.
Ahead of the introduction of age assurance measures on social media in Australia as part of the under-16s social media ban, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner confirmed 68,122 Australians were affected by the breach.
Discord had previously refused to break down the number of Australians caught up in the breach, when asked by Guardian Australia.
Updated
Plibersek defends move to strip welfare payments from serious crime suspects
Continued from previous post:
Lidia Thorpe will push to amend the bill to remove the payment cancellation clause. She claimed it was “a clear breach of the presumption of innocence and the separation of powers”:
No Minister should have power to punish someone just suspected of an offence without due process.
A spokesperson for the social services minister, Tanya Plibersek, said: “If someone is charged with a serious offence like murder, terrorism or child sexual abuse and is on the run, they should not continue receiving a payment from the government.”
Continuing to provide support in these circumstances is not appropriate, but there is currently no legal authority to cancel a payment.
These powers will only be used based on expert advice from law enforcement agencies and the advice to the Minister for Home Affairs. Advice from Services Australia about any impact on dependents must also be considered.
It is a serious power, for the most serious of circumstances.
Updated
Acoss voices concern over bill to strip welfare payments for people accused of serious crime
The Australian Council of Social Services is the latest agency to voice concern over a Labor bill which would allow police officers to request the stripping of welfare payments from people accused of serious crimes.
Acoss and Economic Justice Australia (EJA) have urged the government to change course, voicing concern it could “see innocent people have their social security payment cancelled”.
The addition to an unrelated social services bill would allow police to recommend to the government that they cancel the welfare payments for someone who is “the subject of an arrest warrant issued in Australia in respect of a serious violent or sexual offence”.
The government’s explanatory memorandum for the bill states that it only applies in “a narrow set of circumstances” in order to make sure someone charged with a serious crime “cannot continue to benefit from social security payments, which might be assisting them in evading the authorities”.
Government sources say social security laws already allow the cancelling of payments to someone who is charged but not convicted of a crime, and that the new changes would only apply when someone was evading police and a threat to the community.
But the bill is getting some pushback from social advocacy bodies, as well as independent senator Lidia Thorpe and the Greens. Acoss and EJA said in a joint statement that it would apply to people “without a conviction. This could see innocent people have their social security payment cancelled.” The groups also raised concern about the amendment being rushed through and added late in the piece, and whether there would be an appeal mechanism.
“Given the history of social security being used as a punitive tool in this country, this rushed addition to the legislation sets a dangerous new precedent. We are also concerned that communities that are traditionally targeted by police could be further disadvantaged by this amendment,” Acoss and EJA said.
Updated
Australian shares pare losses for a flat finish
Australia’s share market has finished the day roughly where it began, with banks and the tech sector counterbalancing losses in health care and mining stocks, AAP reports.
The S&P/ASX200 gained three points on Monday, up 0.03%, to 8,884.9, while the broader All Ordinaries eased by 4.5 points, or 0.05%, to 9,173.5.
Five of 11 local sectors finished the session higher, led by financials, IT and energy stocks, while health care companies and raw materials producers dragged on the bourse.
The Australian dollar is buying 65.53 US cents, up slightly from 65.41 US cents on Friday at 5pm.
Where to now for workers compensation reforms in NSW?
Continued from previous post:
If the findings of the latest parliamentary report into the proposed scheme, released Monday afternoon, are any guide, it’s clear Labor faces an uphill path to passing the bill in the upper house.
It must win over six independents and minor party MLCs but the strength of the criticism in the report, and the accumulated evidence from victims, experts and medical professions will weigh heavily against Labor being able to win sufficient votes.
Despite pressure from the business lobby over possible increases in premiums it is clear that the opposition is not for turning.
Instead the Greens and the opposition have used the report to pointedly direct the government to go back and do their homework:
There are a host of other levers the government could pull to reform practices within the scheme and place it on a stronger financial footing – instead, the Government has chosen to address the issue of financial sustainability by taking the inconceivably lazy and unfathomably cruel measures outlined in this piece of legislation, including cutting off compensation payments for psychologically injured workers with a degree of permanent impairment between 21% to 30%.
The workers compensation system must continue to support the people who need it most. Assessment processes and criteria must enable that as best as possible.”
Leaving injured workers with serious mental health conditions without access to required supports (as well as without ongoing income support) and a sense of abandonment and injustice carries a significant risk that some injured workers may engage in self-harm and death by suicide.
The opposition has said it will support amendments proposed by independent Mark Latham that tighten definitions of sexual harassment and bullying, so that fewer people will access the scheme.
One finding says the key to cost reductions is “to substantially reduce the number of claims at the entry points to the schemes”.
Damien Tudehope said the key to curtailing costs of the workers compensation scheme was to improve the return to work rates.
The report recommended: “Further improvement is needed to address ongoing issues with claims management processes and return to work rates.”
It warned that delays in injured workers getting needed treatment (which can result in psychological injuries worsening, sometimes to a degree that makes full recovery much more difficult and even unlikely to ever be achieved), and poor return to work rates were driving up costs.
Updated
NSW government’s ‘dramatic, harsh and dangerous’ workers compensation changes condemned in searing report
The Greens, Coalition and independent Mark Latham have labelled the NSW government’s changes to workers compensation “dramatic, harsh and dangerous” in a searing parliamentary report, tabled on Monday.
The changes are designed to curtail access to longer-term essential medical supports and wage replacement payments, for people who experience a work-related psychological injury.
The report chair, Greens MLC Abigail Boyd, wrote:
Their implications are dramatic, harsh and dangerous. This legislation is discriminatory, and perpetuates stigma related to psychological illness by treating psychological injuries as illegitimate and those who suffer them as being not as debilitated as someone with a physical injury. It is further discriminatory through its gendered impacts which would have a radical and disproportionate impact on working women in NSW.
Psychological injury claims have risen steeply in the NSW public sector, particularly among teachers and nurses.
The majority report, made up of the minor parties and Coalition members has rejected outright the government’s attempts to lift the threshold for whole of person impairment to 31%, saying this is far too high.
The shadow treasurer, Damien Tudehope, said if the treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, had told his colleagues that this was in line with South Australia’s rules, he had misled them, because the scales used in the two states were not comparable.
Instead the report has suggested a number of other measures to fix the scheme, including changes to definitions, better claims management and steps to get injured workers back to work.
The report was also scathing of Mookhey’s treatment of a state insurance agency whistleblower who he had relied on when in opposition. The whistleblower, Chris McCann, said in evidence that when he contacted Mookhey to warn of what the changes would mean, he had been ignored, before being told he should contact Lifeline.
Finding 2 said:
Members of Parliament have a special responsibility to look after whistleblowers, given the risks they take and the vulnerabilities they experience. The Treasurer failed to do this by betraying Mr Chris McCann both in personal and policy terms.
The Labor members issued a separate dissenting report.
Updated
‘Printing issue’ to blame for error on Victorian year 12 Persian exam
The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) says no students will be disadvantaged after a printing error was picked up in a question on this year’s VCE Persian examination.
