What we learned, Wednesday 8 October
That’s all for today, thanks for joining us. Here’s the day’s main news stories:
The deputy secretary of the Department of Communications, James Chisholm, has told Senate estimates that Optus officials sent two emails about the triple zero outage to an incorrect email address last month, where the information sat undetected for more than a day.
The federal Greens are calling for the foreign minister, Penny Wong, to intervene after Israel intercepted a new Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
The industry minister, Tim Ayres, announced a joint federal and state bailout for the Glencore Mount Isa copper smelter.
The new AFP commissioner, Krissy Barrett, says hate crime laws introduced earlier this year following a spate of antisemitic attacks may need to be strengthened.
Victorians will get free public transport on weekends for two months, in a move the premier, Jacinta Allan, has described as a “thank you” to passengers for putting up with years of travel disruptions due to Metro Tunnel works.
The former prime minister Tony Abbott has suggested the UK could place migrants attempting to enter the country in a “mothership on the English Channel” before sending them back to France at the UK Conservative party conference overnight.
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says she has written to Sussan Ley demanding she intervene to put a stop to the leaks and backgrounding against their own side, which she claims is feeding perceptions that the Liberal party is turning into a “clown show. Coalition frontbencher Alex Hawke says the Liberals must prioritise “being honest with each other”.
Rent hikes are back on the rise after a decline in new listings brought vacant rental rates to a record low – despite a boom in housing investor activity.
George Williams, the vice-chancellor and president of Western Sydney University, apologised to current and former students this afternoon, a day after many reported receiving scam emails that said their degrees had been “revoked” by the institution.
We’ll be back tomorrow with more news.
Updated
Business as usual for ABC's Washington bureau after Trump clashes, MD says
The ABC has not been banned from Donald Trump’s press conferences after John Lyons’ run-in with the US president, the broadcaster’s managing director, Hugh Marks, has told Senate estimates.
Marks said it was business as usual for the ABC’s Washington bureau since the incident last month.
In his first appearance at estimates since taking up the role in March, Marks said:
We took steps to ensure that [Lyons] was in a safe position, that he felt OK … [he] is a very experienced journalist over many years, and I think he’s a big boy and handled the situation particularly well.
In an opening statement tabled by the committee Marks said the ABC’s latest corporate tracker survey saw the broadcaster score 80% for “tend to trust/trust a great deal” which is the highest rating since October 2024:
This result mirrors the finding by Roy Morgan research recently which found that the ABC was the most trusted media organisation in Australia.
Updated
Optus says it is committed to 'full transparency' after revelations it sent outage alerts to wrong email address during triple-zero crisis
Optus has released a statement in response to revelations from Senate estimates hearings on Wednesday about the company’s efforts to notify the government about triple-zero outages.
Optus officials sent two emails about the outages to the wrong department of communications email address last month, where the information sat undetected for more than a day.
The emails showed 10 callers had been unable to reach triple zero in emergencies, but it would later emerge that 600 calls had been affected and three people had died.
A spokesperson said the company took the matter seriously and remained committed “to full transparency and accountability”:
The independent review led by Dr Kerry Schott is examining all the relevant correspondence, timelines, and processes.
Dr Schott’s report is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
In the interests of respecting the integrity of the independent review process and the [Australian Communications and Media Authority investigation, we will not pre-empt the findings.”
Updated
More than 800 refugees and asylum seekers in limbo, home affairs official says
Over in Senate estimates this afternoon, home affairs officials have revealed more than 800 refugees and asylum seekers in Australia remain in limbo with no clear pathway to resettlement.
The department deputy secretary for immigration compliance, Michael Thomas, confirmed there were 807 “transitory people” awaiting resettlement in a third country and remaining on temporary visas.
Australia has struck deals with the US and New Zealand to resettle those who came to Australia by sea and have since been found to be refugees due to a hardline bipartisan policy against ever allowing them to settle in Australia.
The US program offered 1,200 spots while the New Zealand program offered 450. Thomas said 1,115 spots have been taken up in the US program – which has been paused under US president Donald Trump – for refugees who came to Australia.
In the New Zealand program, 324 spots have been filled with an extra 63 approved to take up a spot but yet to depart Australia.
Thomas said there had been a further 108 refugees and asylum seekers who had been resettled in other countries, including Canada, since the policy was introduced in 2013.
The Greens senator, David Shoebridge, asked officials and the minister sitting alongside them, Murray Watt, if any other resettlement programs were being arranged given there were not enough spots for the remaining cohort.
Thomas said “the government is continuing to engage with partner countries to determine other potential options” but declined to name any specific countries.
Updated
Vision Australia appoints first blind or vision-impaired CEO
Vision Australia has appointed its first vision-impaired chief executive, after more than a year of searching and a community campaign urging it to prioritise a candidate with lived experience.
On Tuesday, Vision Australia announced the appointment of David Williamson, who has spent the past decade in executive roles at Catholic disability and aged care provider, VMCH. Williamson identifies as having low vision.
The recruitment process was initially limited to internal expressions of interest, but later broadened to what Vision Australia called “a wide search”, which yielded more than 500 applications and focused on candidates with lived experience.
Vision Australia chair, Bill Jolley, said in a statement on Tuesday:
Lived experience of blindness or low vision was included as a desirable attribute in the selection criteria, which David possesses. In balancing that with David’s professional skills and experience, the Board strongly believes David is the correct choice.
United Blind Leaders – an advocacy group launched by blind or vision-impaired community leaders, including Vision Australia’s founding chair, former disability discrimination commissioner Graeme Innes – has taken credit for Vision Australia’s change of approach and the appointment of someone with lived experience, after it launched a campaign in August last year pushing for both these things.
United Blind Leaders said the appointment of a vision-impaired CEO was “an important win”.
Updated
Decision on Sydney Opera House protest to come tomorrow
The NSW court of appeal has heard the final arguments from lawyers representing the NSW police and Palestine Action Group (PAG) about the group’s proposed march to the Sydney Opera House on Sunday.
Under questioning from the NSW chief justice, Andrew Bell, about the possibility of a crowd crush, PAG’s barrister, Felicity Graham, said there had been no tragedies of that kind in Australia to date, but “no major event is risk free”.
She asked the court to “weigh all the factors, including the overwhelming factor of trying to stop a genocide”:
This particular type of major event is critical to our democracy and … should be given maximum facilitation by the court.
In his closing remarks, the barrister for the NSW police, James Emmett, referred back largely to evidence from the NSW police and the Opera House, which we reported earlier.
The court of appeal has reserved its decision, and will hand down its judgment at 9.30am tomorrow.
Updated
US would deliver submarines to Australia within a decade – as long as they build enough for themselves first
Under the original Aukus timeline, the US would start delivering Virginia-class submarines to Australia from the early 2030s, provided it has built enough vessels to meet the needs of its own navy.
In his evidence to the committee, Noh noted the US needed to build 2.33 submarines each year to meet its obligations under Aukus, up from a current rate of 1.2 each year.
The Australian government has already handed over $1.6bn to help the US ramp up production to meet the targets.
Noh said:
I believe that admiral [Daryl] Caudle, who testified before this committee several weeks ago and is now chief of naval operations, said that our submarine industrial base will need to go through a transformational improvement in production capacity. Not a 10% [improvement], not a 20% [improvement] but a 100% improvement in production capacity.
These are the issues that we are looking into as part of the Aukus review, as well as whether it’s properly funded.
The Pentagon review will be wrapped up before Albanese’s first scheduled face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump in the US on 20 October, Nikkei Asia reported last week.
Updated
Trump’s pick for top Pacific role hints at findings of Aukus review
The US review of the Aukus submarine pact is set to recommend measures to make the deal more “sustainable”, Donald Trump’s pick to oversee defence strategy in the Indo-Pacific has hinted.
At a Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday morning in the US, John Noh was asked about his view of the $368bn agreement to equip Australia with a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, which is currently under review by the Pentagon.
Noh said the evaluation was yet to be finalised, confirming a US Department of Defense statement last week in response to reports the review had greenlit the original Aukus plan.
But Noh hinted at what the review – led by Aukus sceptic Elbridge Colby – might recommend.
He told the committee:
My personal view is that there are things that I believe, common sense things that we can do to strengthen Aukus, to strengthen pillar one, to ensure that it is more sustainable. As the findings of the review come out, I believe undersecretary and secretary [of defence] Pete Hegseth, will have an opportunity to discuss specific recommendations as to how to strengthen pillar one and make it more sustainable.
