The day that was, Monday 22 November
That’s where we will leave the live blog for Monday. Amy Remeikis will be back again with you tomorrow morning for day two of this last sitting fortnight for 2021.
Here’s some of what made the news today:
- Air New Zealand has cancelled about 1,000 flights between New Zealand and Australia, citing “continued border uncertainty” between the two countries.
- Fully-vaccinated eligible visa holders will be able to enter Australia from 1 December without needing to apply for a travel exemption, along with fully-vaccinated citizens from Japan and South Korea.
- Speaker Tony Smith had his last day in the job today, and will serve out the remainder of his term as a backbencher.
- The lockdown in Katharine in the NT was extended for two days, as chief minister Michael Gunner revealed around 400 public servants had left their jobs due to the vaccine mandate (98% have been vaccinated).
- One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s bill aimed at stopping vaccine requirements in the states failed when it came to a vote in the Senate, despite five Coalition senators crossing the floor to vote for it.
- The debate prompted a fiery speech from independent senator Jacqui Lambie, who accused One Nation of pushing the bill to boost their electoral prospects and get more donations.
- Victoria recorded 1,029 new Covid-19 cases and eight deaths, while NSW recorded 180 new cases and one death.
- New Zealand recorded 205 cases of Covid-19.
- The South Australian deputy premier (and attorney general) Vickie Chapman announced she will step down from her ministerial roles after a vote of no confidence from the SA parliament late last week.
Until tomorrow.
Updated
The Morrison government’s political campaigner bill has passed the lower house. The bill lowers the threshold for “political campaigners”, such as charities, to declare their campaign spending from $500,000 to $100,000.
Earlier on Monday the government made substantial amendments to the bill – including stating that foreign donors are unable to provide gifts for the purposes of incurring electoral expenditure or creating or communicating electoral matter.
The crossbench was not happy about the changes, MP Helen Haines moved a second reading amendment complaining the government had “broken with convention and introduced a significant addition to this bill, tripling it in size within a matter of hours, and preventing the crossbench from having an opportunity to review, contemplate or be briefed on the amended bill”.
Labor’s Andrew Giles accused the Coalition of being “contemptuous of democracy”:
Shameful scenes in the House just now as the Morrison government rams through electoral law changes designed to silence charities and critics.
— Andrew Giles MP (@andrewjgiles) November 22, 2021
With 35 amendments they circulated at the very last minute - and didn’t even speak to.
They are utterly contemptuous of our democracy.
The bill is off to the Senate – where much of the government’s agenda is imperilled by their own members (Gerard Rennick and Alex Antic) threatening to withhold their votes – although some in the charities sector believe the government has mustered enough crossbench votes to get it through despite Labor and Greens opposition.
Updated
In flood watch news for NSW.
⚠️Minor to Moderate #Flood Warning updated for the Upper #HunterRiver. Moderate flooding occurring at #Muswellbrook and Minor flooding likely at #Denman Monday night. See https://t.co/AdztI2rqg1 for details and updates; follow advice from @NSWSES. #NSWFloods pic.twitter.com/5tSMCu5a3u
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) November 22, 2021
⚠️Minor to Major #Flood Warning updated for #GwydirRiver. Moderate flood possible at #Gravesend. Minor flood expected at #Pallamallawa and major flood possible at #YarramanBridge. See https://t.co/AdztI2rqg1 for details and updates; follow advice from @NSWSES. #NSWFloods pic.twitter.com/34OHuAQa0d
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) November 22, 2021
South Australia’s health authorities have issued an alert for a meningococcal case in Adelaide.
HEALTH ALERT: MENINGOCOCCAL CASE pic.twitter.com/qed2V3nUhi
— SA Health (@SAHealth) November 22, 2021
Just circling back on the Air New Zealand announcement on cancelled flights between Australia and New Zealand owing to ongoing uncertainty around borders, Air New Zealand’s chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty said the following:
We’re acting now to give customers as much certainty as possible, so they can make alternative plans.
We appreciate this latest news means some customers will have to wait longer before reuniting with loved ones. We’re continuing to do everything we can to get them home safely as quickly as possible.
The airline said it would continue to operate a reduced schedule of flights into Sydney and Melbourne and “red flights” from Australia into New Zealand for those with MIQ spots.
Updated
Just circling back on Senator Jacqui Lambie’s earlier speech on the motivations behind the anti-vaccine mandate legislation this morning.
I said for One Nation, this isn’t about COVID discrimination, it’s about cash.
— Jacqui Lambie (@JacquiLambie) November 22, 2021
An hour later they send out this email, asking for cash. https://t.co/2R8j3mVUJu pic.twitter.com/R51TICUNwE
Pork barrelling isn’t nearly as useful as politicians tend to think.
That’s the finding of a study co-authored by a Labor MP into federal sports grants worth $100m.
AAP reports the paper with the Australian National University found the program, funnelled into Coalition and marginal seats, had virtually no electoral effect.
“Contrary to our expectations, we find virtually no electoral impact of the grants,” ANU political science professor Ian McAllister and Labor frontbencher Andrew Leigh said in the peer-reviewed paper published in the journal Political Studies.
“Those electorates that received more sporting grant funding were no more likely to swing in favour of the government in the 2019 election than electorates that received no funding.
“A straw poll of members of the House of Representatives suggests one possible explanation as to why pork-barrelling persists: parliamentarians tend to overestimate its electoral impact.”
The auditor general last year found the so-called sports rorts saga favoured Coalition and marginal seats.
It prompted sports minister Bridget McKenzie to quit cabinet.
She spent nearly 18 months on the backbench before returning under Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce.
The sports rorts saga has helped fuel calls for a national anti-corruption body with teeth.
The government has promised to legislate a Commonwealth Integrity Commission this term, but early drafts have been criticised for being too soft.
Updated
(Quick last one from me before Josh takes the blog)
Here was Anthony Albanese talking about the text message Scott Morrison brought up (and then had to correct) during question time on Sky News this afternoon:
Q: Before you go, you took exception to something the prime minister said today in relation to his holiday to Hawaii. He then followed up your comments by saying that you’ve chosen to politicise the message he sent you and you’ve done so ever since. What do you say in response to that?
Albanese: What nonsense. Here’s what happened today.
The prime minister stood up in the parliament and he said, to quote him directly, word for word, he said that he texted me from the plane, ‘When I was going on that leave and told him where I was going. And he was fully aware of where I was travelling with my family’.
That’s not true. He did send me a text message. It was a private text message from him to me. It didn’t say where he was going. I did not know where he was going. During that week, you’d be aware that the prime minister’s office briefed out and said it was wrong that the prime minister was overseas. And they wouldn’t even confirm that Michael McCormack was the acting prime minister during that period.
Q: Did he tell you he was going on leave overseas?
Albanese: No, he didn’t.
Q: You didn’t divulge that to anyone that he was going on leave regardless?
Albanese:
No, I didn’t. Because if you sent me a private message, it stays private. And we know that this prime minister divulges text messages from world leaders. I have a view that if someone sends me a private text message, then it’s private. But I couldn’t allow it to stand that was the case, because he did say he was going on leave, he didn’t say he was going overseas, he didn’t say where he was going. And frankly, that was a matter for him.
But I did find it extraordinary that it wasn’t divulged in a normal way that he was on leave. That’s where this problem comes from.
And today, after he did that, and I gave my personal explanation, the prime minister stood up and doubled down and said, ‘Oh, no, I was talking about not where I was going’, and tried to pretend he was talking about something else.
And then after the Speaker’s tributes that were made, he stood up and again corrected the record in the parliament. The problem for this prime minister is that he has this character trait whereby he says whatever is convenient at the time, regardless of what the facts are. And it is just extraordinary that he has been prepared to do that.
Updated
That has been quite the re-introduction to parliament after a three week break, so it’s time for me to go stare at a wall and think about the choices I have made in life which have led me to this moment.
Josh Taylor will take you through the evening, because he is an absolute trooper.
We have seven more days of parliament left in this year though – so seven more hours of question time, at least.
Tomorrow, a new speaker will be elected. Will it be Kevin Andrews? Nola Marino? Who can say for sure. The government has the numbers on it, so it is up to them – but I don’t think we are going to see an uncontested speaker this time around (Labor supported Tony Smith’s election to the role). No one knows how long they will sit in the chair either – if the election is called for March, then it is just this sitting. Fun fact – they get paid as the speaker until the new parliament sits, so that will be a nice pay bump for whomever is elected to the role, even if it is just seven days in the actual chair. They will also get a portrait. Such are the traditions of our democracy.
Tomorrow is party room meeting day, where the Coalition will pretend all is just fine and dandy within its ranks, even though members are threatening to either cross the floor, or withhold votes, or continue to speak out at anti-vax rallies.
Labor and the Greens will also meet, but the action is all with the government at the moment as it seeks to re-centre itself as the, well, sensible centre.