A spokesperson for VCAA said it was aware of a “printing issue” that had affected one question in the examination, which about 100 students sat last month.
According to the VCAA, the Persian language font included in the question was incorrectly embedded into the printer, which scrambled the characters in the printed question.
The spokesperson said:
Once alerted, students were told to disregard the Persian language translation and to read the English prompt to that question, which was printed correctly. No student will be disadvantaged due to this printing issue.
The VCE has been marred by controversy in recent years, with dozens of questions on papers inadvertently published last year and a number of errors uncovered in 2023 and 2024 maths exams.
In April, the entire board of Victoria’s curriculum authority was sacked after a review into the state’s VCE cheat sheet bungle.
Updated
Coalition can ‘close the book’ on its super for housing policy, shadow minister says
The shadow housing minister, Andrew Bragg, says the Coalition has ditched its super for housing policy for good due to the demand it would place on house prices.
Saul Eslake, the principal of Corinna Economic Advisory, found the election commitment to allow first home buyers access to their superannuation would heavily favour older and wealthier people, with the median couple aged 25 to 34 likely to be able to withdraw only $18,000.
Speaking on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, Bragg said “we won’t have that policy again” when discussing the factors placing upwards pressure on housing prices.
It is not necessarily going to solve the problem and we need to have more effort on the supply side. There may still be a case for some demand-side measures but I want to reorient our overall position.
I’m worried that the Liberal Party in some quarters is being seen as a party of nimbies and I want to ensure that we are a party of development.
I think it or the way that it was designed, I think we can pretty much close the book on that one … I’m not sure that necessarily we should be leading with a demand-side policy.
Updated
Home building approvals on the rise but still well below Labor’s target
There were 191,695 home building approvals in the year to September, the most in nearly three years but still well short of the annual rate required to meet Labor’s target of 1.2m new homes built by the end of the decade.
To meet that “ambitious” goal – included in the Albanese government’s housing accord – we would need to build 240,000 homes on average annually over the five years to mid-2029.
Nobody believes that target will be met, which bodes badly for our ability to build our way out of the housing affordability crisis.
Indeed, separate ABS data has shown there were nearly 174,300 new homes actually built (not just approved) in 2024-25, or the first full year of the housing accord.
All of which detracts from the good news story that the number of homes being approved to be built has been heading higher.
The number of home building approvals in the year to September was 14% higher than in the year to September 2024, according to Master Builders Australia.
Getting anywhere near Labor’s target requires a massive pickup in building of higher density projects.
The total monthly number of homes approved which were apartment or townhouse builds (so not standalone houses) jumped to 18,145 in September. The last time monthly no-house approvals approached that level was in August 2022.
Updated
Australia is ‘best served by a strong Coalition government’, Bridget McKenzie says
Earlier this year, the Liberals and Nationals temporarily split in the wake of the federal election result, with their breakup lasting less than a month.
Asked if they could cut ties again, McKenzie said Australia was “best served by a strong Coalition government”.
We have seen that for the entirety that Liberal Party has been in existence …
We have been unequivocal in having a strong foundation to make this decision [on net zero], we have not taken it lightly. We believe we can do this a better way, low emissions without trashing our economy and environment. That’s a responsible decision to make.
We made a considered decision, we are not getting out of the Paris Agreement. We are getting out of net zero by 2050 because it is not in our national interest.
Updated
Ditching net zero emissions target in the ‘national interest’, Bridget McKenzie says
The Nationals’ Senate leader, Bridget McKenzie, says her party’s decision to ditch net zero emissions by 2050 targets over the weekend was in the “national interest” and nothing to do with the Liberal party’s policy position.
Appearing on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, McKenzie was asked whether the Nationals’ policy was about pushing the Liberals to dump net zero. She replied: “Not at all.”
Action on climate change is an absolute non-negotiable, but the reality is how we are pursuing lowering emissions in this country is failing.
Pressed on whether it would be possible to stay in the Coalition if the Liberal party backed net zero targets, McKenzie said they would have to “go through their own processes”.
We have been pretty upfront … about having this conversation within our party room and putting our people, our industries and their future at the very forefront of our decision-making. So we have taken this decision in the national interest, we believe it is the best pathway to have a better, cheaper and more fair energy policy …
I don’t think it helps the Liberal party or the Coalition more broadly for me to be commentating on what they may or may not do.
Updated
Sydney man in critical condition after dog attack
A 55-year-old man is in a critical condition after being attacked by a dog in Sydney’s inner west this morning.
NSW police said about 10am today, emergency services were called to a unit in Camperdown after reports of the attack. The man was located inside the property with serious injuries, police said.
He was treated at the scene by paramedics for arm and leg injuries before being taken to Royal Prince Alfred hospital in a critical condition, a spokesperson for NSW Ambulance said.
Three dogs have been seized from the property by Sydney city council, police said. Inquiries into the incident are continuing.
Updated
Polling analyst warns Liberals axing net zero pledge would put ‘more nails in party’s coffin’
The Coalition is unlikely to be in power for another decade if the Liberals follow the Nationals in jettisoning their commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, an expert warns.
The Nationals voted unanimously over the weekend to drop the target from the party’s official platform, setting up a potential clash with the Liberals.
Moderate Liberal MPs have advocated for the party to maintain its support for the target, while conservatives have urged Sussan Ley to abandon the pledge.
Kos Samaras, founder of research firm Redbridge, said the Coalition risked losing much-needed votes from younger Australians after its election drubbing in May if it dropped the climate commitment.
He told AAP:
Politically, at this rate, they won’t be in government in the next 10 years. The Coalition is only securing 15% to 16% of gen Z voters in this country. This entire saga is going to continue to basically put more nails on that coffin of theirs when it comes to talking to younger Australians.
– AAP
Updated
Thank you all for following along on the blog with me today.
I’ll hand you over to the wonderful Caitlin Cassidy, and see you here bright and early tomorrow!
Investor group urges Coalition to continue support for net zero emissions by 2050
Investors are urging the Coalition not to abandon net zero emissions by 2050, as bipartisan political support for the emissions target hangs in the balance.
In a statement on Monday after reports the Liberals could follow the Nationals in abandoning net zero emissions, the Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC) emphasised the need for “broad political support” for the target.
The IGCC executive director, Francesa Muskovic, said:
Investors want to see broad political support for net zero by 2050, as well as the much stronger policies that are needed to accelerate the country’s rollout of renewable energy and clean industry.
Until we reach net zero, floods, fires and droughts will become worse, productivity, food supply and community health will go down, and Australians will experience those losses in their superannuation balances and across their financial lives.
Updated
TLDR: Here’s what happened in question time
It was a largely subdued affairs in the house during question time today, other than a couple of blow-ups that led to the eviction of Ted O’Brien early on in the piece.
The Coalition did a bit of a repeat of questions from last week to this week (perhaps because Anthony Albanese was back from overseas) including pushing the PM on last week’s inflation rate.
From the crossbench, independent Zali Steggall asked about local content quotas for streaming services (there wasn’t much of an update of any progress on Labor’s election promise) and Andrew Wilkie pushed Chris Bowen on Australia’s scope three emissions – which include carbon emissions in exported coal and gas.