Updated
Coalition frontbencher says Liberals need to stop leaking
The shadow industry and innovation minister, Alex Hawke, appeared on the ABC a little earlier. Asked if leaking within the Liberal party needed to stop, Hawke said: “I think it should”:
One of the criticisms of the previous term was we didn’t actually have the real discussions with each other … We did prioritise unity but now we have to prioritise being honest with each other so will have those conversations.
Asked about the Glencore bailout, Hawke backed the federal government’s decision but said it had made it too expensive to do business in Australia.
Updated
Australia’s marine conservation approach setting ‘dangerous precedent’, researchers warn
Australia must expand its network of marine protected areas and implement policies for sustainable seafood consumption, new research recommends.
In a paper led by the University of Queensland, scientists argue that claims made by successive state and federal governments about Australia’s marine conservation track record have largely gone unchallenged. They write:
Claims might be an exercise in smoke and mirrors, made to mask other decisions that are not consistent with marine conservation leadership.
As an example, they cite remarks delivered by the then environment minister Tanya Plibersek last October, in which she praised Australia for being a “global leader in marine conservation”:
The minister’s marine leadership claim was made less than two weeks after she approved the expansion of three coalmines.
The authors recommend including at least 30% of marine bioregions in no-take marine sanctuaries by 2030, accelerating net-zero commitments and phasing out coalmining, and reforming fisheries to ensure sustainable consumption.
They conclude:
If Australia continues with its ‘business as usual’ approach to marine conservation, we are setting a dangerous precedent and risk other nations following our example.
The research will be published today in the journal Conservation Letters.
Updated
Waters responds to criticism about her Manchester synagogue attack comments
Waters was also asked a little earlier about criticism from Labor and the Coalition after she made comments saying the Manchester synagogue attack showed why Australia needed to impose sanctions on Israel.
Anthony Albanese on Monday said Waters’ comments were “undignified” and “not worthy of a senator”.
Waters told the ABC she is focused on the genocide in Palestine:
The violence we saw in Manchester was totally unacceptable, it was awful … This government should do everything it can to end the genocide and it’s not and it should.
Waters said it was “not her intent to sound insensitive”.
Updated
Greens leader says Glencore bailout should include clean energy conditions
Greens leader, Larissa Waters, has labelled the taxpayer-funded bailout of the Glencore smelter a “big wad of free cash with no strings attached.”
Earlier today, the industry minister, Tim Ayres, announced a joint federal and state bail out for the Glencore Mount Isa copper smelter in Queensland. The federal and Queensland governments will go 50/50 on a $600m bail out, which will keep the plant open and save about 600 jobs.
Speaking to the ABC earlier, Waters welcomed the securing of jobs but said the bailout should include clean energy conditions:
We would have liked to have seen, and perhaps the government have does this and they just haven’t told anyone yet … perhaps … conditions for clean energy usage and underwriting of the cost of that if needed.
Updated
CFMEU walks off Victorian government’s West Gate Tunnel project
Members of the construction union have walked off the state government’s West Gate Tunnel project amid a stoush with one of its developers in another state.
Government sources not authorised to speak publicly say the action is targeted at John Holland, which is building the tunnel in partnership with CPB Contractors.
They say John Holland has entered an agreement with the CFMEU’s main construction rival union, the Australian Workers Union, for works on another tunnel in South Australia.
A government spokesperson said “industrial relations are a matter for our contractors”. They said it will not affect the overall time frame for the delivery of the project
The spokesperson said:
Safety remains our highest priority, and we expect contractors and unions to work together to resolve these matters as efficiently as possible.
Updated
Weather hampers search for missing bushwalker in Tasmania
The search for missing bushwalker in Tasmania’s north-east has continued into a fourth day, with weather conditions hindering the operation. Peter Willoughby, 76, was last seen in Hollybank on Sunday afternoon.
In a statement, Tasmania police said helicopter resources could not be deployed today due to poor weather and low visibility. Search efforts will continue into the evening and tomorrow, police say.
Tasmania police northern district inspector Nick Clark said the search teams had worked hard to try to find Mr Willoughby:
Given the period of time he has been missing and the challenging weather in the area, there are obvious concerns for Mr Willoughby’s welfare.
But we always remain hopeful that we may find him.
Updated
Western Sydney University apologises after some students received scam emails saying degrees had been ‘revoked’
George Williams, the vice-chancellor and president of Western Sydney University, apologised to current and former students this afternoon, a day after many reported receiving scam emails that said their degrees had been “revoked” by the institution.
Williams said there had been no demand for payment or any links that could entrap people, adding the scam emails appeared intended to “harm our students and alumni”:
I know how distressing this has been for our students, alumni and broader community. People have told me this directly, and I can understand why people were so shocked and upset. …
In this case, no data was stolen and there is no perpetrator within our system. Instead, an unauthorised person accessed an automatic email generator and populated it with previously stolen information to send out the emails.
He said the school was working with police to discover the source of the breaches, as well as working “night and day to improve our cyber security”:
Even the most secure defence and government institutions remain aware of the ongoing possibility of cyber attack, including as new AI and other hacking tools em
Updated
Greens call for Wong to intervene after Israel intercepts another Gaza-bound flotilla
The federal Greens are calling for the foreign minister, Penny Wong, to intervene after Israel intercepted a new Gaza-bound aid flotilla. The Greens say at least one Australian, Madeleine Habib, is onboard.
The party’s deputy leader, Mehreen Faruqi, said:
We should have never come to this. Western governments have utterly failed to stop Israel’s genocide, starvation, and devastation in Gaza, and it has fallen to ordinary citizens to take it upon themselves to attempt to stop Israel’s war crimes and deliver desperately needed aid to Gaza.
It is disgraceful that the brave Australians aboard these flotillas have been abandoned by their government. Prime minister Albanese and foreign minister Wong need to publicly stand up for their citizens and stand up against Israel breaking international law after international law.
A group of Australians who were detained in an Israeli prison after being arrested as part of a separate pro-Palestinian flotilla carrying aid to Gaza have been deported to Jordan.
Updated
Lawyer for protesters tells court holding attenders in contempt if ban upheld would ‘undermine purpose’ of form 1 process
Felicity Graham pointed out that despite what the terminology “prohibition” suggests, the court has consistently understood it to merely mean people are not afforded immunity from being charged under the Summary Offences Act.
Graham argued that if it were to be viewed as being in contempt of court it would deter organisers from completing the form.
They might make their chances that people have the power to assemble in a public place.
It would undermine the purpose of the regime which would be to have activists provide notice to police and cooperate with them to facilitate this performance of democracy.
The chief justice, Andrew Bell, asked Graham if there was a suggestion the protest would go ahead regardless irrespective of the court’s finding.
Graham responded: “It’s unpredictable”.
Updated
Court hearing to decide on Opera House pro-Palestine protest continues
Returning to the Palestine Action Group’s bid to march to the Sydney Opera House this Sunday, which is before the court of appeal today:
The chief justice of NSW has questioned why protest organisers who ignore a court order to “prohibit” a rally should not then be found in contempt of court given that is the “historical consequences of disobeying the court”.
But Felicity Graham, who is acting on behalf of the Palestine Action Group, has disputed this, saying it would be a “radical departure” from consistent findings on what exactly a court order to “prohibit” a protest means.
Under a regime that was introduced to NSW in 1979, protest organisers can apply to police ahead of time using a notice of intention to hold a public assembly – commonly known as the “form 1” process. If police oppose the form 1, a court has the final say over whether the protest will be “authorised” or “prohibited”.
Updated
That’s it from me today, thanks for following along on the blog!
I’ll leave you with the wonderful Adeshola Ore, and will see you back here bright and early tomorrow.
TL;DR – here’s what happened in question time
If you’re just joining us after the second question time of the parliamentary week, here’s what you missed:
For the second day this week, every single question from the opposition was directed at Anika Wells.
The opposition tried to push Wells on what she knew about the triple zero outage and when, after the contents of an email were made public at Senate estimates today, along with revelations Optus sent emails on the outage to the wrong departmental email address. Wells said she’s been transparent.
Bob Katter called on the government to allow “the boys” to have rifle licences to shoot feral pigs in far north Queensland. The house got called a bunch of “pests” in something of a drive-by in the middle of the question. The PM acknowledged feral pigs are “devastating”.