So far – it’s going great (this is sarcasm).
I’ll be back early tomorrow morning, with Mike Bowers, Katharine Murphy, Sarah Martin, Daniel Hurst and Paul Karp to cover all the parliament *gestures* whatever.
A very big thank you to those who joined along today. You make it all worthwhile. I hope you know that. Please, as always – take care of you.
Updated
Air New Zealand cancels flights to Australia
Air New Zealand has canceled about 1,000 flights between New Zealand and Australia, citing “continued border uncertainty” between the two countries.
The announcement will scuttle the plans of some New Zealanders and Australians who had hoped to be reunited for Christmas.
The airline said around 20,000 customers would be affected.
The flights cancelled fall between now and the end of December – while the airline’s flight schedule beyond then remains in place, it’s not clear whether more flights may be cancelled down the line.
This will be particularly tough news for families and friends who were hoping to catch up over Christmas ... But our hands are tied until border restrictions ease, and we receive further clarity from the New Zealand Government,” chief customer & sales officer Leanne Geraghty said in a written statement.
We’re acting now to give customers as much certainty as possible, so they can make alternative plans,” Geraghty said.
We appreciate this latest news means some customers will have to wait longer before reuniting with loved ones. We’re continuing to do everything we can to get them home safely as quickly as possible.”
Updated
Why does condemnation of the far-right elements of the protests matter?
Here is Mehreen Faruqi:
The PM is under scrutiny for his responses to political extremism. But here is the brutal reality. This government will not give any semblance of caring about the danger of far-right extremism until it’s too late and someone gets killed. pic.twitter.com/rGLNqSPgac
— Mehreen Faruqi (@MehreenFaruqi) November 22, 2021
Updated
In other moments Mike Bowers captured this afternoon:
Updated
From Mike Bowers to you:
Updated
[Continued from previous post]
Senior lawyer with the Human Rights Law Centre Scott Cosgriff said the government’s announcement “will bring joy and relief to many, including hundreds of thousands of people on temporary visas who have been barred from entering or leaving the country”.
Many of these people, whose lives are in Australia, have been separated from their loved ones, their jobs and their homes for more than 18 months.”
Cosgriff said the lifting of restrictions was a positive step for refugees whose resettlement in Australia had been postponed by the pandemic.
It is vital that the Morrison government restart Australia’s refugee resettlement program and actively facilitate travel for nearly 10,000 people who have been granted humanitarian visas but have been forced to wait overseas in precarious situations.”
The HRLC released a paper, Still Left Behind, last week, detailing the impact of Australia’s long-running border closures and urging the Morrison government to lift international travel restrictions.
Greens senator Nick McKim said the resumption of travel for temporary visa holders was cause for celebration – for children who can again see their parents, for couples who will be reunited, and for “all of the people that will be able to return to their jobs, homes, communities and lives in Australia”.
While this announcement is long overdue, and nothing can erase the immense pain and trauma that the border closure has caused, this news will be celebrated by many thousands of people who hold visas for Australia.
We also welcome the new temporary visa holders who will now be able to come to Australia and start a new chapter in their lives.
McKim said the Greens had introduced legislation in October to restore and extend visas which had lapsed during the border closure period and the party would continue to advocate for those visas to be reinstated.
Updated
The Guardian wrote last week about the plight of humanitarian visa holders, fleeing persecution and accepted to resettle in Australia, but who have been unable to come to Australia since borders were shut because of the pandemic.
We spoke with one Sydney family who have been waiting more than 20 months to be reunited with loved ones who fled Syria, and have been waiting, in northern Iraq, for Australia’s borders to finally open.
There has been widespread celebration at the news travel restrictions would be lifted for temporary visa holders to enter Australia.
Chief executive of the Refugee Council of Australia, Paul Power, said the government’s announcement Monday would be “life-changing” for more than 9,500 humanitarian visa holders waiting to enter Australia.
This news will be particularly welcome for the many families in Australia with relatives who have waiting for up to two years in host countries badly hit by economic crises worsened by the Covid pandemic.
The situation has been even worse in host countries such as Lebanon, Sudan and Ethiopia where internal chaos and conflict has made life even tougher.
Power said when Australia’s borders were closed early last year, more than 4,000 refugees were in the final stages of arranging their travel to Australia for permanent resettlement.
While the Australian government has slowed the number of refugee visas being issued since then, the number of refugees waiting to enter Australia has grown by at least 5,500.
Power said the Australian government should work with visa holders currently overseas and trying to get to Australia to ensure they had sufficient vaccinations to be able to enter the country.
[Continued in next post]
Updated
Right.
So the prime minister immediately went on the personal attack in question time, accusing Anthony Albanese of knowing where he went on holiday during the 2019 bushfires, because he had told him in a text message he sent the opposition leader at the time. (This was in response to a question about why Morrison’s office had misled journalists who were asking about where the prime minister was back in 2019. Michael McCormack was acting in the prime minister’s role, but wouldn’t say if he was acting prime minister or where the prime minister was, which was a whole thing in December 2019 because half the country was on fire.)
During question time, Morrison says he sent Albanese a text message saying:
As the leader of the opposition will know, because I texted him from the plane when I was going on that leave, and told him where I was going and he was fully aware of where I was travelling with my family.
Albanese says no, I received a text message saying the prime minister was going on leave, but not the destination. And I didn’t make it public, because it was a private message. (Scott Morrison made the text message public on Sydney radio 2GB when he was found out as being in Hawaii. Morrison then claimed he was coming back home early – he arrived home a day earlier than scheduled.)
Morrison jumps in on that explanation, where Albanese says he didn’t know a destination, and says:
Where I was going was on leave, Mr Speaker, and that was the important thing I sent to the leader of the opposition. He knew I was taking leave, Mr Speaker. I told him I was taking leave. And Mr Speaker, he chose to politicise that and has done so ever since.
Called out for misleading again, Morrison makes a third attempt (in just over an hour) to explain what he meant when he said:
As the leader of the opposition will know, because I texted him from the plane when I was going on that leave, and told him where I was going and he was fully aware of where I was travelling with my family.
In that third attempt, Morrison says that what he meant by Albanese being “fully aware of where I was travelling with my family” he meant, that Albanese was “fully aware” he was on leave AND travelling with his family.
When I was referring to he knew where I was going and was fully aware I was travelling with my family what I meant was, that we were going on leave together.
So Morrison went on the attack, said something which wasn’t true, then changed the meaning of what he said when confronted with what had actually occurred. All in the space of an hour.
Updated
Morrison and Albanese clash over 2019 text about PM's holiday
Scott Morrison has “added to an answer” from question time, explaining what he meant when he said he told Anthony Albanese where he was going in a text message he sent the opposition leader before going on leave to Hawaii.
During question time he said:
I can only speak to what I have said. As the leader of the opposition will know, because I texted him from the plane when I was going on that leave, and told him where I was going and he was fully aware of where I was travelling with my family.
Now he says (just a little over an hour later):
I want to confirm what the leader of the opposition said that in that text. I did not tell him the destination of where I was going on leave with my family.
I simply communicated to him that I was taking leave. When I was referring to he knew where I was going and was fully aware I was traveling with my family what I meant was, that we were going on leave together.
I know I didn’t tell him where we were going, because Mr. Speaker, that is a private matter where members take leave and I know I didn’t tell him the destination, nor would I.
Nor would he expects me to have told told him where he was going. I simply confirmed to him that I was taking leave with my family, and he was aware of that, at that time.
Updated
Here is the entire personal explanation from Anthony Albanese about the text message Scott Morrison raised during question time, and Morrison’s immediate response.
Morrison, in response to a question about his office misleading journalists about his whereabouts in Hawaii during the 2019/2020 bushfires, immediately attacked Albanese, who he said he had messaged at the time, saying he was going on leave with his family, and where he was going.
Morrison during QT:
I texted him from the plane when I was going on that leave and told him where I was going.
When it is pointed out that Morrison did not tell Albanese where he was going in that text message, Morrison immediately changes what he meant by his answer:
Albanese:
Mr Speaker, in question time today the prime minister said that, to quote him, ‘I texted him from the plane when I was going on that leave and told him where I was going’.
Mr Speaker, that is not true. On the 15th of December, 2019, at 9:44pm, the prime minister did text me saying he was going on leave. He did not tell me where he was going. He said he was going with his family. I kept that text message confidential, as you do with private text messages between private phones. And on the Friday ... he disclosed in an interview with 2GB that he had texted me. And that was the first time that that became public. But at no stage did he tell me where he was going.
Morrison:
Where I was going was on leave, Mr Speaker, and that was the important thing. I sent to the leader of the opposition. He knew I was taking leave, Mr Speaker. I told him I was taking leave. And Mr Speaker, he chose to politicise that and has done so ever since.
Updated
'See you on the floor tomorrow': Speaker Tony Smith says goodbye to QT
As the speeches go on, here is Tony Smith in his own words, saying goodbye from the Speaker’s chair:
“See you on the floor tomorrow.”