New Zealand’s speaker was in the chamber today – the first time a visiting speaker has sat on the floor of the house for question time in 21 years.
Updated
Senate question time descends into ‘rabble’
The Senate chamber is descending into some uproar now. The government’s Senate leader, Penny Wong, criticised David Pocock, claiming he should sit in the Liberal party room because they had teamed up on the previous motion.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says the Greens won’t support the Coalition motion on locking the government out of questions, but says QT has become a “farce” and is criticising both Labor and Coalition over the situation. Senators from both major parties are also yelling back at her.
Hanson-Young asks the Senate president, Sue Lines, to control the “rabble” that the chamber is turning into.
Pocock is now speaking, saying he won’t support the Coalition motion either, but continues criticising the government for not releasing the report into board appointments.
We’re still technically in question time here, and I think we’ll still get the extra five questions that last week’s motion originally mandated. But there’s a bit happening in the chamber at the moment.
“I applaud the Senate for actually putting our foot down and saying ‘you should comply with the order of the Senate,’” Pocock says.
Updated
Sarah Hanson-Young says Senate question time has become ‘an absolute farce’
Things may have wrapped up in the house, but Senate question time is still going. The drama from last week, about extending question time and who gets (or doesn’t get) to ask questions, is also still going.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says the Senate’s QT has “become an absolute farce”.
The Coalition is now trying to amend the question time rules, again, to largely stymie the Labor government’s ability to ask itself “dixer” or softball questions. The Senate opposition leader, Anne Ruston, is moving a motion which would restrict the government to getting to ask itself just one question, with nearly all the questions going to the Coalition, crossbench and Greens.
This goes back to last week, when David Pocock led a non-government revolt in seeking to force the government to release a long-awaited report on board appointments. The non-Labor senators teamed up to change the question time rules, adding extra questions to the end of the session until the government releases that report.
Now the Coalition is doing its own move, moving for the question order to be dictated ahead of time, with Labor only getting one question, until they release that report.
Updated
What are Australia’s obligations under the Paris agreement?
Following on from the last post …
Then there’s the question of Australia’s obligations under Paris.
The agreement requires that with each new emissions reduction target – known as nationally determined contributions – countries must ratchet up their ambitions to reflect their “highest possible ambitions”.
In plain terms, countries cannot go backwards.
The Albanese government has committed Australia to net zero by 2050, with the interim goals of 43% by 2030 and 62%-70% by 2035, compared with 2005 levels.
So if a future Coalition government were to submit new targets to the United Nations that were lower than those, Australia would be in breach of the Paris agreement.
The opposition already opposes Labor’s 2035 target and is on the brink of abandoning net zero emissions altogether – both of which are in breach of Australia’s obligations.
Updated
Are net zero emissions by 2050 part of the Paris agreement?
You might have seen the Liberal frontbencher Andrew Bragg making the claim this morning that the Paris agreement allows for net zero emissions to be reached in the “second half of the century”.
Bragg has made the point several times on Monday, seemingly in an attempt to justify watering down the Liberals’ commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 without totally abandoning net zero.
But what does the Paris agreement actually say? Here’s the text:
In order to achieve the long-term temperature goal set out in Article 2, Parties aim to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, recognizing that peaking will take longer for developing country Parties, and to undertake rapid reductions thereafter in accordance with best available science, so as to achieve a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century, on the basis of equity, and in the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty.
So, technically speaking, Bragg is right – the text of the Paris agreement does not mandate net zero emissions by 2050.
However, the advice from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on what was needed to achieve the Paris goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C settled on 2050, hence the target that scores of countries – including Australia – have signed up to.
Updated
Question time is over
The skills minister, Andrew Giles, gets the last dixer – and with that, question time is over. Perhaps even a bit earlier than expected.
Updated
Bowen asked about international obligation to reduce CO2 emissions
Back to the crossbench, independent Andrew Wilkie asks the energy minister, Chris Bowen about the international court of justice ruling that found states have a binding international obligation to assess and limit scope 3 emissions which includes carbon in exported coal and gas.
Bowen says the Climate Change Authority considered that ICJ ruling in their advice to the government when setting an emissions target.
Their [CCA] advice to us was to set the maximum possible level of ambition, which is advice of course that the government accepted. What the honourable member is doing is then raising other issues around scope 3 international emissions in other countries, which he’s entitled to do.
But I’d like and make this point. That our obligation is to reduce our emissions and to work with other countries to help them reduce their emissions, not to come at it in some other way.
Updated
Why have only 567 of Labor’s promised 40,000 homes been built so far?
Liberal backbencher Henry Pike asks the PM about Labor’s housing targets – and says just 567 of the promised 40,000 social or affordable homes have been completed, with the Housing Australia Future Fund (Haff) now being looked at by the national auditor general.
Anthony Albanese starts his answer saying that the Coalition didn’t even have a housing minister for several of the years that they were in government.
Pike tries to make a point of order, but Milton Dick says he can’t make one “because you don’t like the answer”, and says previous speakers like Bronwyn Bishop (of helicopter fame) didn’t even allow points of order.
Albanese says:
The question that’s asked by the member speaking about the number of houses that have been completed under the Haff – they held up the Haff for month after month after month after month. And then they go, “Why aren’t the houses built?” You have got to be kidding me!
Updated
PM asked about mining companies’ support for nature reforms
Back to the crossbench, Greens MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown asks the PM why mining companies like BHP support Labor’s environment law reforms, while NGOs like the Australian Conservation Foundation are critical of it.
Anthony Albanese says the parliament shouldn’t “play the games” that led to the legislation not being carried under the last term.
I’m not quite sure that the member is being fair dinkum with the quote that is, she says, of the group that is are supporting this legislation, to be honest. What we need to do is to not play these games which led to nothing being carried during the last term of a “noalition”, people saying they’re against it.
(A reminder here that Tanya Plibersek had negotiated a deal in the last parliament, before it was pulled at the 11th hour by the PM.)
Nationals MP Anne Webster tries to pull up Albanese’s use of “noalition” which Milton Dick says was more in reference to the Coalition and Greens, not just the opposition.
Albanese continues, and the point of order is a “self-identification” by the Coalition of being a “noalition”.
We have people who say no to everything that the government puts forward, but they also say no to everything that each other put forward as well. That’s what we have seen from the disorder.
Updated
How is Labor addressing mortgage stress?
The Coalition pivots back to cost of living, and shadow minister Melissa McIntosh, a western Sydney MP, asks the prime minister what he’s doing to address mortgage stress.
Anthony Albanese’s talking points are almost exactly the same as in previous questions (including a jab at the Coalition’s division at the end).
We’ll continue to roll out cost of living support, and I’d ask the member for Lindsay to think about supporting some of it sometime. Support energy bill relief, supporting cheaper childcare, supporting cheaper medicine, also the 60-day dispensing, supporting the measures that have come in today.
Those opposite will continue to just oppose everything, whether it’s opposing what we’re doing or opposing what each other are doing.