Independent MP Sophie Scamps asked Mark Butler whether the government’s proposed centre for disease control would have an independently chosen director general. The answer was … sort of.
Updated
Scale of opposition staffing cuts revealed as Albanese downsizes his own office
The true extent of cuts to the federal opposition’s senior staffing ranks have been revealed with new figures showing Sussan Ley’s own team of advisers is almost 20% smaller than Peter Dutton’s was.
In June, Anthony Albanese was accused of being “vindicative and nasty” after cutting the Coalition’s staffing allocation for this term following Labor’s thumping election win.
The prime minister has the discretion over the allocation of personal staff, which are typically more senior advisers who assist MPs with policy development, political strategy and media. The advisers are in addition to an MP’s electorate officers.
Finance department figures tabled in Senate estimates on Tuesday confirm the opposition’s staffing allocation was cut from 106 prior to the election to 88 this term – a reduction of 18. That includes 14 fewer senior adviser roles.
Ley’s office has absorbed almost half of the opposition’s overall reduction, leaving her with 32 advisers compared with the 39 Dutton had in the previous term.
Albanese chose to scale back the government’s staffing ranks despite adding 21 new MPs and senators at the election, reducing its allocation from 499 to 489.
Six of the 10 axed positions were in the prime minister’s own office, which has been reduced from 65 to 59 roles.
The Greens were allocated 16 adviser positions, down just three despite losing three seats at the May election.
Updated
Question time ends for the day
After a final dixer on the temporary freezing of the beer excise, question time is over for the day. Just one left for the week.
Updated
Ley urges communications minister to ‘take responsibility’ for Optus outage
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, is back at the dispatch box and asks when Anika Wells will “step up and take responsibility” to restore trust.
She also says “the minister has informed this house it is not appropriate for the minister to express empathy” – which leads Milton Dick to call on everyone to provide hard evidence rather than give an opinion on something a member has said.
Wells addresses the opposition’s push for an amendment on the bill that passed the house today to double the maximum penalty for telcos.
Wells says there’s a second bill which the opposition has debated on which also increases penalties.
So I would contend it is confusing having done that … to now bring an amendment to a different bill and object to us not supporting that amendment because we have already done this work which she has already supported in this place.
She ends the answer saying the government will hold telcos to account.
Updated
Bob Katter asks question on feral pigs in far north Queensland
Bob Katter’s been given a second question this week, and today he’s talking about feral pigs in far north Queensland.
He asks the government to allow farmers to get rifle licenses to kill the pigs.
Please give the boys back their rifles and licensed – I emphasise licensed – access to national parks … Prime minister, too late for the Rabbitohs – sorry, sorry – and don’t worry about the pests in this place, please would you worry about the pests in North Queensland?
Alex Hawke tries to make a point of order about his use of “pests”, but Milton Dick won’t have it. Katter tries to stand up again, to which Dick says “no chance!”
Albanese says he’s visited the Northern Territory and has seen the devastating impact of feral pigs. On his beloved Rabbitohs, he says, “as a South Sydney supporter, we have been 43 years in a drought and we always have hope.”
The agriculture minister, Julie Collins, adds that the government is spending $7.8m on a feral pig action plan and is providing funding to Australian Pork to host the national feral pig management coordinator program.
Updated
Opposition accuses Anika Wells of misleading Australians over Optus outage
Nationals MP and shadow regional communications spokesperson, Anne Webster, takes another swipe at Anika Wells, accusing her of misleading the public of what she knew and when on the Optus outage.
There’s a bit of back and forth between Tony Burke and Alex Hawke on the question, and Milton Dick weighs in, saying there are “a lot of problems with the question and its inferences”.
Wells says she’s been transparent about what she was told and when, from her press conference after the incident on 22 September to the House of Reps today.
This issue is not about emails. Hopefully we can all agree about that. This is fundamentally about Optus’s failure to manage its network and to meet its legal obligations. My job as minister is to improve this system to work for Australians and to deliver maximum safety and public confidence.
Updated
Butler questioned on selection process for new CDC director general
Back to question time: independent MP Sophie Scamps (a doctor) asks health minister Mark Butler if the proposed centre for disease control (CDC) will have its director general independently chosen by an independent panel.
Butler says the CDC will be independent and operate at “arm’s length” from the government.
It’s very important that the director general perform his or her functions at arm’s length from the government. They will not be subject to direction from the secretary of my department or from the minister or anyone else for that matter.
On whether the director general will be picked completely independently of government, the answer is … not quite.
Butler says a shortlist for the director general would likely be interviewed and chosen by the secretary of the health department, a nominee of the public service commission and others. They would then provide that list to the minister.
Butler says:
I’m very confident that that provides a level of independence and assurance for the community that this person occupying a very important role in this new agency will have the appropriate qualifications and experience, and the appropriate protections and independence from political interference.
Updated
Home affairs secretary reveals citizenship granted to two returned Syrian detainees
Leaving question time for a moment:
After much back and forth, and ducking and weaving (it is Senate estimates after all), the home affairs department has provided a few extra details about the two Australian women and four children that returned to Australia from a Syrian detention camp last month.
The home affairs secretary, Stephanie Foster, confirmed in Senate estimates this afternoon her department processed citizenship by descent applications for two of the four children, suggesting they were born overseas after the women left the country.
Few other details are being offered at this stage but there will be more questions a little later this afternoon when the right officials are in the room.
Updated
Anika Wells asked to apologise to victims of triple zero outage
There’s a bit of kerfuffle over Melissa McIntosh’s next question as she alleges it is “an open secret in the press gallery that Labor MPs are complaining to journalists the minister continually fails to show any compassion for victims” of the triple zero outage.
There are shouts of disbelief from the Labor benches, and they try to dispute the claim.
But the substance of McIntosh’s question is whether Anika Wells will apologise to victims and their families of the outage.
Wells repeats previous lines that the email that came in on 18 September only detailed an outage affecting 10 calls, and details of more than 600 people being affected by the outage were only revealed 24 hours later.
On Saturday, I inquired as to correct process about dealing with families in this situation. I was advised that emergency services is the correct and proper agency we use to reach out, so that’s what happened. I also spoke to the premiers of South Australia, of Western Australia, and the chief minister of the NT and numerous other people across that weekend as we all worked on our collective response. Of course, I would absolutely meet with affected families if that’s what they wished. I am respecting their space.
Updated
Mark Butler asked about medical research future fund
Back to the crossbench, Monique Ryan is quizzing the health minister on the huge pot of money in the medical research future fund (MRFF).
She says the parliamentary budget office says the government could spend $1.4bn a year and still keep $24bn in the fund that “was never intended to hold more than $20bn”.
Mark Butler says there’s an ongoing review into a national strategy for health and medical research – with the final strategy to be handed to the government by the end of the year.
We’re funding about $1.5bn of health and medical research projects every year …
$650m has been the annual disbursement from the MRFF for some years now. The member also knows the Department of Treasury and Finance conducted its statutory review after 10 years of the MRFF, that review has been published over the last couple of weeks and raised a number of issues around the funding from the MRFF including the annual disbursement amount.
Updated
Melissa McIntosh is again trying to prosecute the government’s decision to vote against the Coalition’s amendment to double the maximum penalty for a telco.
Wells says the government has already increased penalties by more than 40 times.
We introduced the enhancing consumer safeguards legislation to this place where we enhanced penalties for telcos doing the wrong thing by 40 times. So penalties are now up to $10m and more, in particular situations. I believe and I believe with her support this House is already considering penalties.
Updated
More questions to Wells on Optus outage
The shadow regional communications spokesperson, Anne Webster, is up next and asks Anika Wells whether she or her office took any action to confirm that Optus were doing welfare checks after the outage, according to their emails that were revealed today.
It’s another short answer from Wells – she basically repeats the information that she was provided with very minor details on the day of the outage, and was told it had affected 10 calls.
She adds:
My office sought assurance that Acma had been informed, ensuring that the regulator was investigating that incident, and Acma has publicly confirmed that they were informed.
Updated
Anika Wells asked when she first learned of Optus outage
The shadow communications spokesperson, Melissa McIntosh, is up again and asks when Anika Wells was made aware of the Optus outage and why her office didn’t immediately raise it with the department. She then a bit of a jab – asking “Was it because you were planning your well-publicised trip to a pub in New York?”