— Australian House of Representatives (@AboutTheHouse) November 22, 2021
Following his final Question Time in the Speaker's Chair, @TonySmithMP made a statement to the House. He will remain the Member for Casey until the 46th Parliament is prorogued. Watch the end of his speech below. pic.twitter.com/2qx2vfKVzU
Updated
'Shove it': NT chief minister calls out those against vaccine mandates
NT chief minister Michael Gunner has a furious message for anti vaxxers, as his territory deals with an outbreak of Covid in Indigenous communities:
Updated
Anthony Albanese is also thanking Tony Smith for the role he has played, and thanking him for his diligence in acting “with integrity and without partisanship”.
He also includes this tidbit:
The first speaker Frederick Holder actually died in the chamber, making an excerpt worthy Heart of Darkness as he added his final words, “dreadful, dreadful”.
The Canberra Times called it Australia’s shortest prominent political speech.
So there are worse ways to leave than the way that you are Mr Speaker.
Updated
Tony Smith thanks his staff and says he will be heading to the governor to hand in his resignation.
“See you on the floor tomorrow,” he finishes.
Scott Morrison is now paying homage to the job Smith has done:
You are the longest-serving speaker of my generation.
And I suspect we have seen the finest speaker that this place has had the great opportunity to witness in action.
That may be a contested proposition, I suspect it will be, but it’s certainly my view.
Updated
Tony Smith is now thanking the chamber for its support during his time as Speaker.
It is not a valedictory – that won’t come until he leaves the parliament, but he is saying his thank yous for those who have helped.
He gives a special thank you to Richard Marles:
We’ve always been opponents, but we’ve always been mates. Can I say to all of you, being a friend with someone who holds a different political view does not mean you dilute your views or your values.
And to Tony Burke:
He’s been the one constant over the six years and three months.
We got to know each other really well and worked on a basis of trust and I want to thank him for the role he played in ensuring the cooperation and the procedures and processes that were helped put in place, the bipartisan nature to ensure that we’re able to keep sitting through Covid.
He is also thanking his colleagues.
Updated
Anthony Albanese is now giving a personal explanation about the text message Scott Morrison referenced in his question time answer about his trip to Hawaii.
I kept that text message confidential, as you do with private text messages between private phones. And on the Friday, on the Friday, he disclosed in [an] interview with 2GB that he had texted me and that was the first time that that became public, but at no stage he told me where he was going.
Scott Morrison jumps up:
I was taking leave Mr Speaker, and I told him the same thing and Mr Speaker he chose to politicise that and has done so ever since.
Here is what Anthony Albanese had to say about that earlier this month, when it came up again:
When, in 2019, the prime minister sent me a private text message that he was going on leave and that the then deputy prime minister would be acting. That was on Sunday night. You might be aware, for a number of days, the prime minister’s office couldn’t confirm whether he was on leave or not. The acting prime minister couldn’t confirm that he was the acting prime minister. I didn’t know where Scott Morrison travelled. I wasn’t critical of him travelling. I didn’t go out and breach that private message when Scott Morrison was on holiday. And then on Friday, on the Friday of that week, Scott Morrison gave an interview on 2GB from Hawaii, in which he said, ‘Oh, I messaged Anthony Albanese, I told him what was happening’. As if I knew that he was in Hawaii. But I kept his confidence. I kept his confidence. Because that’s what people of integrity do. They have relations between people. And this prime minister, on a range of issues, has ducked questions, has not given straight answers, has pretended that things that were a changed position for him were positions that he had all the way along, and always seeks to blame someone else, always seeks to defer responsibility.
Updated
Tanya Plibersek to Michael Sukkar:
“Why did the assistant treasurer say the minister for women’s economic security, Senator Hume, was being ‘indulgent and quite frankly bizarre’ when she wrote about the difficulties of juggling work and motherhood?”
Sukkar:
Can I thank the member for her question. I unreservedly apologised to Senator Hume. Both privately and publicly in relation to private messages that were made public.
Senator Hume and I have worked very closely together for many years. We’ve worked very closely together as members of the treasury team, very cooperatively. She’s an outstanding minister, as I’ve relayed publicly on many occasions.
And, as I said, I made very clearly my regret for those comments being made public. They were incorrect. They were incorrect.
I don’t think that’s surprising. They were incorrect. It was unfair. And Senator Hume is an outstanding minister. And I’ve apologised to her privately and publicly.
Updated
Now Scott Morrison is in a mood.
Tony Burke to Scott Morrison:
“My question is to the prime minister. This morning five members of the government voted for Senator Pauline Hanson’s extreme bill to abolish public health orders on vaccine certificates that keep people safe and keep businesses open. Didn’t the prime minister allow this to happen because the prime minister failed to show leadership and gave comfort to extremists instead of backing the 90% of Australians who have done the right thing and got vaccinated?”
Morrison:
No.
Updated
Back to the question on the PMO lying about where Scott Morrison was during the bushfires in December 2019 – it was reported that Morrison had messaged Antony Albanese to tell him he would be away for a week and Michael McCormack would be acting in the prime minister’s role (I can’t find if he said he was going to Hawaii though).
That’s not under dispute. And it is precedent and tradition that opposition leaders don’t share the plans of prime ministers with the media – it’s part of the respect which is meant to exist between the two offices.
The question was about what Morrison’s office told journalists who asked about the prime minister’s whereabouts. It was a question which was asked repeatedly at the time, and also a question McCormack was asked at the time, and refused to answer.
It was eventually confirmed when a photo of Morrison in Hawaii was published.
That Morrison went straight on the attack, turning fault on Albanese, who he relies on to keep certain things confidential as part of a tradition of respect between the offices, if not the people who head them, is very much in line with how he reacts when he feels personally under pressure.
Updated
Just on the ‘changing technology’ Scott Morrison was talking about with electric vehicles, where he spoke about hydrogen and the changes in technology there, here is Labor MP Tim Watts in 2019, with a hydrogen vehicle.
Scott Morrison just told #qt that hydrogen powered vehicles were a new technology that had emerged after his misleading scare campaigns.
— Tim Watts MP (@TimWattsMP) November 22, 2021
That would be this hydrogen fuel cell car from my electorate that I was driving here going on three years ago at the start of 2019… 🤷♂️ https://t.co/rySdFwx3us
Updated
Fiona Phillips to Scott Morrison:
When my electorate was burning, the prime minister’s office told journalists he was not on holiday in Hawaii. Why did the prime minister’s office say that when it wasn’t true?
Tony Burke gets up to explain the precedent:
Ministers have been asked a series about actions of their offices over the years. And this is a question where their office took an action in answering something about the prime minister himself.
Tony Smith allows it.
Then we get personal.
Morrison:
I can only speak to what I have said. As the leader of the opposition will know because I texted him from the plane when I was going on that leave, and told him where I was going and he was fully aware of where I was travelling with my family.
Morrison and Anthony Albanese then start arguing with each other across the table.
Updated
We seemed to have skipped a dixer, so it’s back to Labor.
Madeleine King to Scott Morrison:
“Why does the prime minister claim not to have supported Clive Palmer’s high court case to tear down state borders when we know he spent a million dollars doing just that?”
Morrison:
We pulled the case. We didn’t pursue the case. We didn’t support it, Mr Speaker. We didn’t support it and I didn’t support it based on the strong representation made to me by premier McGowan and I agreed with him.
So supporting something, and then not supporting it (because of how badly it was playing politically in a state you need to hold seats in) is apparently now not having supported the case.
Updated
Chris Bowen to Scott Morrison:
“My question is to the prime minister. The prime minister claims he changed his mind on electric vehicles because of, and I quote, ‘massive changes to technology since 2019’. The CEO of the Electric Vehicle Council says he has no idea what the prime minister is talking about. Why did the prime minister make this claim when it simply isn’t true?
Morrison:
If the opposition spokesman thinks there hasn’t been advances in technology since 2019, he’s clearly not keeping up to pace. Our government will not put up pressure on petrol prices by changing emissions standards on fuels.
We’re not going to do that. Mr Speaker, it’s important that the Labor party come clean on that. Otherwise that’s just another sneaky tactic...
Tony Burke:
On direct relevance. The only issue relevant in this question are the massive changes to technology since 2019 that the prime minister has claimed exist and he has to be relevant to that.
It was very tight question. So the prime minister can’t talk about alternative policies. The prime minister has the call.
Morrison:
In particular, where I was on that day at Toyota, the advance in technology that has occurred with hydrogen-powered vehicles, Mr Speaker, particularly consumer vehicles, and in heavy industry, Mr Speak, in heavy vehicles, this has come forward in leaps and bounds. The leader of the opposition says hydrogen vehicles is not EV, Mr Speaker.
I heard him say that just then.
What does he think hydrogen does in an electric vehicle? It converts it into electricity and drives the battery. That’s what an electric vehicle is. It can be powered by a charger.