Updated
Keogh accuses opposition of ‘misleading’ on defence honours bill
The shadow veterans’ affairs minister, Darren Chester, gets the call and asks the government about legislation to limit the awarding of defence honours to 20 years. Chester says:
The now prime minister issued a media release on 24 May 2020 titled “Tasmanian war hero Teddy Sheehan deserves Victoria Cross”. And I quote: “It is never too late to honour the meaning of Lest we Forget, or to commemorate the courage of one of our own.”
It was a question he put to the minister, Matt Keogh, last week, and Keogh answers a little more sharply today, and says the government is trying to “modernise” the system.
The reason the prime minister put out that press release in the first place was because the previous government, despite the tribunal’s recommendation, said no, and set up a completely separate process because of the pressure brought upon by veterans … Stop misleading people, shadow minister.
Updated
Ted O’Brien booted from the chamber
The deputy Liberal leader, Ted O’Brien, gets the next question, and asks if the PM will rein in Jim Chalmers’ spending, as he forced the treasurer to “backflip” on the super tax.
Anthony Albanese is stopped almost as soon as he starts, as Milton Dick warns the opposition (including O’Brien) to stop shouting.
Albanese continues:
If you listen between the lines there, to that question, what they’re saying is they would rip and cut everything that we are doing when it comes to cost-of-living measures to assist people.
And then we get our first booting of the week.
O’Brien, who keeps shouting at Albanese, is told to leave under 94a – “no one can take the mickey here,” says Dick.
Updated
Burke says government goal of Australian content quotas for streaming services ‘remains on foot’
Over to the crossbench, independent Zali Steggall asks the government whether it will fulfil its promise to introduce local content quotas on streaming services.
Anthony Albanese jumps in first to answer before the arts minister, Tony Burke, and says the government “very much support[s] the local content in the Australian arts sector right across the board”.
Burke says Australians should be able to access locally made content no matter which channel or streaming service they’re using, but gives no guarantees on timing or progress to get there.
If you pick up your remote control at home and you go to the ABC or SBS, you’re guaranteed Australian content, you go to the commercial TV stations there’s still some level of Australian content guaranteed … with the same remote control flicking to any of the streaming services, there’s currently no guarantee of Australian content …
We need to work through a series of different trade obligations but in doing so the government’s objective which we previously stated remains completely on foot and hope to continue to be able to report more to the house.
Updated
‘Kick him out!’
After the first couple of questions, the speaker normally gives a few shout-outs to special guests sitting in the public gallery.
Today, former Labor MP Graham Perrett, who’s only too familiar with section 94a, is watching question time.
As Milton Dick introduces him, a few Coalition MPs jokingly shout, “kick him out!” (which gets a good few laughs across the chamber).
Dick says in response, “the former member for Moreton, who I know will be silent during question time …” (which gets even more chuckles).
Updated
Albanese defends Labor’s action on cost of living
Staying on cost of living, the chief opposition whip, Aaron Violi, says research by the St Vincent de Paul Society shows 32% of households have skipped meals or gone without food to cover essentials, and 36% of Australian families are concerned about going without food.
Anthony Albanese says the government is acting on the cost of living, and takes the opportunity to dig in on the Coalition’s internal turmoil surrounding net zero emissions.
The number of times that the Coalition, in government or in opposition, has made a submission or a Fair Work case supporting an increase in real wages? Zero. Zero. Zero.
Now, we know they don’t support net zero, but we know also they are net zero when it comes to increases in real wages.
Updated
When will prices come down?
Sussan Ley’s first question to Anthony Albanese is on last week’s inflation figures which showed a higher-than-expected rate, and asks when household bills will drop.
Albanese says “everyone” knows that inflation started with a six before the 2022 election, and has been nearly halved.
Ley makes a point of order, asking the PM to say exactly when prices will come down. Milton Dick’s not convinced by the point, and lets Albanese continue.
Albanese finishes his answer taking a dig at the Coalition, for not backing Labor’s top-up tax cut pledge at the last election.
They put forward an option which said, “A vote for the Liberal party is a vote for higher taxes and higher deficits”, and the Australian people rejected them, and the Australian people are continuing to reject them.
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It’s question time! With a special guest
The PM is back and today there’s another special guest in the chamber (though not of the musical variety).
New Zealand’s speaker, Gerry Brownlee, is sitting in the house today, next to Milton Dick, who says it’s the first time in 21 years that a visiting speaker has sat on the floor of the house.
Anthony Albanese and Sussan Ley both welcome Brownlee.
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No public progress with Coalition or Greens on Labor’s proposed environmental laws
The government’s environment protection bill (EPBC Act) hasn’t yet made any headway publicly with either the Coalition or the Greens.
Murray Watt, speaking to Sky News a moment ago, said negotiations are ongoing, he’s ready to listen to all options and there’s no “preferred partner” to get these reforms through. He added:
But as yet, we haven’t had any amendments provided to us by other side of politics.
On whether the government can get these reforms through by the end of this year (again remembering that there’s just two joint sitting weeks including this week left in the sitting calendar), Watt says, “I’ll leave it for very intelligent commentators like you, Kieran [Gilbert], to judge that kind of thing, but I’ve certainly put everything I’ve got into these reforms.”
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Coalition calls for Optus to pay compensation to those affected by triple-zero outage
The Coalition says Optus should pay compensation to the families of people who died during the network’s triple-zero outage when they were unable to call emergency services, with one senator claiming the telco hadn’t answered key questions about the disruption.
Optus executives fronted a Senate inquiry today, but we didn’t learn a lot more about the emergency calls outage. The CEO, Stephen Rue, said the company “will do the right thing with compensation”, but Liberal senator Sarah Henderson told a press conference she wanted more assurances:
I don’t have the confidence at this point in time that Optus will do the right thing. And so therefore I believe we need full facts in relation to what Optus is going to do in relation to those failed triple-zero calls.
They provide a service, that service failed ... So I think Optus has got huge liability, and we demand answers as to what they are going to do for these families.
She didn’t raise a potential compensation number or amount.
Henderson was unhappy that Optus had taken numerous questions on notice during the hearing, rather than answering at that point. She said she believed that behaviour was “in breach of Senate rules” and said she’d raised concerns about whether executives could be in contempt of the Senate.
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Missy Higgins puts on the ol’ razzle dazzle at Parliament House
Sometimes parliament sees some very cool guests, and today, musician and Australian treasure Missy Higgins graced us with a performance ahead of the Aria awards later this month.
*I say us, I wasn’t there either so I’ll also be enjoying these pics – like many of you – from the office!
Points to you if you can spot all the pollies in the audience.
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Is Tim Wilson throwing his hat in the leadership ring?
Like many Victorians, Tim Wilson doesn’t want to work on Melbourne Cup day. He’s even called the PM a “philistine” for holding a parliamentary sitting day during this sacred event.
(FYI – Melbourne cup day is tomorrow for those who don’t normally celebrate)
In a Facebook post, Wilson also jokingly throws his hat in the leadership ring:
Our philistine prime minister is forcing parliament to sit on Tuesday defying Melbourne’s traditions and way of life. I make this commitment: this will never happen under a Wilson government!