Before we get to the answer we have a very technical debate about standing orders. Tony Burke says McIntosh referred to Wells as “you” rather than “the minister”, which is what is supposed to happen in the house. It’s all very procedure-y.
The manager of opposition business, Alex Hawke, isn’t particularly impressed and says “what’s the problem?”
Anyway, Milton Dick rules that McIntosh’s wording was fine and we get on with an actual answer from Wells:
I became aware of the major Optus outage on 19 September at approximately 4:30pm after my office was contacted by Optus. Through my office, I received briefings and information following the Optus press conference. Overnight, I made arrangements to delay my trip to gather information and inform premiers and the Australian public which I did at a press conference on Saturday.
Updated
Burke says government did not ‘repatriate’ Australians from Syrian refugee camp
To the crossbench, independent MP Dai Le asks the government about the return of six Australians from a Syrian detention camp.
Le says members of her community, which has a large Assyrian population, have been “terrified” by the prospect of their return to Australia. She asks the government whether it will guarantee that none of the cohort will be settled in her seat.
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, takes a stab at the Coalition before he answers the question – pointing out that the opposition haven’t been asking these questions in question time (though they have been prosecuting the issue in Senate estimates).
Burke says there has been “no repatriation” of the Australians.
The government is not settling people … What we have is a situation where we have a number of Australian citizens who made a terrible decision, an absolutely dreadful decision, to go off and join others who were involved in what has been described as … one of the most horrific organisations that the world has seen. This is not the first time that Australian citizens who made that decision have returned.
Burke confirms that Australia’s security agencies have been “constantly engaged” on the issue.
Updated
Ley criticises Labor for voting down amendments to increase telco penalties
Sussan Ley is back at the podium – she says the government is blaming “Optus and Optus alone”, but at the same government voted against a Coalition amendment to double the maximum penalty for telcos earlier today.
Anika Wells says the amendments were “poor” and “redundant”.
We have had a bit of time too look over the proposed amendments by the member for Lindsay [Melissa McIntosh] and I must say unfortunately for all of us, they are quite poor. In relation to the proposed amendment to the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018, at best the amendment is completely redundant.
There were several amendments that were voted on today. Ley is asking about one of the amendments specifically but Wells is addressing the others – which makes Ley stand up on a point of order.
Wells finishes her answer without addressing the amendment that would have increased the maximum penalty for telcos.
Updated
Question time begins
It’s question time!
We’re straight into it today, and Sussan Ley (unsurprisingly) goes straight to Anika Wells.
Ley quotes Wells yesterday, who said she was notified by the department of the outage on the Friday, after the outage on Thursday. Officials revealed today an email was sent by Optus to the department and Wells’ office on the Thursday afternoon, but that it only contained details of a minor outage.
So why did Wells say yesterday that she was told on the Friday, when she’d been notified on the Thursday (which she herself had said at a press conference on 22 September).
Wells says:
All of this information is already in the public domain. I spoke to that at a press conference on 22 September. I spoke about that incorrect information that Optus provided to my office and to the Acma regulator on Thursday, 18 September …
That advice that Optus gave to both my office and Acma on Thursday afternoon was clearly incorrect. It was inaccurate and it was misleading. That is why we have put in place changes that will be further strengthened on 1 November.
Updated
Regulator sues NSW blueberry farmer over allegedly unlawful dam
Blueberries have been in the news lately over concerns about pesticide residues and about labour practices in the industry.
Now the industry in NSW is under the microscope over water usage, with the NSW Natural Resources Access Regulator announcing it is prosecuting a blueberry farmer and an earthmoving contractor on the mid north coast for water offences.
The defendants each face two charges in Macksville local court for unlawfully extending a dam without the required water supply work approval, and carrying out a controlled activity on waterfront land without the necessary approval.
The potential maximum total penalty the local court can impose for the offences is $88,000.
The offences are alleged to have taken place between February 2023 and November 2023 on a property at the location known as Eungai Creek. NRAR will allege the farmer engaged the earthmoving company to substantially increase the size and capacity of a small existing dam on Kesbys Creek without first getting approval.
Kesbys Creek is a stream and part of the catchment of Warrell Creek which joins the Nambucca River near its mouth at Nambucca Heads.
NRAR’s director investigation and enforcement, Lisa Stockley, said: “It is the responsibility of both the landowner and the earthmoving contractor to ensure they have approval to construct any dam before starting work.”
Anything constructed on waterfront land is particularly sensitive and carries a risk of potential negative impacts further downstream.
This is the second prosecution by NRAR on the north coast this year relating to unlawful dams.
Updated
Liberals push for mandatory sentencing for child exploitation crimes
The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, says the government is open all ideas around child protection as the opposition makes a case for mandatory sentencing for child exploitation crimes.
On Sky News a little earlier, Rowland said child protection is the “highest priority of this government when it comes to criminal justice reform”:
We are absolutely open as a government to ensuring that we make our criminal justice system as robust as it can be.
The shadow attorney general, Julian Leeser, also joined Sky News, and said the Coalition had previously introduced minimum sentences for second offences of child sexual abuse crimes:
What the mandatory minimum [sentences] in child sexual abuse cases have demonstrated so far is you get more people pleading guilty, you get more people undertaking rehabilitation, and most importantly, you get longer sentences, so people are kept out of the community and away from vulnerable children longer.
The government passed mandatory minimum sentences for terror offences earlier this year – which went against the Labor platform.
Legal experts have also previously raised concerns about the impacts of minimum sentencing.
Updated
Court hears of Jewish community’s ‘fear’ about planned Harbour Bridge protest
Returning to the Palestine Action Group’s bid to march to the Sydney Opera House this Sunday, the New South Wales court of appeal has heard submissions from the Jewish community in opposition to the rally.
Barrister Vanessa Whittaker, speaking on behalf of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) and the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, has told the court the planned protest’s proximity to the two-year anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October, as well as an unauthorised protest at the Opera House two days later, would create “further fear of antisemitism, which includes violence, and further distress amongst the Jewish community”.
Whitaker cites a 1984 case, in which the court ruled against a planned protest against Anzac Day commemorations on the basis that it caused “grave offence” and a “massive affront” to those celebrating the public holiday. Whitaker says for the Jewish community, the planned protest “rises higher than grave offence or massive affront - it is fear”.
Justice Stephen Free says the 1984 ruling was partly based on the close physical proximity between the planned protest and those celebrating Anzac Day.
Whittaker says:
The affront is that in reality, in the modern age, in the modern democracy, it is impossible for the Jewish community … to be oblivious to the consequences, the attention and the heat … generated by this kind of protest.
Greens join call for parliamentary inquiry: ‘Optus has failed’
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who has been hounding department officials this morning over the Optus outage, says the evidence heard shows there needs to be a broader parliamentary inquiry.
Speaking to reporters in parliament while the estimates hearing takes a lunch break, she accused Optus of putting “safety at the bottom of the list while they thought about their profits and their shareholders” and said a parliamentary inquiry would allow Optus to be hauled in to answer questions.
We need better regulation, stronger regulation, stronger penalties, and a watchdog with teeth …
[An email] was not sufficient to alert the minister for the scale of this thing. It just said there was a routine out[age] … look, I am concerned that if minister’s officers are receiving emails that are alerting the minister to the fact that there’s a triple zero outage, someone should have escalated that … why didn’t someone pick up the phone and call Optus?
Updated
Liberals in ‘dismay’ after failure to establish parliamentary committee over triple zero
The shadow communications minister, Melissa McIntosh, has stood up after her motion to establish a parliamentary committee looking into the triple zero system, and her amendments to the government’s triple zero custodian bill.
Safe to say she’s not particularly pleased about the political loss.
She also takes a dig at the latest information learned in estimates – about the email received by Anika Wells’ office from Optus on the day of the outage. (Though as my colleague Tom McIlroy reports below, the full scale of the outage was not revealed for another 24 hours.)
McIntosh says:
Between the email that the minister’s office received on the Thursday after the outage and she said she didn’t know until Friday, to our sensible amendments… to not having a committee to have a look into what occurred, it is a dismay.
Updated
Who knew what when? The Optus triple-zero outage
Following from our last post, here’s a bit of context:
On 18 September, a network firewall upgrade blocked emergency calls for Optus customers in South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and parts of New South Wales.
The deaths of two people in SA and one in WA have been linked to the outages. A fourth death – an infant in SA – was found likely to have been unrelated.