It can be powered by hydrogen. The leader of the opposition has no clue what he’s talking about when it comes to these vehicles.
Mr Speaker, this might become as a bit of a shock to the leader of the opposition, but in Australia there are very large distances over which Australians travel. And if he thinks you can have charging stations along the outback way, good luck to him.
But what I know from talking to the transport industry, what I know about talking to the vehicle manufacturers is here in Australia and people like Dr Alan Finkel, is that hydrogen-powered electric vehicles is an Australian solution.
It’s a solution for Australian transport. Now that might not go down so well in the cafes of Marrickville, Mr Speaker, that may not go down so well when he’s spinning the discs there pretending to be a DJ.
There is an other interjection but Morrison continues:
The CSIRO makes it very clear that hydrogen-powered vehicles power the electricity of those vehicles. Mr Speaker, if the leader of the opposition doesn’t agree with the former chief scientist, Dr Alan Finkel, Mr Speaker, I know there are electric vehicles that you use in inner suburban areas, Mr Speaker, and that’s very important.
That’s fine when people want to make those choices. We’re not going to force people to buy those cars* Mr Speaker, by putting up petrol prices and by changing the fuel emissions standards which is nothing more than a sneaky tax on petrol.
We’re not going to do that. We will ensure we’re supporting through the incentives and the initiatives we’re putting in place but one of the things we’re focusing on is hydrogen-powered electric vehicles because those are the things that can transport heavy vehicles and consumer vehicles over long distances which is what Australia needs. Our approach is following the Australian way.
*No one was forcing anyone to buy electric vehicles.
Updated
We slide from that to a dixer to the defence minister Peter Dutton who is back on his old ‘how safe are you’ bandwagon.
As always with this trope, you are as safe as you can be while the Coalition is in power, but WHO KNOWS what could happen if Labor wins.
Updated
So that is the prime minister outright lying about his previous ridiculing of electric vehicles, which is on tape, while accusing the opposition of being “sneaky”.
Updated
Here was Scott Morrison on electric vehicles at the last election campaign:
“[An electric vehicle] won’t tow your trailer. It’s not going to tow your boat. It’s not going to get you out to your favourite camping spot with your family.”
Asked about that statement, and how it was ridiculing electric vehicles, Morrison says:
As I’ve made clear on numerous occasions now, whether here in this place or other places, what I opposed at the last election was the Labor party’s policy. That’s what I opposed, Mr Speaker.
We had our own policy on electric vehicles. Most recently I’ve announced our policy, Mr Speaker, as part of our broader lower-emissions technology and future fuels program, Mr Speaker, to ensure we meet the commitment that ... we’ve set out most recently at Cop26.
We know what our targets are. We know what our plans to achieve those targets are, Mr Speaker. I mean, when we were last in this place a few weeks ago, the leader of the opposition thought the election was going to be on 11 December.
In fact, he told everybody in his backbench that that’s when it was gonna be, Mr Speaker. But yet he still can’t even tell them what their 2030 target is, Mr Speaker. He still can’t tell them what all the sneaky taxes are that they’re going to put on the Australian people, Mr Speaker. He thought the election was about to happen and he still couldn’t tell anybody what was gonna be going on. You know, Mr Speaker.
There’s one thing that’s pretty bad, and that’s when Labor tells you what they are gonna do. What’s even worse is when they don’t tell you.
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It is all about the recast and rewrite today.
Scott Morrison takes a question about his repeated claims “Australia was at the front of the vaccine queue” when it wasn’t, which then meant a mad scramble to source vaccines as NSW and Victoria experienced new waves of Covid outbreaks, which led to long lockdowns, and turns it into an answer on the economy.
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Scott Morrison’s Facebook post on what he said about the protests only includes what he said about the frustrations protesters were feeling – NOT his condemnation at the beginning?
Why? Because the people he is speaking to mostly get their news from sites like Facebook and he knows it.
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Morrison questioned on stance towards anti-vaccine mandate protests
Josh Burns to Scott Morrison:
“Why did the prime minister, when posting a video of his media conference to Facebook, delete any criticism of the Melbourne protests and only include the sections where he criticised vaccine mandates? Why did the prime minister claim he had denounced the violent protests when, in fact, he was determined to give comfort to extremists?”
Morrison:
Mr Speaker, I completely reject that assertion, Mr Speaker. I completely reject that assertion, Mr Speaker.
At the first opportunity when I appeared before the press, I denounced those things, Mr Speaker, very clearly. Very clearly, Mr Speaker, denounced that violence.
I said it had no place in Australia. And it does have no place in Australia, Mr Speaker. And that is something there should be bipartisan support for. The opposition said the same thing, Mr Speaker, but they choose to try and play some political games with violent protests, Mr Speaker.
Tony Burke:
“On direct relevance. The prime minister needs to explain why he deleted the sections that were critical of the protests.”
Morrison:
Mr Speaker, I have been very clear in denouncing those things. Very clear in denouncing those things. And the suggestion I haven’t, Mr Speaker, is a complete falsehood.
And I know the leader of the opposition was desperately trying to make this point this morning. Rather than us be on a unity ticket that we denounce violence, Mr Speaker, he seeks to play politics with violent protests in Victoria, Mr Speaker. And I find that absolutely appalling.
Now, Mr Speaker, we have the very strong view that violence of that nature, the intimidating threats that were made as part of any protest, on whatever topic it might be, Mr Speaker, is deplorable and should not be done in this country. I could not be more clear than that, Mr Speaker. My government, Mr Speaker, stands for the national plan that we took forward and we need to ensure that all Australians, Mr Speaker, can look forward with confidence.
And that’s what we’re focusing on – the positives of the future, Mr Speaker.
About where we’re heading as a country. So, we can ensure that as a result of the outstanding work done by Australians right across the country, but particularly in Victoria, who have had to put up with more on their daily lives, Mr Speaker, than any other people in this country during the course of this pandemic, they have had to put up with more lockdowns, Mr Speaker, more deaths, and more impact than any other part of this country, Mr Speaker. The longest lockdown of any city in the world. Victorians have put up with a lot, Mr Speaker, and they have pushed through.
And I commend them for the outstanding work that they have done. And, Mr Speaker, what is important is that we now harness that and ensure, Mr Speaker, that they can look forward to the Boxing Day Test, Mr Speaker, and coming together around the Christmas table, because that is what has been made possible by them going forward and ensuring that they’ve got vaccines at record levels.
That’s what our national plan provides for, Mr Speaker.
The pathetic attempts by the Labor party to try and drive a wedge between Australians and suggest that there is no bipartisan support for denouncing violence in this country, I tell ya what, Mr Speaker, it’s been our government that has funded the Australian federal police to crack down on violent extremism, Mr Speaker.
It’s our government, Mr Speaker, that have actually supported the federal police. When the Labor party was in power, they cut their funding, Mr Speaker. They didn’t give them the powers they needed, Mr Speaker. And even now, over the course of this parliament, the Labor party has had to be dragged kicking and screaming to this.
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This next question and answer is quite something.
Get ready.
Tony Smith chairs his final question time as Speaker
This is Tony Smith’s last question time in the Speaker’s chair.
He looks like he is counting each second.
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This is the third question in a row we have heard from Josh Frydenberg now, and the main takeaway is he still doesn’t know how to use a microphone.
Jim Chalmers to Josh Frydenberg:
“My question is to the treasurer: how can the treasurer make the sorts of claims he just did in that answer [that the Coalition has the lowest taxes] when the two highest-taxing governments of the last 30 years have both been Liberal governments, including his?”
Frydenberg:
I thank the member for Rankin, welcome him back to the parliament. The part-time shadow treasurer! Because that was a Dorothy Dixer, Mr Speaker. Because at the last election, we were proposing lower taxes for Australians, and Labor was proposing $387 billion of higher taxes!
And do you know who said they were proud and pleased of the housing tax and the retirees’ tax? Who?
Sneaky Jim!
The member for Rankin! The member for Rankin! The co-architect with the member for McMahon (Chris Bohen).
And you know what the member for McMahon told the Australian people about Labor’s high-taxing agenda? ‘If you don’t like it, don’t vote for it.’
If you don’t like it, don’t vote for it. So, the member for Rankin ... he took to the Australian people a superannuation tax. He took to the Australian people a higher tax on housing. He took to the Australian people a retirees’ tax.
He took to the Australian people higher taxes on your income. And he took to the Australian people higher taxes on small business. Mr Speaker, a leopard doesn’t change their spots. They know what the member for Rankin is all about. Higher taxes on all Australians.
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Earlier today the Australian government signed an agreement with the US and the UK to allow the exchange of nuclear propulsion technology – a key plank of the Aukus submarines deal announced in September. That agreement has now been tabled in parliament. The joint standing committee on treaties will inquire into the document – it looks like a snap inquiry, given submissions are due by this Friday.