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Australian Academy of Science president warns Australia is in a race for Stem talent
The president of the Australian Academy of Science is delivering the annual Ralph Slatyer address, which honours Australia’s first chief scientist.
Chennupati Jagadish warns Australia is in a global race for Stem (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) talent:
There is a global reconfiguration of our energy systems, necessary to decarbonise our economies, whilst not weakening them. Science and technology sit at the absolute centre of these changes.
Last month’s critical minerals agreement between the United States and Australia underscores this. It wasn’t simply a trade deal. It was recognition that geopolitics now turns on access to the raw materials of the technological revolution.
Sadly, I can say with both confidence and despair that science and technology is neither positioned nor valued as the national strategic asset it is at the heart of our ability to trade, make deals, boost productivity and navigate geopolitical complexity.
He says Australia has not sought to strengthen its science and technology capability to respond to a changing world:
We cannot make good on our critical minerals promises when the number of geologists we attract, train and retain is in freefall.
Nor can we rely on importing talent when the International Union of Geological Sciences says other countries are experiencing similar declines.
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Ley sticking to working group process to form Liberal position on net zero
Going back to Sussan Ley’s doorstop earlier on net zero, the opposition leader says she’s still sticking by the joint Liberal-National working group process to set up a potential joint position on energy and climate.
In brief comments outside a charity event, Ley downplayed the effect of the Nationals’ solo decision yesterday to dump their net zero support.
It is currently unclear how the Liberals could come to a vastly different position to the Nationals at this point, but Ley is clearly hoping her colleagues start turning their attention on the Labor government at some point soon rather than continuing their internal bickering. She said:
I always said that the Nationals would come to their decision in their party room and the Liberals would similarly come to our decision in our party room. But our joint energy working group has done an incredibly sound job up until this point in time, it’s continuing, and we can look forward to a Liberal party energy position and then coming together as a Coalition.
I’m looking forward to the work that will happen between now and the Liberal party’s position becoming known, and then us sitting down together as two mature parties developing something that takes the fight up to the Labor party.
Because while a lot of your questions are about process and personnel, for me it is really about one thing and that is the train-wreck energy policy of this government.
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Coalition senator Sarah Henderson says evidence at Optus hearing ‘shocking’
The Coalition says it’s walked out of the Optus triple zero hearing with “more questions than answers”.
Sarah Henderson, a former shadow communications minister, said the evidence heard in the hearing was “shocking”.
There were ten different points of failure. There were five calls to the overseas call centre which were never escalated, the CEO sat on his hands and for many hours didn’t inform Acma, the regulator, and the minister’s office, about the true scale of the catastrophe, with three people confirmed dead as a result of what happened on that terrible and fateful day.
Henderson says the regulator and minister have also “drastically failed”, and urged communications minister Anika Wells to front the inquiry.
Liberal senator Dean Smith also said the prime minister’s office has questions to answer about what it knew and when it sought information from Optus.
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Penny Wong says Australia is ‘horrified’ by reports of atrocities in El Fasher, Sudan
Foreign minister Penny Wong says Australia is “horrified” by the reports of “mass killings, sexual violence and deliberate attacks on civilians” in El Fasher, Sudan.
The reports of atrocities have emerged from El Fasher since it fell to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces last weekend.
In a statement, Wong said:
We condemn the atrocities committed by the Rapid Support Forces and call for an immediate end to the violence and unhindered humanitarian access.
All parties must uphold their obligations to protect civilians and respect international law.
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Ley says Nationals ‘entitled’ to own position on net zero target
Sussan Ley says the Nationals are “entitled” to make their own position on net zero, and says she and the Liberals will join their partner in developing a joint position on energy.
The opposition leader gave a quick comment on her way out of a charity event for the Kmart Wishing Tree. She said the Liberals are still working on their energy and climate policy, and would have a position of their own.
Ley said a joint Liberal-National working group is still working on a joint policy. She said she and David Littleproud had a “convivial” conversation after the Nationals dumped net zero yesterday, and that she looked forward to the two parties getting together to find a way forward.
As some in the Liberal party muse over whether the Coalition can continue, and there is some anger at the Nationals for coming out so strongly, Ley indicated her intent was still to find a joint Coalition position to work for both parties.
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Independent criticises ‘gigantic loopholes’ in Labor’s proposed nature laws
Independent MPs are pushing for changes to Labor’s proposed new nature laws, with one claiming the bill contains “gigantic loopholes that you could drive a heavy hauler through”.
The laws to overhaul the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act are scheduled for debate on Tuesday, with the government planning to rush them through the lower house this week.
The independent MP for Curtin, Kate Chaney, is drafting amendments to address two loopholes that she fears could undermine the entire bill.
The first is the proposed “restoration fund”, which developers would have the choice of contributing to as one option to offset damage from their projects. Chaney said:
That means projects can actually just pay to destroy, they can choose to just put money into a fund, and we may end up with a lot of money but no projects that actually offset the damage that’s being done. And that would not be a good outcome for nature.
The independent MP also wants changes to a contentious new exemption that would allow the environment minister to approve projects in breach of nature laws if it was deemed in the “national interest”.
The former treasury secretary Ken Henry, the Labor MP Ed Husic and Labor’s grassroots environment action group have all called for guardrails to limit how the power could be wielded.
Fellow independent MP Sophie Scamps said she couldn’t support the laws in their current form, criticising the new loopholes and plans to devolve more decision-powers to the states.
I cannot support the EPBC Act … in their current form, because there are the most ginormous, gigantic loopholes that you could drive a heavy hauler through, which means there is no guarantee that our environment will be better protected.
Labor wants the EPBC reforms to pass the Senate this year but that hinges on a deal with either the Greens or the Coalition, neither of whom support the bill as it stands.
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Canavan comments on pregnancy terminations ‘beyond disappointing’ says Labor senator
The government, with some of the crossbench and Greens, has voted to debate Baby Priya’s bill, and vote on it by 1pm today.
The opposition says it supports the bill but did not support the guillotine motion to put a time limit on debate.
Labor’s Michelle Ananda-Rajah, who is a medical doctor, disputes the claims from some including Canavan around late-term pregnancy terminations.
It has been beyond disappointing to see the arguments peddled in this chamber …
[These are] not trivial matters, they are not done on the whim of a mother or father, they are a medical decision made by doctors and a wider medical team, usually in a special hospital for women.
Ananda-Rajah also brings up the reports of women who are having homebirths and freebirths, and urges families to listen to medical professionals.
As Melissa Davey brought you a bit earlier, the Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (Ranzcog) and the Australian College of Midwives (ACM) have called for legislative changes to restrict labour and birth management to registered practitioners such as obstetricians, gynaecologists, GP obstetricians or midwives. Ananda-Rajah says:
There are disturbing reports in the media of women who are not listening to their trained midwives or doctors but instead choosing to be influenced by doulas or social media influencers around having homebirths or freebirths. This has led to numerous deaths, both of babies as well as women in Australia … I would urge women of Australia to seek your advice from trained professionals, either midwives or obstetricians.