A separate outage on 28 September affected nine calls to the triple-zero network on one tower in the Illawarra region of NSW, but Optus has confirmed the welfare of all who tried to call.
Guardian Australia approached Wells’ office about the email. A spokesperson provided a transcript from her 22 September press conference about the outages, in which Wells confirms that her office was first told about an incident involving Optus a few days earlier.
In that press conference, she said: “We and my department ... were first emailed a notification that there had been an outage affecting 10 calls on Thursday afternoon, about 3pm, I think from memory.
We didn’t hear anything further until 3.40pm Friday afternoon where we were told the outage had affected about 100 calls. And then shortly after 4pm we were told the outage had affected 600 calls. And then we found out from our department that there had been three deaths and then we were told that there would be a press conference from the CEO of Optus shortly.
Updated
Incorrect email address Optus outage alert was sent to revealed
Labor is facing questions about emails sent to the office of communications minister, Anika Wells, in relation to the Optus triple-zero outages.
Senate estimates hearings on Wednesday heard that in addition to emails sent to an incorrect email address within the Department of Communications, a second email about problems with Optus triple-zero coverage was sent to an email ending with “@mo.communications.gov.au“.
It was sent on Thursday, 18 September at 2.45pm. The full scale of the problem was not revealed for another 24 hours.
Under questioning from Greens senator, Sarah Hanson-Young, the deputy secretary of the Department of Communications, James Chisholm, said the address could be related to the office of the communications minister, Anika Wells.
“Normally, I think in this case ... it could be a minister’s email address,” he said.
“Whether it went to them is another question.”
Hanson-Young demanded to know who received the email.
Assistant minister Nita Green said “clearly” the address related to someone in the minister’s office.
She took on notice which particular staff member received the email and said the email only alerted the government to the fact that a minor outage had been resolved.
Updated
NSW police encourages ‘knowing who is coming in’ to Sydney Opera House protest site via security screenings
Circling back to the Palestine Action Group’s bid to march to the Sydney Opera House this Sunday, which is before the court of appeal today.
The assistant police commissioner, Peter McKenna, was asked while under cross-examination if he would advise the Opera House to deploy full security screening of protesters entering the forecourt. He said:
I would still say to the Opera House that being such an iconic location, and where, and I’m careful with what I say here … But there are people who are in our society [that] would love an opportunity to do some things at that location because of the media interest [and] given our current threat in Australia, I would say it would be good to know who is coming in there and what they have on them.
Just because there’s a protest, it does not stop other people from coming into that environment.
The acting chief executive of the Opera House, Jade McKellar, gave evidence a short time ago. She said she would take directions from police on whether it should deploy security screening, which could include X-ray equipment and bag searches.
Under the bylaws which govern the iconic Sydney landmark, the Opera House has the power to conduct such searches. The court heard this was standard operating procedure during events that attract large crowds.
Updated
Glencore Mount Isa copperworks to be bailed out
A little earlier today, the industry minister, Tim Ayres, announced a joint federal and state bail out for the Glencore Mount Isa copper smelter.
The governments will go 50/50 on a $600m bail out, which will keep the plant open and save about 600 jobs.
… capital is being provided by the commonwealth and Queensland governments on a 50/50 basis. It is also Glencore’s responsibility to run the facility over this period and they will continue to experience losses over the course of it.
This is invest[ing] in the future industrial capability of the north-west province [of] Queensland.
Ayres says the deal – which will last for three years – is about backing heavy industry and “investing in the future of Australian manufacturing”.
Of course, no mining announcement by a pollie is made without the appearance of hi-vis and Ayres is donning a bright orange hi-vis shirt with his name embroidered into it.
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Price says Liberal leaks risk party looking like a ‘clown show’
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says she has written to Sussan Ley demanding she intervene to put a stop to the leaks and backgrounding against their own side, which she claims is feeding perceptions that the Liberal party is turning into a “clown show”.
The former frontbencher said she wrote to the opposition leader on Tuesday after the Nine papers reported supposed details from Peter Dutton’s confidential interview with the Liberal election campaign review, which was highly critical of Andrew Hastie’s performance in the last term.
The source of the leak is unknown, but allies of Hastie suspect it was orchestrated and timed by internal opponents who wanted to damage the Western Australian after his shock decision to quit the shadow cabinet.
Price – a Hastie ally who was sacked from the frontbench after her Indian migrant comments – said the leaks needed to stop. She told 2GB on Wednesday morning:
I’ve written to our leader about my concerns about backgrounding and about leaking to the media when we need to get on with taking a principled, respectful focus on serving the Australian people instead of feeding leaks. I mean, enough’s, enough. It’s just become, you know, juvenile, this kind of conduct, and I’m pretty over it to be honest.
Guardian Australia is not suggesting Ley, her office or her allies are behind the leaks, only that Price has raised concerns with her about them. The offices of Ley and Price were contacted for comment.
Price said she intended to raise the issue with colleagues but was unable to attend Tuesday’s party room meeting because of Senate estimates.
It’s got to stop. There’s been commentary on the fact that we look like a clown show.
Updated
Police argue expected number of Palestine protesters at Sunday rally poses significant safety concern
The Palestine Action Group is before the court of appeal this morning in their fight against the New South Wales police over a proposed plan to march on the Sydney Opera House this Sunday.
One of the state’s most senior police officers has said the protest has “disaster written all over it” due to significant safety concerns.
The assistant commissioner, Peter McKenna, said in his evidence that of particular concern was how the 40,000 people expected to attend would safely enter and exit the Opera House forecourt without the risk of a crowd crush. He also questioned the estimate of 40,000 people:
I don’t think you can say it will only be 40,000… But even if 40,000 move into the area … I have significant concerns about that, both egress and ingress [points].
Palestine Action Group’s barrister, Felicity Graham, put to McKenna that police could stagger the crowd as it leaves from Hyde Park, which is the start point of the march.
McKenna said police could facilitate this with 10,000 people, but not significantly upwards of that.
You’re talking significant resources, which I don’t have.
He also said that the organiser’s expectation that people would leave the Opera house forecourt – which marks the end of the march – as soon as they arrived was “farcical”. He added that people will want to stay to get the imagery they need to get global media attention. McKenna said:
We are not anti-protest. We assisted this group with over 100 protests over the last two years and we do about 1,500 protests a year.
All the altruism in the world does not assist when we have a physical situation where we believe the numbers are far too excessive to keep people safe.
Updated
Government’s triple zero custodian bill passes House
While the opposition piles pressure on the government and the infrastructure and communications department in Senate estimates over the Optus triple zero outage (see here), the government has passed its bill to legislate a triple zero custodian.
The opposition tried to swing several amendments into the governments bill – with support from the crossbench – but to no avail.
It means the bill will now go to the upper house for debate and a vote at the end of October. Because of Senate estimates, the other place can’t look at any legislation until the next joint sitting week on 27 October.
Updated
Home Affairs confirms group of six Australians returned from Syria last month
The home affairs department has confirmed two Australian women and four children, who escaped a Syrian detention camp, returned to Australia last month.
The department secretary, Stephanie Foster, told Senate estimates this morning the group had returned without Australia’s “repatriation assistance”. It followed the repatriation of a group of four women and 13 children in 2022 and eight unaccompanied minors in 2019.
Foster said the department became aware of the recent group’s intention to return to Australia as early as June 2025.
Updated
New AFP boss flags tougher hate crimes laws
AFP commissioner Krissy Barrett says hate laws, introduced earlier this year following a spate of antisemitic attacks, may need to be strengthened.
Under Barrett, the AFP today announced specialist National Security Investigations (NSI) teams in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra to tackle groups harming Australia’s social cohesion, including those threatening federal politicans.
Barettt, who took charge of the force today, spoke to the ABC. She said:
Part of our approach to these National Security Investigations teams is looking at the national strategy, looking at where are the policy levers, where are potential opportunities for new legislation and or amended legislation. Is the legislation working for us as it stands?
Updated
CSP 2.0 has a ‘very ambitious agenda’
While wishing the comprehensive strategic partnership “2.0” had a “creative” name, Lawrence Wong says it’s a very ambitious agenda that will have broader impacts across the whole Asia-Pacific region.
Many of the initiatives we with working with one another are not just to benefit our two countries but potentially can serve as path finders for the wider world, as we have already done, because we had the world’s first digital and green economy agreements and that indeed served as path finders for other countries eventually to think about digital roofs for the global economy, to think about how trade and climate action can come together within the WTO framework.