The defence minister, Peter Dutton, said in a statement issued a short time ago:
“This Agreement will support Australia in completing the 18 months of intensive and comprehensive examination of the requirements underpinning the delivery of nuclear-powered submarines. The United Kingdom and the United States will be able to share naval nuclear propulsion information with Australia, which they cannot with any other country, in the determination of the optimal pathway to acquire nuclear-powered submarines for operation by the Royal Australian Navy.
“With access to the information this Agreement delivers, coupled with the decades of naval nuclear-powered experience our UK and US partners have, Australia will also be positioned to be responsible and reliable stewards of this technology.”
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The other message to come out of this question time so far – the government is trying to paint Labor as “sneaky”.
That isn’t new, but it is more overt – and it is in direct response to Scott Morrison struggling with being labelled a “liar” and that trust deficit which is emerging in the polls.
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Here is Ben Morton with the actual answer:
The government does not support the AEC playing a role in relation to political advertisements. Is stop and consider awareness campaign, which in the next election will be further implemented, as it has been implemented in the previous by-elections in Eden-Monaro and in Groom.
Federal elections are a contest of ideas, Mr Speaker. The 2016 joint standing committee report into the 2016 election considered these provisions.
They recommended that there be further amendments made to the authorisation provisions, and that has occurred, and this government has delivered upon them. So, voters can clearly identify who is the source of the political information that they are receiving in electoral context.
Mr Speaker, those opposite, and the member for Warringah, want to pursue a piece of legislation that will politically involve the Australian Electoral Commission in being an arbiter in relation to electoral advertising. That is an inappropriate role for the Australian Electoral Commission and this government does not support that.
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Independent MP Zali Steggall has to repeat this question because of heckling from the government.
Prime minister, in Australia, trust in government and politicians is at an all-time low. With a federal election now looming, voters will yet again be bombarded with fake news, misleading claims and outright lies. Will you prohibit misleading and deceptive political advertising by supporting the Electoral Legislation Amendment Stop the Lies bill before the next election?
Scott Morrison:
I will ask the special minister of state to add further to my answer.
But I note the member’s preamble to the question about misleading, Mr Speaker, and deceptive information that comes forward in campaigns.
And, Mr Speaker, I think she’s just given us a preview of the Labor party campaign at the next election, Mr Speaker. Because they have form.
They have form, Mr Speaker. Remember the Mediscare misrepresentations and untruths, Mr Speaker?
We remember the calls to pensioners in the night, Mr Speaker. Seeking to frighten people in the middle of the election campaign. We remember all of that.
We know they’re doing it again, Mr Speaker, out there, trying to frighten pensioners and do that on a daily basis, trying to operate underneath the radar. It’s very sneaky, Mr Speaker. Very sneaky from Labor. That’s what we get used to. And we know, Mr Speaker, when the leader of the opposition can’t make the points himself, he gets other premiers to make them for him, Mr Speaker.
That’s what he does. That’s what he does.
Steggall interjects on relevance. But the preamble has given Morrison room. He continues:
I’m very happy for the special minister of state to add further to that answer. But the preview that the member has offered in her question, Mr Speaker, of misrepresentations and deceit, that is of course a risk. And it comes from the Labor party, Mr Speaker. Would do it in every single election.
He makes no mention of the death tax campaign which was seized upon by government candidates at the last election, or the Chisholm banners which mimicked AEC branding, you may note.
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Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:
“My question is to the prime minister, and I refer to his comments last week, where he said, people should be allowed to get a cup of coffee in Brisbane without showing their vaccination certificates, which are required by the Queensland health orders.
“Is the prime minister aware that exactly the same health orders apply in Sydney? If people want to get a cup of coffee, they have to show their vaccination certificate. Does he also support that?”
Morrison:
Mr Speaker, I will refer the member to my previous answer
I have set out the government’s policy very clearly. It applies right across the country.
“How much clearer do I have to be,” he says as he sits down.
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The current deputy prime minister is attempting to form sentences.
Moving on.
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Jim Chalmers to Scott Morrison:
“My question is to the prime minister: why does the prime minister claim to oppose mandates on hospitality venues in Queensland but supports the exact same restrictions in New South Wales?”
(At this stage, you can not get a coffee in NSW if you are not vaccinated – the same as Queensland.)
Morrison:
Mr Speaker, again, the member who puts the question is misrepresenting me. Once again.
Mr Speaker, let me be very, very clear. The government supports mandatory vaccines of health workers, aged care workers, Mr Speaker, and disability workers. That’s what the government supports. For all other venues, Mr Speaker, and employers, well, you don’t like the answer...
Anthony Albanese has a point of order:
The question went to very clearly hospitality venues in Queensland. The prime minister says it’s a problem you can’t get a cup of coffee without showing your vaccination certificate in Brisbane. It’s the same in Sydney.
Morrison continues:
Mr Speaker, if venues, businesses, airlines, other places of work, Mr Speaker, seek to require of their employees to be vaccinated, they have that right under the law.
They have that right under the law, Mr Speaker. But it is not the commonwealth government’s policy that they should be told to do that. Wherever that is in the country, Mr Speaker, that is not the government’s policy. So, we couldn’t be clearer, Mr Speaker.
We couldn’t be clearer. We support mandatory vaccines for health workers, for aged care workers, for disability workers, Mr Speaker, those who are working with vulnerable people. But when it comes to what happens in somebody’s business, we believe business should make that decision and shouldn’t be told by the government what they should be doing.
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Before we get to the next question and answer here is what Scott Morrison said last week (it is relevant):
We’re not in favour of mandatory vaccines imposed by the government. Businesses can make their own choices under the law, but we’re not about telling them what to do or telling Australians what to do. Vaccines only are mandatory in cases where you’ve got health workers that are working with vulnerable people.
That’s what our medical advice has always been. And as we get above 80% in particular, which the scientific advice shows us and the research shows us, that means Australians can have their lives back. They should be able to go and get a cup of coffee in Brisbane when you’re over 80%, regardless of whether you’ve had the vaccines or not.
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It’s almost as though the prime minister has realised that the vast majority of Australians support vaccinations, do not support the protests and haven’t been too impressed with the flip flopping.
The prime minister is motivated by politics and focus groups. If the message changes, it is because he has seen that it has been politically damaging – not because he has suddenly seen the light.
Question time begins
Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:
“Why does the prime minister claim he’s opposed to mandatory vaccinations on aged care workers, Australians returning home, quarantine workers and even journalists attending his own press conferences?”
Morrison:
Mr Speaker, the leader of the opposition is wrong, Mr Speaker.
He’s completely wrong. Mr Speaker, the government doesn’t oppose mandatory vaccinations, Mr Speaker, for health workers and aged care workers and disability workers.
... It was as prime minister I took the proposal, Mr Speaker, supported by the AHPPC, the medical expert panel, and the chief medical officer, that it was essential that we mandate vaccines for aged care workers.
And, Mr Speaker, that was done in November and it was not done until the end of August, Mr Speaker, mid to late August, that all states and territories had followed through on the commitment to put that in place.
Now, Mr Speaker, mandatory vaccines for health workers, for aged care workers, for those who are working with vulnerable people, was the clear medical advice, Mr Speaker, that was supported by the chief medical officer, and that’s what the government acted on. And, Mr Speaker, sought to have those arrangements put in place through the states, which they have done.
Over the course of these past few years, Mr Speaker, it has been essential to take a series of decisions to protect Australians.
But the national plan that was agreed, that was pulled together by the government, supported on two occasions by all premiers and chief ministers, provides the pathway forward to ensure that governments can step back and Australians can step forward, Mr Speaker. There is a time and a place for controls and restrictions to be in place, and there is a time for governments to step back, Mr Speaker.
And the government has always been clear in acting on the advice and listening carefully to the advice of the medical experts that have informed the positions that the government has taken. Mr Speaker, the government has not supported the campaigns of anti-vaxers, Mr Speaker.
We have supported the sensible, balanced approach, listening carefully to the medical advice, commissioning the Doherty Institute to provide the specific scientific hurdles for vaccination rates to be reached that would enable Australians to be given their life back, Mr Speaker, and those restrictions to be lifted.
So, Mr Speaker, I won’t be verballed by the leader of the opposition. I won’t be verballed by him, Mr Speaker. If he doesn’t think Australians should have their lives back, Mr Speaker, he can make that case to them.
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OK, we are switching to the chamber now for the eighth-last QT for the year.
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The Group of Eight Universities are very pleased international students will be returning:
“The Australian Government’s decision to allow fully vaccinated eligible visa holders including international students and skilled workers, to return to Australia from 1 December 2021, signals the beginning of an exciting new phase for Australia’s fourth largest export industry – international education,” said Go8 chief executive Vicki Thomson.
“Go8 unis have been preparing to welcome back their international students and today’s announcement gives our higher education sector, our students and researchers much needed certainty.