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Net zero debate continues in parliament
Another Liberal is calling for the opposition to junk its commitment to net zero, with Western Australian MP Rick Wilson up in the House of Representatives now, speaking in support of Barnaby Joyce’s bill to scrap the climate commitment.
He claims his electorate of O’Connor, a vast area in the south-east of WA, is “ground zero for net zero”, and raises criticisms of renewables projects, including solar and windfarms. Wilson is unhappy about agricultural land being concerted into renewable projects, and voices concerns about “visual and noise pollution, and potential adverse health effects” of renewables.
Wilson draws a line between the closure of mining and renewables projects, claiming higher emissions reduction targets and energy prices will see such facilities shut down.
Joyce, who remains sitting as a National but still isn’t participating in their party-room meetings, is sitting behind Wilson as he speaks.
Labor MP Dan Repacholi, representing the working-class electorate of Hunter, speaks next and says he “feels like a kindergarten teacher” when he speaks about net zero with Coalition MPs.
He rejects claims that net zero would see the closure of coalmines, calling that allegation “rubbish”, and says net zero is good for the Hunter.
Net zero isn’t about shutting up shop. It’s about running mines, keeping people in work and reaching net zero through offsets and better technology.
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Liberal frontbencher says net zero target must be retained ‘in some form’
The senior Liberal frontbencher Andrew Bragg says net zero must be retained “in some form” and is confident the Coalition will agree on such a position – despite the Nationals’ decision to abandon its commitment to the climate target.
The Liberals are under fresh pressure to settle their position on net zero after the Nationals unanimously decided to walk away from the goal at a special party-room meeting on Sunday.
If the two Coalition partners cannot agree to a compromise, some Liberals believe the party should be prepared to break up the Coalition.
A leading moderate and net zero supporter, Bragg says net zero must be retained “in some form”.
He told reporters in Parliament House:
You have to have net zero in some form. I mean there’s no doubt that Australia has very serious treaty obligations. So my point is we’re a serious country, we’re a trade exposed nation. We’re not going to walk away from international agreements. Never.
But I would say that the domestic rules have made life harder for Australians and so Labor’s net zero has been a complete disaster.
Asked if he would need to reconsider his position on the frontbench if net zero was dumped entirely, Bragg was confident it would not come to that.
I’m confident we will maintain fidelity for our international agreements. How we implement those domestically is a matter we need to work through, but I think we can do it better than Labor.
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Labor tries to bring forward Senate debate on paid parental leave after stillbirth
Over in the Senate, the government is trying to bring forward debate and a vote on Baby Priya’s bill today, which would force employers to give parents who have experienced a stillbirth their paid parental leave entitlements.
Several conservatives, including Barnaby Joyce and Andrew Hastie, have been accused of playing politics by using the debate to argue that the leave should not be given to parents who have a late-term abortion.
Medical experts have said the argument shows a lack of understanding about stillbirths and labelled the comments as “terrible, cynical, awful”.
Senator Matt Canavan, who didn’t speak in the federation chamber, has been making the same claims as his colleagues Joyce and Hastie this morning, and says the government has “blindsided” the Senate by trying to move up the vote to 1pm.
Finance minister and minister for women, Katy Gallagher, doesn’t address Canavan’s claims, but says three hours of debate is enough and defends the bill.
It recognises that the loss of a baby is devastating for parents and if there is a way to respond … to seek legislative reform that would allow a mother in the exact same experience as what baby Priya’s mother endured to grieve and have an entitlement to grieve through that period of what would have been her parental leave, that’s what this bill is about.
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Independent Kate Chaney to introduce bill on voter data mining
Independent MP Kate Chaney is introducing a bill this morning to stop political parties mining voter data through postal ballot applications.
What’s the problem?
It’s one the Australian Electoral Commission is also not pleased about – where the major parties send unsolicited postal vote application forms to voters, they’re filled out and sent back to the major parties – who are accused of harvesting that data – before they send it on to the AEC.
It’s not a new problem, the AEC warned the major parties about the issue during the 2022 election, and the Liberals were accused of doing it ahead of the voice referendum campaign.
To parliament, Chaney says:
This loophole is particularly bad, because political parties, their contractors and volunteers are exempt from the Privacy Act … not only can [major parties] store and use this data for micro-targeting, profiling or future campaigning without consent, but they can also sell this personal data to third-party data brokers or analytics firms. We have no idea if they currently do this because there’s no oversight.
It’s a private member’s bill, and unlikely to get picked up by the government.
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Call for legislation to prohibit unregulated practitioners managing labour and birth
In the wake of several recent tragedies linked to freebirth, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (Ranzcog) and the Australian College of Midwives (ACM) have called for legislative changes they say are necessary to prevent harm and loss of life.
Ranzcog and the ACM want consistent legislation across jurisdictions to restrict labour and birth management to registered practitioners such as obstetricians, gynaecologists, GP obstetricians or midwives.
Freebirth is the intentional practice of giving birth without a registered healthcare professional, such as a midwife or doctor, present. It is different from a homebirth, which is a planned birth at home with a registered healthcare provider.
The colleges want unlicensed or unregulated people to be prohibited by law from undertaking the management of labour and birth. Regulatory frameworks need to be made consistent across all states and territories to ensure women receive the same protections regardless of where they give birth in Australia, the colleges have said in a statement.
Ranzcog president Dr Nisha Khot said:
While choice and model of care are important, such choice must operate within frameworks that ensure safety, quality and accountability. This proposed legislation would affirm that principle.
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Optus company chair says there were ‘10 failures’ in triple zero outage
Optus chairman John Arthur was asked about the failures behind the triple zero outage. He said CEO Stephen Rue was brought on to make sure episodes like the outage never happen, and that he expected Rue to finish the job he was brought onboard to complete. Arthur told senators:
There were I think 10 failures here, 10 failures. And if you’re asking me whether I am alarmed at that, I can assure you I am. However, this man was brought into this company to make sure we became a company that didn’t have 10 failures like that. Now that’s his job, and I’m expecting him to finish it.
Arthur assured senators that there would be fallout from the investigations into the outage “when we have all the facts” and the “dust settles”.
I never in my life want to be in the position I’m in today where I have to answer these sorts of questions about a company I’m associated with.
When the dust settles … when we have all of the facts … the board will, as is its duty, deal with accountabilities.
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The bells are ringing in Parliament House
First up in the House this morning is debate on private members’ bills – that means we’ll see a bill from Kate Chaney on postal ballot data harvesting (more on this shortly), one from independent Andrew Gee on stopping windfarms in state forests and, of course, more debate on Barnaby Joyce’s repeal net zero bill.
I’ve said this before, but the government is milking Joyce’s bill for all its worth – it’s a political play that wedges the Coalition, and Labor has so many backbenchers it can just keep putting them up to debate the bill – even if Joyce runs out of supporters to spruik his bill. We’ll see who stands up on it today.