A memorandum of understanding signed today deals with economic resilience, which Wong says looks at trading arrangements for a range of essential supplies – something that worked well between the two nations during the pandemic.
We are looking broadly at a range of essential supplies, food, medical, but it builds on importantly the experiences both our countries had in Covid. That was a period when countries were scrambling for essential supplies. Many imposed restrictions on exports and imports. It was a difficult time. But because of the trust Australia and Singapore had, we kept supply lines flowing.
Updated
Optus and Singtel expected to behave ‘responsibly’, Singapore’s PM says
Lawrence Wong says he’s already expressed his views on the outage – he told the ABC’s Laura Tingle on Monday that he fully understands “the anger, frustration and outrage” over the outage.
Today, he says the Singaporean government expects Singtel and Optus to behave responsibly and comply with domestic laws.
Optus and its parent company, Singtel, operate commercially but we expect them to behave responsibly and comply with domestic laws wherever they operate as I stated. So, I have no doubt that Singtel, as a parent company of Optus in this instance, will extend its full support to the independent investigation happening and I have no doubt that the company together with regulators … get to the bottom of this, identify the root cause and make sure something like that never happens again.
Albanese confirms he raised the issue in their meeting and thanked Wong for the condolences he has offered to the families and “his support for strong follow-up action”.
Updated
Lawrence Wong says Singapore will provide ‘enhanced access’ to air bases
Australia and Singapore will “step up” security and defence cooperation, says Lawrence Wong, who also heralds the decades-long diplomatic relationship between the two nations.
Wong says Singapore will support Australia’s vision “to become a renewable energy superpower” as well as deepening security ties within the south-east Asian region.
Well today is becoming more uncertain and unsettled but Australia and Singapore share a common strategic perspective that is built on the deep reservoir of trust.
Asked whether stronger defence cooperation will see the presence of Australian defence troops in Singapore, Wong says Australia is a “resident power” in Asia.
We already have a strong defence partnership but we are enhancing it further and providing more support and enhanced access to Singapore’s air bases. This will enable Australia to deploy more of its forces in our part of the world. We are working out the details of what this will entail but clearly it will mean stronger facilitation for Australia to participate in Asia, for Australia to expand its security presence in south-east Asia and the region more generally.
Updated
Albanese and Singapore PM pledge to increase defence, climate change and AI co-operation
Anthony Albanese and Singapore’s prime minister Lawrence Wong are standing up together at Parliament House, celebrating 60 years of diplomatic relations and have this morning launched an upgraded comprehensive strategic partnership.
Albanese says the two nations will increase co-operation on defence, climate change and artificial intelligence.
The PM says the two leaders also discussed the recent Optus outage. Optus is owned by Singaporean telecommunications giant Singtel.
We also discussed the recent Optus emergency outage, we had a constructive [discussion], and I thank Prime Minister Wong for his words of condolence for those who were impacted and their families.
Updated
Business group dismisses WFH productivity claims
A major business association has described worker claims they are more productive at home as “self-reported perceptions” amid a tussle between employers and unions over flexible work arrangements.
The criticism of productivity claims comes amid a Fair Work Commission process designed to modernise the award for clerical and administrative workers by taking into account work-from-home arrangements.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) said in its submission that while it accepted employee reports of the benefits of working from home, it “does not broadly accept that there are similar advantages for employers”.
The business group said “productivity gains referred to by the unions are self-reported perceptions of productivity”:
It is ACCI’s strong view that the location of operations is a feature of the workplace to be determined by employers.
The clerks award, which informs the working conditions of millions of Australians, is seen as a test case for the broader workforce amid a growing tussle over flexible work.
While employees can request flexible arrangements, there is no assumed right to work from home in Australia. But there are expectations Labor could legislate a work-from-home right for workers.
Swinburne University of Technology research conducted for the Fair Work Commission found that two in five employees reported working longer hours when working from home. The survey also found that employers were divided on whether flexible arrangements improved productivity.
Updated
Tony Abbott affected by Amazon author mix-up
While Tony Abbott tells the Tory conference in the UK to send migrants across the English channel (see our earlier post), the former PM has been promoting his book that’s coming out in a few days.
But there’s been a bit of an awkward error on the book’s Amazon page. In a minor case of mistaken identity (first noticed by Crikey), Amazon has linked Abbott’s author bio to a children’s author based in the US who has the same name.
The former PM’s book is titled “Australia: A history” – perhaps a tough read for kids and teens.
But it’s a winner among some former pollies, including John Howard and the former Labor minister Kim Beazley, who sing its praises in quotes on the book’s Amazon page.
You can see the author switch up on the website here (if you feel so inclined).
Updated
Coalition targets ‘mega home affairs’ department in Senate estimates
We’re listening in to Senate estimates this morning and as always, it’s a delight.
The Department of Home Affairs is up today and will be questioned about a number of important issues - immigration, national security – but before we get to those, let’s start with a bit of early morning estimates snark.
The acting shadow home affairs minister (after Andrew Hastie’s recent high-profile resignation), James Paterson, is back and he wants to know why the Albanese government brought back the mega home affairs department it dismantled back in 2022 after it won government.
Paterson begins his segment with a sardonic query aimed at the department’s head: “Just to make sure that after the election, nobody accidentally confused the blue book with the red book?”
Murray Watt, the minister alongside department officials at the witness table, is equally known for his quick-wittedness, but he gives a relatively straight response this time.
Security issues are much more ... cutting across portfolios than they have ever been before, and all of those things put together meant that the government made a decision to make some administrative changes, which resulted in the AFP, Asio, Austrac and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, transferring under the Department of Home Affairs portfolio, alongside some policy responsibilities from the attorney general’s department.
What that ultimately means is that we have all operational agencies in the same portfolio with oversight powers under the attorney general, and our view is that for this moment in time, that is the best structure to adopt.
Settle in, it’ll be a long day.
Updated
Triple-zero inquiry motion fails
Melissa McIntosh’s motion to suspend standing orders to set up a committee into the “triple zero ecosystem” has failed.
Despite support from the crossbench and Greens, the government’s overwhelming majority voted against it. They’re now back to debating the bill to enshrine a triple zero custodian into law.
McIntosh begins, and is – unsurprisingly – unhappy with the result.
What a disgraceful display of behaviour from those opposite, refusing to have scrutiny.
Updated
Optus sent alert about the triple-zero outages to the wrong government email address
The deputy secretary of the Department of Communications, James Chisholm, has told Senate estimates the company sent information about the outages in two emails – which were sent to an incorrect email address.
The incorrect address delayed the federal government’s awareness of the outages on the emergency call network.
The triple-zero outages are dominating Senate estimates communications hearings on Wednesday ahead of the regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma), appearing later in the day.
On 18 September, a network firewall upgrade blocked emergency calls for Optus customers in South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and parts of New South Wales.
The deaths of two people in SA and one in WA have been linked to the outages. A fourth death – an infant in SA – was found likely to have been unrelated.
A separate outage on 28 September affected nine calls to the triple-zero network on one tower in the Illawarra region of NSW, but Optus has confirmed the welfare of all who tried to call.
Chisholm said the correct email address had been published on the department’s website and communicated to telecommunications companies. The department became aware of the problem at 3.30pm on Friday, 19 September.
We had not been told properly that there had been an outage.
We were not made aware of that until the next day.
Updated
Coalition attempt to suspending standing orders to establish triple-zero inquiry
There’s a little bit of drama going down in the House, with shadow communications minister, Melissa McIntosh, trying to move a suspension of standing orders to establish a parliamentary committee to examine the triple-zero system.
McIntosh says this should be “an uncontroversial motion”.
It’s as simple as this, do we as members representing our communities across Australia on the cusp of bushfire season want more scrutiny of this vital emergency service or less?
Her motion for a committee would require it to hand a report back to the government by 8 December. She argues a parliamentary committee would have more power than another investigation – powers like compelling witnesses and allow members to travel across the country to hear evidence.
The Coalition has been going hard on the triple-zero outage last month, with all questions directed at the communications minister, Anika Wells, during question time yesterday. And we can guess that there’ll be many more questions put to her again today.
Updated
Albanese welcomes Singaporean PM Lawrence Wong to Canberra
Singapore’s prime minister, Lawrence Wong, is in town this morning, and has been welcomed to parliament house by Anthony Albanese.