“The commitment demonstrated by international students to stick with Go8 universities throughout this difficult period is testament to our expert researchers, teaching staff and domestic students, all of whom contribute to the quality education and quality lifestyle we provide to our international student cohort.
“Negotiating the return of international students has been a complex process and we are pleased to have worked closely with the Australian Government throughout, on issues such as vaccine recognition to ensure the safe return of students.”
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Nationals senator Perin Davey was apparently listening to a different message from the prime minister when he “condemned” the protests last week.
Here is what she told the ABC about the criticism Scott Morrison received:
I think that there was a lot of semantics going on around what the prime minister said. On the one hand, he said that violence can’t be condoned and then someone said, but he didn’t use the word ‘condemned’ so he doesn’t condemn it.
I think that that is clutching at straws to try to make something out of what I thought ... was very clear. That violence should never be tolerated. In Australia, we have a right for peaceful protests, but peaceful protests is what it should stay as.
Here is what Morrison actually said:
Well, of course, those threats and intimidation has no place in Australia. We’re a civil, peaceful society. Where we have disagreements, we don’t handle them with violence and there can be no tolerance for that. And there should be no tolerance for that. No matter how frustrated people might be, that is never the answer. And there needs to be the respect shown in those, those debates that we have. There has to be an appropriate balance and civility.
Of course, there are many people who are feeling frustrated. I mean, over the last couple of years, governments have been telling Australians what to do. Now, there’s been a need for that as we’ve gone through the pandemic. But the time is now to start rolling all of that back. Australians have kept their part of the deal. More than 80% of Australians are now double-dose vaccinated. We now have one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. We’ve had one of the strongest economies to come through the pandemic, and we have one of the lowest fatality rates from Covid in the world.
Australians have done an amazing job when it comes to leading us through this pandemic, but now it’s time for governments to step back. And for Australians to take their lives back. And for Australians to be able to move forward with the freedoms that should be theirs. That’s certainly what we’re doing as a federal government. That’s where we see it going. Our position on mandatory vaccines, for example, is in very specific circumstances. We’re not in favour of mandatory vaccines imposed by the government. Businesses can make their own choices under the law, but we’re not about telling them what to do or telling Australians what to do. Vaccines only are mandatory in cases where you’ve got health workers that are working with vulnerable people. That’s what our medical advice has always been. And as we get above 80% in particular, which the scientific advice shows us and the research shows us, that means Australians can have their lives back. They should be able to go and get a cup of coffee in Brisbane when you’re over 80%, regardless of whether you’ve had the vaccines or not.
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In the Senate a little earlier, Labor did not support this climate motion from the Greens:
1. Notes the Glasgow Climate Pact, agreed to by nearly 200 countries, including Australia, at the conclusion of COP26 in Glasgow on November 13 2021,
2. Recognises that the impacts of climate change will be much lower at the temperature increase of 1.5°C compared with 2°C and resolves to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C, and
3. Commits to:
a) revisiting and strengthening the 2030 targets in our nationally determined contribution, as necessary to align with the Paris Agreement temperature goal by the end of 2022, taking into account different national circumstances;
b) accelerating the development, deployment and dissemination of technologies, and the adoption of policies, to transition towards low-emission energy systems, including by rapidly scaling up the deployment of clean power generation and energy efficiency measures, including accelerating efforts towards the phase-down of unabated coal power and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, recognizing the need for support towards a just transition; and
c) further actions to reduce by 2030 non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions, including methane.
BREAKING: Labor sitting with Libs & Nats, to oppose taking just 30mins of the parly program to reconfirm Australia’s commitment to the Glasgow Pact, after the PM and key Ministers and Nats have been walking back from the Pact after signing it. Coal & gas donations deliver again…
— Larissa Waters (@larissawaters) November 22, 2021
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It is the downhill slide to question time.
There are eight left in the year. That’s eight too many.
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SA premier Steven Marshall has held a press conference, explaining why his deputy Vickie Chapman felt she needed to step down as deputy premier and step aside from her attorney general and planning portfolios:
In this instance, because she is the attorney general and she has responsibility for the ombudsman, it was just felt this was the most appropriate. We consulted what had happened in the past. She has now stood aside and we will be swearing in Josh Teague tomorrow, as a cabinet minister, a full cabinet minister, and he will take on all of her responsibilities.
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Meanwhile, the government that wants to get out of people’s lives is also pushing ahead with legislation which no one outside of the government believes there is any reason for:
Morrison’s Voter ID bill would take Australia down a dangerous path. By creating yet another barrier for First Nations voters, the Govt is whittling away rights that were fought for over decades. There is no evidence this is needed. I urge my Senate colleagues to vote against it. pic.twitter.com/atX7jxVlmH
— Patrick Dodson (@SenatorDodson) November 22, 2021
For those who missed it, here was Jacqui Lambie absolutely blasting Pauline Hanson and supporters of the anti-vaccine mandate bill, which failed 5 votes (all from the Coalition) to 44.
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Hundreds leave NT public service over vaccine mandate
Michael Gunner is not too worried about the reduction in public service numbers, though – he says it will mean a better pay deal for those who have remained (which is 98% of the PS).
Gunner:
Following the deadline for the first jab, the public service vaccination rate is 98%.
There are about 400 public servants whose employment is ending due to their vaccination status. A small number of these are frontline roles that will be filled with new hires, but overall there will be a reduction in the public service of about 300 positions.
Because our vaccination rate is so high, there are no impacts to service delivery expected from these people leaving their employment.
The reduction in public service staff numbers is a saving to the budget wage bill of about $30 million a year.
This means that we can revise and improve the public service wages offer that’s currently on the table.
This morning, I have written to all members of the public service with a new four-year wages policy. It is a $4,000 lump sum bonus in the first year and an annual $2,000 bonus for the remaining three years. The base rate remains unchanged.
Because some public servants are leaving their jobs, we can now improve the pay deal for the public servants who keep working and this is no impact on the bottom line.
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Katharine lockdown extended by two days
Michael Gunner on Katharine, where the lockdown has been extended:
For Katherine, unfortunately we are not in a position to lift the lockdown for Katherine today.
It’s been extended for a further 48 [hours] to Wednesday 6pm. There are a few reasons for this.
The first reason: there are more than 1,300 tests from Katherine and surrounding communities that we really want to get results back on and that won’t happen until later today.
The second reason: the advice that there is still highly likely to be one or more positive cases in Katherine east that we have not yet found.
There is persistent positive wastewater in that area. The experience shows that persistent positive wastewater is a potent for more positive cases. We’re still expecting more positive cases.
I know that this is not the news that the people of Katherine wanted today. But I also know that you do not want to leave lockdown too soon only to go back into lockdown straight after. I want you to be able to get out of lockdown and stay out of lockdown.
Which is why we need a few more days to get these results back and be more confident that the outbreak is safely contained so we can then transition to a lockout footing. Please stick with us, you are nearly there. I promise you, you are nearly there.
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Here is Northern Territory chief minister Michael Gunner on the NT outbreaks in Indigenous communities:
We are now in a position to transition Robinson River from lockdown to lockout, effective immediately.
A lockout means fully vaccinated residents are able to move about the community freely while wearing a mask and must stay within the Robinson River area, which includes the surrounding home lands.
We expect a lockout for Robinson River will continue in some form until December 1, which covers a fortnight from the last positive case was in the community.
Robinson River has shown all Territorians how a lockdown can be done and won in the remote community. A highly vaccinated community. A high rate of testing and responding rapidly to an outbreak.
The vax rate in Robinson River has clearly made a massive difference.
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New Zealand records 205 Covid cases
New Zealand today reported new 205 cases of Covid-19, and the death of a man in his forties who had the virus and died at Middlemore hospital.
The virus has continued to spread around the country, with cases now in seven districts, including some in the South Island.
According to the ministry of health data, 91% of eligible New Zealanders (those aged 12 and over) have had at least one dose of the vaccine, and 83% are fully vaccinated.
The ministry uses HSU data to calculate that rate, which counts those engaged with health services and is a slight undercount of New Zealand’s population.
According to Stats NZ population data, first-dose vaccination rates are around 89% of the eligible population and 76% of the full population, and those fully vaccinated are 81% of the eligible population, or 69% of the full population.
Vaccination rates for eligible Māori are well behind the rest of the population, currently at 79% first doses and 64% second.
A loosening of restrictions in Auckland and around the country was flagged by the government this month and is expected to be formalised next week.
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Not sure if anyone actually noticed, but here is part of the statement Eric Abetz has just made on why he abstained from voting on Pauline Hanson’s anti-vaccine mandate bill:
The people of Tasmania are entitled to know why I abstained on a bill purporting to outlaw mandating Covid vaccination.
The bill, which is a slightly amended version of a bill introduced into the House of Representatives, is right in principle but clumsy and unlawful in that it is unconstitutional.
My view has always been that as soon as everyone who wants to be vaccinated has had a reasonable opportunity to be vaccinated. We should open up.