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What is underpinning the Nationals’ net zero decision?
The Nationals have promised to scrap net zero by 2050 targets and scrap the Climate Change Act under their policy – so where has this come from?
Yesterday’s announcement followed a process led by senators Matt Canavan and Ross Cadell with modelling by the Page Research Centre.
The Page report says power prices have gone up almost 40% since net zero was legislated, and recommends prioritising reducing power bills, tying Australia’s emissions reduction to the OECD average, lifting the moratorium on nuclear energy, and reinstating the Abbott-era emissions reduction fund.
Littleproud has said the Nationals’ position is in line with the work of Page, but hasn’t said exactly which recommendations will be undertaken.
And what is Page? Page is a think tank that says it works “closely with the Nationals”.
It’s led by Gerard Holland, who wrote the report and is a former electoral officer to former deputy Nationals leader Fiona Nash. The chair of Page is former Nationals leader and former deputy prime minister John Anderson.
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Hanson-Young asks when Optus knew of deaths related to outage and when government was informed
Staying on the inquiry, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young asked a series of questions nailing down the timeline during the outage, asking when Optus knew people had died and when executives, and the government, were informed.
Stephen Rue said Optus was first advised of a fatality around 8.43pm on 18 September, but senior management was not informed until after midnight on the 19th. Rue himself was told around 8am on the morning of the 19th.
Hanson-Young noted that Rue called the Optus board and the CEO of SingTel, Optus’s parent company, less than an hour later.
But the government regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma), and the government minister were not told until around 2pm on the 19th. Hanson-Young said:
What on earth were you doing between 8am in the morning and 2pm?
Rue said Optus was completing welfare checks and gathering information, but the senator was not satisfied with that answer. She said:
You weren’t doing that, you had people doing that. What were you doing? … You made sure the board knew, but you didn’t call the minister or the regulator.
You were too busy putting your ducks in order, telling your board what was going on, contacting your executives, making sure that your your company’s ducks were in order. Meanwhile, the federal government, the regulator and the minister were left in the dark.
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Optus executives answer questions about triple zero outage as CEO defends his job
Optus CEO Stephen Rue is being questioned over the telecommunications company’s triple zero outage, which left multiple people dead after they could not reach emergency services.
Rue, sitting alongside other Optus executives, said the call failures on 18 September during an upgrade were “unacceptable”, saying as CEO he was “accountable for Optus’s failing and I’m deeply sorry”. Rue said:
The tragic deaths of people during this outage stay with us as individuals and as a company as we investigate the incident.
I fully accept there are aspects to the way events unfolded and how they were communicated over September 18 and 19 that we should have handled better.
Rue defended his position as CEO, saying that while there were understandable questions about his position, he believes any change in leadership “could actually set back the transformation under way” at the company.
I firmly believe that another change of leader at this time is not what Optus needs, or what our customers need.
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PM questioned on universal childcare promise
The PM gives us a forward sizzle on his promise to deliver universal childcare – saying we’ll be hearing more about it from early next year. But he’s reluctant to provide any details as to what that will look like.
Reporter Katina Curtis asks whether universal childcare will be in place by the next election (which is about two and a half years away).
Albanese: Well, you’ve got three years to continue to ask and follow up, Katina.
Curtis: Do you believe that for-profit childcare still has a place?
Albanese: You’ve got three years to follow that up. Well, you get the same answer. What we’re doing in child care, we’ve made a significant difference.
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Power prices driven partly by ‘dysfunction’ of former Coalition government, PM says
Anthony Albanese acknowledges power prices and the cost of living are still having an impact on households, but pins some of the blame on the former government.
Speaking to reporters in Canberra this morning, the PM says his government has capped coal and gas prices and put in energy bill rebates (which are due to finish at the end of this year).
What has occurred on power prices is a product in part of the dysfunction and chaos that’s been there of the Coalition – 24 out of 28 coal fired power stations announced their closure. They [the Coalition] had no plan to do anything other than fight each other, and that’s continuing today.
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‘The Coalition as we knew it is dead,’ Simon Holmes à Court says after net zero decision
The National party’s decision to scrap its net zero by 2050 commitments is prompting a lot of reaction from within and without federal parliament this morning.
Climate 200 founder and co-convenor Simon Holmes à Court has lashed the minor party over the decision, settled in a party room meeting on Monday. It puts extra pressure on the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, as she struggles to hold the Coalition together.
“In the last decade the Nationals have evicted the Liberals from The Lodge, the city electorates, and now the national conversation,” Holmes à Court said.
The fault lines that have been papered over for years are now a chasm that cannot be breached.
He links the decision to previous policy moves by former leaders Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton, both of whom lost to Labor and Anthony Albanese.
Morrison and Dutton abandoned the centre, leaving space for independents to properly represent middle Australia, and now the Nats have taken the whole team out of contention.
The old broad church has been burnt to a cinder – the Coalition as we knew it is dead.
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Littleproud says net zero decision ‘not about politics but good policy’
Nationals leader David Littleproud is continuing his media round this morning, defending his decision to scrap net zero by 2050 commitments, and do it before the Liberal party has reached its own position on energy.
On ABC News Breakfast, Littleproud says the decision to announce the policy yesterday is “not about politics”.
Littleproud says he won’t be pressuring the Liberal party to drop its commitment to net zero, and that it’s all about “respect” in the Coalition.
This is not about politics but good policy.
We’re calm and methodical about this and we’ll work with our Coalition partners when they get to their position. But we made it clear, as did the Liberal party after the election, that we had processes – individual processes – that our party would run through. We got to ours on the weekend, the end of ours. And we’ll respect and wait for the Liberal party, and do that in a respectful way.
(Commentators would probably argue that there are wide-ranging political implications though.)
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Mortgage arrears fall at Westpac after rate cuts
Mortgage holders are enjoying a reprieve from relentless cost of living pressures, as the number of home owners falling behind on their repayments falls.
Westpac’s full year results, released this morning, show that its delinquency rate for loans that are more than 90 days behind has dropped to 0.73%, from 1.12% a year ago.
On Monday, the bank reported a 2% slide in annual profit to $6.9bn for the year ended 30 September, down from $7.1bn a year ago. It will pay a full year dividend of $1.53 per share.
The Reserve Bank’s official cash rate, which informs mortgage rates, has been cut three times this year to 3.6%.
Westpac said most of its customers had welcomed the interest rate relief, while broader cost of living pressures had also eased.
Westpac’s chief executive, Anthony Miller, said:
Notwithstanding the relief from interest rates, challenges remain, with inflation and unemployment increasing in recent months.
Globally, uncertainty remains but this is an opportunity for Australia and we are in a good position to work through any impacts from events such as the ongoing geopolitical and trade tensions.
While many forecasters had been expecting further interest rate relief this year, the odds of imminent cuts have collapsed due to increasing inflation. The RBA will hand down its next interest rate decision tomorrow.
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Tehan ‘very confident’ he can reach position with Nationals on energy
The question every Coalition member is facing this morning is whether the Nationals’ decision to scrap net zero will allow the two parties to stay together.