If you’re in Canberra and you heard some cannon go off at 9am this morning … this is why!
The pair will do a press conference a little later this morning.
Updated
Monique Ryan requests expanded powers for Australian CDC
The Victorian independent MP Monique Ryan has expressed concerns about the Albanese government’s plans for the new Australian Centre for Disease Control.
After the Covid-19 pandemic, federal Labor promised a world-class centre to bring together critical information and experts to produce coherent, timely, trusted health advice. Until now, Australia has been the only OECD country without a CDC or equivalent body.
Ryan, a paediatric neurologist before entering politics, says the planned CDC isn’t as comprehensive as promised and plans to move amendments in parliament to expand its powers.
She wants its scope to include addressing chronic diseases, consideration of preventative health strategies, addressing injury prevention and providing independent reporting:
Australians were promised a world-class Centre for Disease Control during the pandemic. What we’ve been given is a shell – underfunded, underspecified, and underwhelming.
Ryan said as the US CDC is being defunded and politicised under the Trump administration and the leadership of that country’s health secretary, Robert Kennedy Jnr, developments in Australia are concerning:
A job worth doing is worth doing well. Once again, the Albanese government is trying to shortchange Australians and risk the health of this and future generations, by walking back from the prime minister’s 2019 commitment to a CDC that ‘would play a role in preventing health threats posed by chronic disease as well as infectious diseases’.
Updated
Labor introduces laws to allow Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp to be designated as terrorist organisation
In the House this morning, the attorney general, Michelle Rowland, is introducing a bill that would allow the government to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.
The legislation is a response to a finding by Australia’s spy agency that the IRGC was involved in at least two antisemitic attacks in Australia.
It will allow the government to list foreign state actors as terrorist groups, something it says could not be done before.
Rowland says the bill will also criminalise certain interactions with state sponsors of terrorism, including being a member of those entities or providing them with support.
Responding to the actions of state sponsors of terrorism presents unique security challenges and foreign policy considerations, and therefore requires a framework which is specifically designed, including appropriate safeguards on its operation …
The bill will strengthen Australia’s counter-terrorism framework, creating an environment in which it is more difficult, more risky, [for] foreign actors to stand cause Australia and our community harm. It is a warning for any foreign state who seeks to intimidate or coerce us through violence.
Updated
Bailout of Mount Isa copperworks expected as industry minister heads to site
The government is set to announce a bailout for a copper smelter in Mt Isa in far north Queensland, with the industry minister, Tim Ayres, heading over there this morning.
Swiss mining giant Glencore had warned it would be forced to close the facility if it could not secure state or federal funding.
A bit earlier this morning, the Bluescope steel CEO, Mark Vassella, called for the government to set up an east coast gas reserve to help curb rising gas prices.
Updated
Tony Abbott suggests UK place migrants in a ‘mothership on the English channel’
The former prime minister Tony Abbott has suggested the UK could place migrants attempting to enter the country in a “mothership on the English Channel” before sending them back to France, touting Australia’s policy barring all incoming migration by boat during the Tory party conference overnight.
Abbott was asked at the event about Australia’s Operation Sovereign Borders, which enacted a zero-tolerance policy for maritime arrivals.
The former prime minister, who was in power when the effort began, told the UK it “is possible to stop a wave of illegal migration by boat, if you have sufficient will”.
Hundreds of migrants attempt to cross the English channel into the UK without permission every week.
Abbott said the UK could learn from Australia:
You start off with the clear understanding that any country which effectively facilitates illegal migration into yours is guilty of an unfriendly act, and you have a right as a sovereign nation, you have a right as a sovereign nation to protect yourself against what is, in effect, a peaceful invasion.
So, whether it’s … possibly establishing processing centres in British-dependent territories like Ascension island or something like that, as opposed to putting people up in nice hotels in nice towns in Britain, whether it’s holding people in a mothership on the English Channel and then putting them in unsinkable life rafts with just enough fuel to get back to France in the middle of the night, as we did in Java, or whether it’s conducting very vigorous mafia-busting operations in northern France.
I mean, Britain has to get serious about this, and it is going to involve deeply upsetting the French. But hey, Britain has had a lot of experience, and it needs to happen again.
Abbott has been criticised before for referring to “illegal maritime arrivals” given that seeking asylum is not illegal under international law.
Updated
Steel manufacturer calls for east coast gas reserve
Australia should establish an east coast gas reserve, the CEO of Bluescope steel has said. Mark Vassella told ABC RN Breakfast this morning that manufacturing in Australia is closing down “largely because of dysfunction in the gas market”.
He says the gas industry has been very valuable for the country but we are now seeing “out-of-control” energy costs, particularly for trade-exposed industries like Bluescope steel.
In major producing nation countries like Qatar or the US, energy costs … $2 or $3 a gigajoule. In 2024, Australia paid over $10 a gigajoule for gas … for gas now in Australia, you’re paying in the high teens, somewhere between $13 to $20 a gigajoule…
Those producer nations that I’ve talked about with much lower costs typically have a reservation system and a pricing mechanism. In fact, Western Australia since 2006 has run a reservation system where domestic gas prices have been at a much lower level than we see on the east coast … And I think, quite frankly, if the government was setting up the industry today, we would be looking at a very different setup and a reservation system and a pricing mechanism would be part of that setup.
Updated
Coalition continues targeting ‘waste’ in budget
The Coalition says it will go through the budget “line by line” looking to cut “waste” as part of its economic plan.
There’s not really a whole lot surprising there - the Liberals promised the same thing ahead of the last election, and have continuously accused Labor of going on a budgetary spending spree.
The shadow treasurer, Ted O’Brien, won’t reveal where the waste is or what he’ll cut, and won’t say whether the Coalition will cut taxes if it wins government.
There is no doubt that this government is introducing measures in their budget which are wasteful. We will be going through line item by line item to identify where that waste is.
Updated
Liberal senator accuses communications minister of having ‘training wheels on’
The Coalition is pinning blame on the government over the Optus triple-zero outage in September, and is calling for a Senate inquiry into the issue.
Yesterday, the opposition directed every single question to the communications minister, Anika Wells, during question time.
Former shadow communications – now backbencher – Sarah Henderson is on ABC RN Breakfast this morning and questions why it took so long for the government to act when a report into a previous Optus outage was released 18 months ago.
This minister has her training wheels on, she’s a new minister by her own admission, she’s not doing a good enough job, and she’s got a lot to answer for.
Asked why there needs to be another inquiry when the Australian Media and Communications Authority (Acma) is already looking at it, Henderson says:
Asking Acma, the regulator, to investigate this matter is like putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank. The regulator cannot investigate itself.
Updated
Deported Australian who was on Gaza flotilla claims Australia did not support their extraction
One of the Australians who was on the Global Sumud Flotilla claims the Australian government did not support their extraction from Israeli detention.
Juliet Lamont, an Australian film-maker, tells ABC News Breakfast that the flight from Israel to Jordan, where she currently is, was not facilitated by the Australian government.
We were facilitated by other governments, not the Australian government, and now we’re here and we’re trying to find a way to come back to Australia and we’re really, really upset that the Australian government have been so shameful [in] their support of their citizens.
The Italian government has been really supportive, because they have basically set their whole country on fire and the Australian government have been bereft and absolutely shameful in their … support.
Lamont says the group were in an “outrageous” prison in Israel and were left with no access to medication or food.
Dfat said it has been providing consular assistance to the seven Australians who were arrested by Israeli authorities, among the more than 500 people who were on the flotilla.
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Victoria to introduce free public transport during summer weekends
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is doing a breakfast television blitz this morning to announce that the public will be able to travel for free every weekend from early December until 1 February, as part of the launch of the metro tunnel.
Allan has described it as a “thank you” to commuters for enduring disruptions as the project was built. Speaking on Today, she said:
To say thank you to Victorians for their [patience, we are] delivering free public transport for everyone every weekend, everywhere in our state. From the opening of the metro tunnel in early December through to the 1st of February, when we integrate this amazing piece of infrastructure into the [public transport network].
Over the summer, the tunnel will run every 20 minutes between 10am to 3pm on weekends, and 10am to 7pm on weekends.
Then on 1 February, under a full timetable overhaul the government calls the “big switch”, Cranbourne, Pakenham and Sunbury lines will begin exclusively using the tunnel.
The premier defended the two-phase launch:
This is how you do it to get a smooth, safe start, to get passengers using this infrastructure at the earliest opportunity.