If vaccination works, then we who are vaccinated have nothing to fear from the unvaccinated.
For the record, I’m vaccinated and encourage people to be vaccinated. Also, for the record, I respect those who hold an alternate point of view. That’s how a civil liberal democratic society operates.
As a representative who has consistently opposed vaccine passports and mandating vaccinations, I am overwhelmingly sympathetic to the bill. We are seeing good nurses, teachers, doctors, defence personnel and aged care workers being thrown out of work in circumstances where the loss of jobs and services to the public is highly disproportionate to the actual risk, at a time when we already have a shortage of personnel in these areas.
The thought of a two-tiered society – the vaxed and the unvaxed - is to split and divide our community which is to weaken it.
My view has consistently been that we should educate, not discriminate. We should convince, not coerce.
The bill before the Senate would seek to override the states and stop funding to them if they mandate in any circumstance. Its constitutionality is highly questionable and the consequences highly disruptive. It would see the GST arrangements ripped up.
It stands to reason that if today the federal government is clothed with the power to override the states on vaccine mandates, it would also have the power to impose such mandates on the states.
This is a two-edged sword. We cannot stop living because we are scared of dying. The lockdowns and restrictions can’t and shouldn’t continue from general health, mental health and economic perspectives.
We need to learn to live with Covid. Vaccine passports have failed elsewhere and they will fail here while costing huge sums to administer while restricting freedoms.
Tasmanians can be assured I will continue to support their vaccination choices on the basis of the standard set by the Australian Immunisation Handbook, which declares valid legal consent is required and that means no “undue influence, manipulation or coercion”.
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Liberal National MP George Christensen - who is on his way out the door of the federal parliament - had some choice words for his own party’s state leadership at a function hosted by the rightwing Australian Conservative Political Action Conference.
“I’m going to get in trouble for this, I don’t care,” Christensen said before launching a broadside at state opposition leader David Crisafulli and others.
Where’s David Crisafulli on these pandemic restrictions?
If I was the leader of the opposition, I would have been on the stage [on Saturday] supporting all of these people who are protesting.
It’s great we’ve had ScoMo come out just this week saying that governments need to back off and we need our freedoms back. That should have been said long ago. But that’s being said now, that’s great – it needs to be followed up with action ... so people don’t go and vote for these minor parties.
Christensen agreed with a question from the audience that conservatives needed to organise to prevent “ball-less dicks” from being preselected.
There needs to be more of us [conservatives], so those other types don’t get in.
Christensen said the government should stop sending vaccine data to the states and that the government (a party that he, of course, remains a part of) had “no cojones” to reform the ABC.
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Anxious wait over Northern Territory Covid outbreak
AAP has an update on what is happening in the NT:
Most unvaccinated travellers are now barred from entering the Northern Territory as authorities nervously wait to learn if a Covid-19 outbreak has spread to another Indigenous community.
No new cases have been detected in the past 24 hours, but chief minister Michael Gunner has warned more are likely.
The Aboriginal community of Binjari, about 330km south of Darwin, entered an extreme lockdown late on Saturday after nine residents were diagnosed with the virus.
It brought the current cluster to 35 cases, with the lockdown extended to the neighbouring community of Rockhole due to its close ties with the people of Binjari.
The nearby town of Katherine and the Aboriginal community of Robinson River, 800km to the east, also remain locked down. That is scheduled to end at 6pm on Monday. However, Gunner has said it could be extended for several more weeks if the situation deteriorates.
He is expected to provide an update later on Monday.
Residents in the districts surrounding Binjari and Katherine have been ordered to wear face masks in most public place.
The Australian defence force has also been called in to help transfer positive cases and close contacts to the Centre of National Resilience at Howard Springs, just south of Darwin.
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Queensland has a new CHO.
#BREAKING: Queensland has a new Chief Health Officer. Dr John Gerrard will take over from mid December. He's currently Director of Infectious Diseases at Gold Coast University Hospital. | @10NewsFirstQLD pic.twitter.com/9V2ob75yOz
— Johnpaul Gonzo (@JohnpaulGonzo) November 22, 2021
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It is worth pointing out again how the prime minister has decided to seize on “binary” positions (obviously he wouldn’t feel the same about gender not being binary – there are still some issues the PM feels black-and-white about).
But as he seeks to recast himself as the “sensible centre” – the latest incarnation of his “quiet Australian” appeal, you will be hearing more about the “binary” nature of other people’s positions, and how Morrison himself sits in the grey.
Here he was on his “governments should get out of people’s lives” message, despite leading a government which is very big on intervention:
So I don’t buy this binary proposition that somehow, you are either for or against this cycle. Times change over that circumstance and governments that are interested in balanced, practical, sensible decisions will make them.
And here he is on how he views his own position – as he so often does, when asked to defend his 180 changes in positions, mistruths, lies or hypocrisies, Morrison pivots to recasting himself as the middle – where the “sensible” Australians sit.
Since I became prime minister, and I have always made it clear, there are those who would drag me over here and there are those who want to drag me over there.
I know where Australians are. They are not in the extremes, they want to make sensible assurances, weighing up all the best evidence and make sure we stay right there in the middle, where we are able to ensure that we can keep Australians safe and save lives and safe livelihoods.
And I think that’s what they expect of a prime minister and government – not to be distracted and dragged from one side of the binary divide to the other. I don’t see it in those terms.
You will be hearing a lot more about that between now and the election. It’s important to catch it when it happens.
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Labor is concentrating on IR issues today:
A fair day's pay for a fair day's work. That's what Labor believes in. And that's why we'll write 'same job, same pay' into law. My speech in Parliament today.👇 pic.twitter.com/uY3Y47PeJE
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) November 22, 2021
Here is how the failed Phon bill against vaccine mandates played out. In the end, because neither Pauline Hanson nor Malcolm Roberts are in Canberra, the only votes recorded for the bill were the five LNP senators who crossed the floor.
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That was the first press conference Scott Morrison has held with the Canberra press gallery in about three weeks.
It went for less than 30 minutes.
Q: China and Taiwan have both gone to seek entry into the CPTPP [trade pact]. What are your thoughts on that?
Scott Morrison:
We will work with those issues, and we had quite a few discussions, quite a few, with Japan come their former prime minister and current. It sets a high benchmark people have to achieve, and it is important that those who are seeking to become part of an arrangement like that would want to have a track record of [not] coercing other trade partners.
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On his rogue senators who voted for a bill the government doesn’t support (Pauline Hanson’s), Scott Morrison says:
The Liberal party and the National party, we do not run it as an autocracy. We don’t run people out of our party if we happen to disagree on an issue they feel strongly about. The government opposed the bill on Saturday and the bill has not been successful.
We do not agree with the measures that were in the bill, which would indeed threaten funding for hospitals and schools to states; a bill that will seek to centralise power more in Canberra...
I respect the fact that individual members will express a view and vote accordingly for those, [as] what happened today. We are the parties, we can deal with any differences and difficulties that occur from time to time.
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He then, as he so often does, makes it about himself.
Scott Morrison:
Since I became prime minister, I have always made it clear, there are those who would drag me over here and there are those who want to drag me over there.
I know where Australians are. They are not in the extremes, they want to make sensible assurances, weighing up all the best evidence and make sure we stay right there in the middle, where we are able to ensure that we can keep Australia safe and save lives and safe livelihoods.
And I think that’s what they expect of a prime minister and government – not to be distracted and dragged from one side of the binary divide to the other. I don’t see it in those terms.
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The questions continue.
Q: [You say] people have had a gutful of governments telling them what to do .... Why didn’t you move on opening up to fully vaccinated visa holders a month ago, when the New South Wales government were hoping to take them in?
Scott Morrison:
Don’t confuse the issues. Our government has had to make decisions that have had to reach into people‘s lives and it was very necessary in the midst of that pandemic. I’m not speaking against those decisions whatsoever.
What we’ve done is a government is we haven’t been driven by ideology, we’ve been driven by the practical situation in what the nation is faced.
... You’ve got a deal with the situation as you find it ... . As circumstances change, that is the time to ask [governments] to move back, which is what the national plan was designed to do. So I don’t buy this binary proposition that somehow, you’re either for or against this cycle.
Times change over that circumstance and governments that are interested in balanced, practical, sensible decisions will make them.
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The official visa announcement is as follows:
From 1 December 2021, fully vaccinated eligible visa holders can come to Australia without needing to apply for a travel exemption. Eligible visa holders include skilled and student cohorts, as well as humanitarian, working holiday-maker and provisional family visa holders.
Under these arrangements, travellers must:
- Be fully vaccinated with a completed dosage of a vaccine approved or recognised by Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)
- Hold a valid visa for one of the eligible visa subclasses
- Provide proof of their vaccination status
- Present a negative Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test taken within three days of departure.
Travellers to Australia must comply with the quarantine requirements in the state or territory of their arrival, and any other state or territory to which they plan to travel.