Tehan – who has both staunch net zero backers and critics in his own party – says he’s “very confident” he can reach a position with the Nationals on energy policy.
I never started this process seeking to fail. I want to succeed, and that means we’ve all got to work together. And the way we have been constructively working together – obviously, there’s some noise here and noise there – but the way we have been working constructively together, I’m very confident that we’ll be able to reach a position which means we can all continue to work together in the best interests of the nation.
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‘We want to get it right,’ says Tehan on Liberal energy policy
Shadow energy minister Dan Tehan, who’s leading the Liberal party’s energy policy review, is facing more pressure now that the Nats have come out of the gate and staked their position by abandoning net zero.
Tehan, following Littleproud on RN Breakfast, says everything is AOK with the Nats and that he’ll take his time to “get it right” on energy policy.
We’ve got to get it right in understanding: OK, what is it that we need to do to make affordable energy our number one priority, but at the same time be doing our bit when it comes to reducing emissions? And we’re working through that methodically. We’ve been doing it not only as a Liberal party but also jointly with the National party – very constructively, I might add – and we’ll continue to do that.
So when will the Liberals announce their policy? Tehan says: “in a perfect world, it would be great to have it done by Christmas”.
Including this week, there are just two joint sitting weeks left this year, so time is certainly ticking.
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David Littleproud says Australia shouldn’t be ‘streaking ahead’ on emissions reduction
Nationals leader David Littleproud says Australia shouldn’t be a “laggard” on emissions reduction, but we also shouldn’t be “streaking ahead”.
Talking to ABC RN Breakfast this morning after making the announcement yesterday, Littleproud says Australia should be doing its “fair share”.
But what’s a fair share, asks host Sally Sara, when Australia’s per capita emissions are three times the global average? Littleproud says:
I think this is where the reality of getting to this per capita is a puerile argument. The reality is each country has a responsibility, and this is where they get into things like Scope 3 [emissions], saying Australia should have to pay for that because we actually export a lot of resources overseas that are then burned … It shouldn’t be just about what we actually are emitting, it’s what we can mitigate.
He points to Australia accounting for 1% of global emissions, and says it’s a “small amount of the total emissions globally”.
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‘Australians aren’t happy with us’, says Coalition frontbencher
Facing Nationals flying ahead of the Liberals on energy and a brutal Newspoll result this morning, Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh is asked on Sky News how worried she is about the declining public support.
“I don’t want to spin it,” she says, but digs in on net zero, saying many in her community don’t want it.
Australians aren’t happy with us. We lost an election, and we were annihilated at the election. We need to get our act together. We need to focus on being a strong opposition.
On whether Sussan Ley can and should stay on as leader, she says:
Sussan still has my confidence, and she should be able to stay on as leader. As I said, we’re down in the dumps. It’s not just about the leadership, it’s the whole Coalition and the people that are left – my colleagues, they’re wonderful, talented people, and we should be giving Sussan a chance.
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Hanson-Young says Coalition ‘just not serious about government’
Staying on Sarah Hanson-Young on ABC News Breakfast, the Greens senator did not hold back in slamming the Nationals over their decision to scrap support for net zero, accusing the Coalition of having “delusional and dangerous” climate policy.
She calls on Labor to “rule out” working with the Coalition on any environment or climate policy (ie the government should negotiate with the Greens on the EPBC bill).
The Coalition have proved themselves to be a party that’s just not serious about government.
You can’t pretend in Australia that you care about the future of our country, the safety and security of Australia. You can’t even pretend that you care about the bush and the regions if you don’t have a credible policy on climate change. The climate crisis is already here.
Reminds me of Logan Roy telling his children in Succession – “you are not serious people”.
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SingTel should appear before Optus inquiry, Greens and Coalition say
The Greens and the Coalition will grill Optus over its outage earlier this year during a parliamentary hearing.
Shadow communications minister, Melissa McIntosh, told ABC News Breakfast a bit earlier that the inquiry would “get to the bottom” of what happened.
When I met with the CEO of Optus he said it was human error and I asked ‘How can human error result in the outage where lives were lost?’ That is not good enough.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who’s also been heavily critical of Optus, also told News Breakfast the inquiry will be looking to call in the CEO and board members of SingTel to face questions.
I’ve been worried for far too long that Optus is much more worried about its profits than it is people’s safety. And now we have a situation where people have died because Optus put profits ahead of safety, and SingTel needs to take responsibility for that.
Updated
‘I have a lot more to ask,’ Barnaby Joyce says on Nationals’ energy policy
Barnaby Joyce isn’t completely sold on the Nationals’ energy policy despite being one of the most vocal advocates to scrap net zero (and still has a bill in the House to do that).
On Sunrise this morning, Joyce says he still has concerns over the Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) which underwrites renewable projects. The Nats have decided that they’ll keep the scheme but will expand it to also underwrite fossil fuel projects.
Joyce says he will go through the fine print with senator Matt Canavan, who led the Nationals review with Ross Cadell.
I have a lot more to ask and I will do my job and ask.
Few in the Liberal party, who have been staunch net zero supporters, are concerned this could be the end for the Coalition. Asked whether the Coalition is “over”, Joyce says:
I don’t know, that is above my pay grade. In the past, I’ve argued against splitting the Coalition.
Updated
A third of metropolitan and regional GPs to be fully bulk-billing
Just one third of all metropolitan GP practices will be fully bulk-billed under the government’s increased bulk-billing incentive, which came into effect on 1 November, as the government has promised that there will be no out-of-pocket payment for 90% of all GP visits by 2030.
Labor has released new data overnight showing how many clinics have indicated they will now fully bulk-bill.
In metro areas, of 4,720 practices, 1,557 will be fully bulk-billing (33%) - an increase of 622 clinics that say they will now bulk-bill due to the incentive.
In regional centres, of 620 practices, 209 will be fully bulk-billing (33%) - an increase of 108 clinics.
But in remote communities, almost half of all practices will now be fully bulk-billed - with 51 out of 110 practices indicating they won’t charge out-of-pocket costs for patients.
The top ten electorates that will see the most number of mixed billing practices become fully bulk-billed include: Labor-held Ballarat in regional Victoria; Labor-held Rankin in outer suburban Brisbane; LNP-held Hinkler and Flynn in regional QLD; Labor-held Hawke outside Melbourne; Labor-held Calwell and Hotham in metropolitan Melbourne; LNP-held Spence in South Australia, LNP-held Parkes in regional NSW, and LNP-held Cowper in regional Victoria.
Updated
Welcome
Good morning, Krishani Dhanji with you here for another busy sitting week (and the second last joint sitting week for the year).
The Liberals are facing some pressure after the Nationals came out and scrapped their commitment to net zero. The Liberals are still considering their position on the policy.
The government is keeping somewhat of a lower profile early this week; they’re still spruiking their pre-election promise to increase bulk-billing incentives which came into force over the weekend.
And the Optus boss will face a parliamentary hearing today into the September outage. The Greens and Coalition have been pushing for a full inquiry into the incident.
It’s going to be another busy week, stay with us!