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The Australians detained by Israel over participation in Gaza flotilla have been deported to Jordan
A group of Australians who were detained in an Israeli prison after being arrested as part of the pro-Palestinian flotilla carrying aid to Gaza have been deported to Jordan.
Confirmation the seven Australian citizens had been released by Israeli authorities was received on Tuesday night, following Australian government representations to authorities on the ground.
The government raised the welfare and treatment of Australians who were detained with Israel in Tel Aviv and in Canberra.
The Israeli navy stopped the Global Sumud flotilla last week, intercepting all but one of the vessels attempting to breach the blockade. On Friday, all 42 vessels were confirmed to have been stopped by Israeli forces.
The flotilla was carrying about 500 people, including parliamentarians, lawyers and activists such as Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate campaigner.
You can read the full story here:
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Clare O’Neil decries opposition’s ‘cover-up’ accusations over return of six Australians from Syrian detention
Cabinet minister Clare O’Neil and shadow cabinet minister Michaelia Cash have clashed this morning over the circumstances surrounding the return of six Australians from a Syrian detention camp.
On Sunrise a little earlier the two traded barbs over whether the Australians were supported by the government in their return. The opposition is accusing Labor of a cover-up over their return.
The first group of Australian children born to foreign fighters to be returned from northern Syrian camps was in 2019 under the former Morrison government.
This morning, O’Neil was at pains to say the Labor government wasn’t helping the latest group, and attacked Cash for calling it a “cover-up”
Here we have a group of people who were not offered any repatriation assistance by our government. So, as usual we’re seeing Michaelia trying to make a political issue out of something that doesn’t really make sense. Why was Michaelia in favour of it in 2019, but in 2025 she has all these issues and questions?
Asked for details on exactly how the group made their return, O’Neil said she’d let the foreign minister and prime minister answer those questions. Cash wasn’t convinced.
Australians want leadership, not excuses. They want answers not silence …
What is the issue, Clare, with saying the ISIS brides have returned? The children were not born in Australia. They were born overseas. They didn’t have any documents, they didn’t have a passport or birth certificate. The Australian government had to facilitate the giving of those documents to the children in order for them to come into Australia.
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Family of activists detained by Israel on Gaza flotilla demand investigation into torture allegations
The families of Australian activists on board the flotilla carrying aid to Gaza are demanding an investigation into allegations they have been tortured and injured after being detained in Israel, Greens MP Sue Higginson says.
In a letter signed by NSW Greens MPs, Higginson has written to the Northern Rivers MP, Justine Elliot, demanding she advocate for locals Surya McEwan, Juliet Lamont and Hamish Paterson who joined the Global Sumud Flotilla.
In a statement, Higginson said:
Today I joined the families of locals Surya McEwan and Hamish Paterson to express our anguish at Israel’s brutal torture of Surya, Hamish and my friend Juliet Lamont, Australian citizens who peacefully and legally tried to get baby formula, food and medical supplies to starving Palestinians in Gaza as part of the Global Sumud Flotilla.
The families called for their local federal member Justine Elliot to end her silence on the abduction and torture of her constituents, and for Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to facilitate their immediate release and to investigate the dreadful allegations of mistreatment by Israel.
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Good morning, Krishani Dhanji here with you for another parliamentary sitting day. It’s going to be a busy one, so let’s get straight into it!
Labor to introduce ‘tell us once’ legislation to cut red tape
The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, says Labor will make it easier for Australians to engage with government services, with new legislation to create a “tell us once” approach.
Labor will introduce new legislation today called the regulatory reform omnibus bill 2025, designed to provide better regulation, cut red tape and provide more accessible government services.
The “tell us once” approach at Services Australia is designed to reduce the number of times Australians are required to provide the same information when accessing services like Medicare rebates, Centrelink, and child support.
Gallagher said the bill is an result of the government’s economic reform roundtable.
“These are commonsense reforms from the Albanese Labor government that will make a real difference in people’s lives,” she said.
“Accessing everyday services shouldn’t be difficult or burdensome, and we’re committed to streamlining services like the age pension and child support to make them simpler and easier to access.”
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Rent hikes accelerate as rental vacancies hit record low
Rent hikes are back on the rise after a decline in new listings brought vacant rental rates to a record low – despite a boom in housing investor activity.
Just 1.47% of Australia’s rental stock is up for rent, less than half the average pre-pandemic proportion, new data from Cotality shows.
The annual pace of rent hikes has now accelerated to 4.3%, the equivalent of $28 increase in the nation’s median weekly rents. The median weekly rent has surpassed $700 across Australia’s capital cities, with Brisbane and Perth running especially hot.
Regional rents are catching up to the cities as well, reaching $591 in September on a weekly median basis – about $110 behind the capitals, compared to a gap of $120 in May 2024.
Rent price growth had previously been easing from an annual pace of about 8% and held near a four-year-low of just 3.4% since May, amounting to about a $20 weekly increase on the median rent, Cotality found.
Kaytlin Ezzy, an economist with Cotality, said re-accelerating rent rises were the result of far fewer properties than normal being listed “for lease”, with listings running at just three-quarters of the pre-pandemic average.
Ezzy noted that even a recent explosion in home loans to investors, or prospective landlords, had not boosted rental listings.
Property investors have become so active in recent years that the Reserve Bank said last week overcrowding in the market could risk a future house price bubble and resulting crash in its review of Australia’s financial system.
Lawyers argue police opposition to Palestine Action Group’s Sydney rally is unconstitutional
As 1,000 gathered in Bankstown, roughly 400 marched through Melbourne for a peaceful vigil to honour the war dead.
Further gatherings are planned this week, including Palestine Action Group’s planned Sunday rally that will start in Sydney’s city centre and finish at the Sydney Opera House forecourt if police fail in their legal bid to have it banned
The NSW supreme court elevated the matter to the state’s highest court for a hearing set on Wednesday, when pro-Palestine lawyers will argue police opposition to the protest is unconstitutional.
“You’d have to live in a vacuum not to be aware of the significant public importance of these proceedings to all members of the community,” Justice Ian Harrison said, citing the urgency required to have the matter finalised by Sunday.
NSW has a permit system that allows protest participants to block public roads and infrastructure unless a court denies permission due to a police challenge.
A lawyer for the organisers argued a narrow reading of the protest legislation meant only relatively minor protections would be offered.
Specific offences relating to activities at the Opera House would not be covered, unduly constraining demonstrators’ implied constitutional right to political communication, they said.
“This case will have far-reaching ramifications, not only for the pro-Palestine movement, but for the right to protest in general in Australia,” their lawyer, Nick Hanna, told AAP.
Read more here:
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Hundreds of Muslim Australians gather in Sydney to mark two years of Gaza war
Hundreds of Muslim Australians have gathered in Sydney to mark two years since Israel began its military assault on Gaza in retaliation to Hamas’ attack, with speakers calling for an urgent ceasefire, Australian Associated Press reports.
Speakers at the rally in Bankstown last night told attendees waving Palestinian flags that Israel’s lethal campaign is grounded in decades of illegal occupation.
They gathered despite pleas from several Australian leaders, including Anthony Albanese, to leave 7 October alone for Jewish groups to mourn Hamas’s deadly surprise attack two years go.
“We are gathered here today, despite immense pressure on the organisers of this rally ... through the politicians of this country that today is not a day to mourn ... or in remembrance of the Palestinians,” speaker Firaz Nomin told the crowd.
“It should be a day instead on which we pretend that history started two years ago.”
They lambasted Albanese and his foreign minister, Penny Wong saying they should be concerned with seven Australian citizens detained in Israel as part of an aid flotilla to Gaza shouting “Bring them home”.
Other speakers recounted the killing of Australian aid worker Zomi Franckom and six-year-old child Hind Rajab, as they led the crowd in chants of “Stop killing children”.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then Krishani Dhanji will be here to steer you through another day in parliament.
Hundreds of Muslim Australians gathered in Sydney last night to mark two years since Israel began its military assault on Gaza in retaliation to Hamas’ attack, with speakers calling for an urgent ceasefire. As 1,000 gathered in Bankstown, roughly 400 marched through Melbourne for a peaceful vigil to honour the war dead. More coming up.
Rents are on the rise in Australia with the annual pace of increases up to 4.3%, according to new figures, as the number of vacant rentals falls to pre-Covid levels. More coming up.