The return of skilled workers and international students to Australia will further cement our economic recovery, providing the valuable workers our economy needs and supporting our important education sector.
From 1 December 2021, Australia will also welcome back fully vaccinated citizens from Japan and the Republic of Korea. Under these arrangements, citizens of Japan and the Republic of Korea who hold a valid Australian visa will be able to travel from their home country quarantine-free to participating states and territories, without needing to seek a travel exemption.
Under these arrangements, travellers must:
- Depart from their home country
- Be fully vaccinated with a completed dosage of a vaccine approved or recognised by the TGA
- Hold a valid Australian visa
- Provide proof of their vaccination status
- Present a negative Covid-19 PCR test taken within three days of departure.
Today’s announcement follows earlier changes which have seen us welcome home fully vaccinated Australians, permanent residents and their immediate family members since 1 November, and follows the commencement of the Singapore safe-travel zone yesterday.
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Will Australia take in tourists from Europe, given the new wave of Covid the continent is dealing with?
It will be a “step by step” approach, says Scott Morrison.
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These are the visa classes included in the announcement:
From 1 December 2021, fully vaccinated eligible visa holders can now travel to Australia without needing to apply for a travel exemption. Eligible visa holders are people who hold the following visas:
Visa
Subclass 200 – Refugee visa
Subclass 201 – In-country Special Humanitarian visa
Subclass 202 – Global Special Humanitarian visa
Subclass 203 – Emergency Rescue visa
Subclass 204 – Woman at Risk visa
Subclass 300 – Prospective Marriage visa
Subclass 400 – Temporary Work (Short Stay Specialist) visa
Subclass 403 – Temporary Work (International Relations) visa (other streams, including Australian Agriculture Visa stream)
Subclass 407 – Training visa
Subclass 408 – Temporary Activity visa
Subclass 417 – Working Holiday visa
Subclass 449 – Humanitarian Stay (Temporary) visa
Subclass 457 – Temporary Work (Skilled) visa
Subclass 461 – New Zealand Citizen Family Relationship visa
Subclass 462 – Work and Holiday visa
Subclass 476 – Skilled – Recognised Graduate visa
Subclass 482 – Temporary Skill Shortage visa
Subclass 485 – Temporary Graduate visa
Subclass 489 – Skilled – Regional (Provisional) visa
Subclass 491 – Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa
Subclass 494 – Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa
Subclass 500 – Student visa
Subclass 580 – Student Guardian visa (closed to new applicants)
Subclass 590 – Student Guardian visa
Subclass 785 – Temporary Protection visa
Subclass 790 – Safe Haven Enterprise visa
Subclass 870 – Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa
Subclass 988 – Maritime Crew visa
What does “fully vaccinated” mean, as a visa holder?
The home affairs website lays it out as:
Australia considers you to be fully vaccinated if you have completed a course of a Therapeutic Goods Administration-approved or recognised vaccine. This includes mixed doses. Current vaccines and dosages accepted for the purposes of travel are:
Two doses at least 14 days apart of:
- AstraZeneca Vaxzevria
- AstraZeneca Covishield
- Pfizer/Biontech Comirnaty
- Moderna Spikevax
- Sinovac Coronavac
- Bharat Biotech Covaxin
- Sinopharm BBIBP-CorV (for 18-60-year-olds).
Or one dose of:
- Johnson & Johnson/Janssen-Cilag Covid vaccine.
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International border changes
This press conference is about the changes to the international border restrictions. Here is the nub of that announcement:
From the 1 December 2021, fully vaccinated eligible visa holders will be able to come to Australia without needing to apply for a travel exemption.
Eligible visa holders including skilled migrants and student visa holders as well as temporary working holiday makers and provisional family visa holidays.
In addition to the introduction of the travel bubble from Singapore, which only started on the 21st, from the 1 December 2021 Australia will also welcome back fully vaccinated citizens from Japan and Korea.
Under these arrangements, citizens of Japan and Korea who hold a valid visa will be able to travel from their home countries, quarantine-free, to participate in that program where stated ... without needing to seek a travel exemption.
The return of skilled workers and students to Australia is a major milestone in our pathway back, it’s a major milestone about what Australians have been able to achieve and enable us to do...
We’re looking forward to that occurring from 1 December. We have done this in an orderly way – at first we said, ‘let’s get Australians home for fully vaccinated’, and that’s been occurring for the first of this month. And so from the first of next month, we will come back to students, start looking back at the skilled visas that are needed to ensure we are able to take full advantage of the economic recovery that we are working to secure.
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And here is the campaign message in a nutshell from Scott Morrison:
So this national plan enables governments to step back and Australians to step forward so they can look forward.
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As the rewriting of the narrative continues, Scott Morrison remembers there was a national plan he was championing not so long ago – but now it is all about getting government out of people’s lives:
Our national plan, which I bought to the premiers and chief ministers back in June, was about opening safely so we can remain safely open.
And we are making great progress on the plan.
We have sensibly and safely taken governments to a position where they are getting out of people’s lives ... The national plan was not about entrenching government and people’s lives, it was about governing our people’s lives and that all we agreed to do, not just once but twice. And to keep going down that path...
The whole point of the national plan was to move forward, to look forward and to ensure that the many sacrifices that Australians have to endure ... and now we have a more than 80% double dose vaccination, that is extraordinary.
Updated
Scott Morrison press conference
The prime minister opens by taking credit for Australia’s reopening (where much of the heavy lifting was done by the states) and with a new campaign message – “Australia is looking forward” (Josh Frydenberg tried this out this morning in his interviews).
Australians are looking forward looking forward to Christmas, looking forward to being at the Ashes, looking forward to coming together, looking forward to 2022.
Australians are looking forward and there is much that we’ve been through together as a nation over the recent years. There’s been much that Australians have had to sacrifice and has been many decisions that governments, including my own, have had to make over these past few years – necessary decisions with difficult ones.
But together we’ve achieved something that few countries have, especially developing – we have one of the lowest fatality rates of Covid in the world. We have one of the strongest advanced economies going through Covid in the world.
And now we have one of the highest vaccination rates of countries in the world. These are extraordinary achievements by Australians.
Updated
For those who missed it, it is worth pointing out that the government allowed debate on Phon’s bill – which it was not going to support – at the expense of a private member’s bill from its own side which was seeking to give the Northern Territory the right to set its own euthanasia laws.
Updated
Hanson bill voted down, despite LNP senators crossing floor
One Nation’s vaccine mandate bill has just been rejected by the Senate, despite five government senators crossing the floor.
Liberals Alex Antic, Gerard Rennick and Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, National Matt Canavan and Country Liberal Sam McMahon voted for One Nation’s bill, while the rest of the government, Labor, Greens and crossbench voted against.
In one final twist, Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts were unable to vote for their own bill because they are still in Queensland, attending parliament remotely.
Hanson asked for leave to be granted to record that they were in support - and president Slade Brockman denied her that leave.
The government leader in the Senate, Simon Birmingham, then explained that during remote participation senators can state their voting intention so it is recorded in Hansard, but “it doesn’t change the tally ... there is no process to change the tally of votes”.
So in the end all Hanson got was a line or two in Hansard.
Updated
Pauline Hanson not being in the chamber, and also being on the crossbench, means she can’t vote on her own bill, for those wondering.
Jacqui Lambie is ABSOLUTELY ON FIRE in the Senate, speaking out in favour of vaccine mandates in a belter of a speech, laying out the “competing rights” argument that says people have the right to be safe.
She is blasting the suggestion that people who are not vaccinated are discriminated against, saying people have choices, but those choices have consequences.
Having the freedom to choose isn’t the same as having the freedom to avoid the consequences of that choice.
You have freedom to make a choice. But if you make a choice, those choices have consequences.
Lambie gives the example of a taxi driver who is expected to have a driver’s licence, or a police check for someone working with children as equivalent measures in society.
You put others before ourselves. You can decide not to choose those checks, no one is forcing you, but if you don’t do them, you can’t work where you want to work, it is as simple as that. That is the way it is.
If you want to work as a cabbie, you need to licence to drive a cab, people without a licence are not being discriminated against.
If you want to work in aged care, you need to have a flu vaccine, that has always been in place since before Covid-19 was even a twinkle in a Chinese bat’s eye for goodness sake, that is the way it is.
People have a right to choose, but you don’t have right to put vulnerable people’s lives at risk.”She also accuses One Nation of using the bill as a “fundraising exercise”.
The problem is politicians like senator Hanson and senator Roberts are using people’s fear to boost their own election campaigns, and they are using fear to make money and that’s what this is about from One Nation.
It’s all about cash, it’s all about power, it’s all about One Nation seats, and that is all this is.
Updated
Gerard Rennick was elected from the third spot on the LNP ticket – where he had been regulated by his party during preselection as a slim chance. Then the Labor vote in Queensland collapsed and Labor only managed to elect one senator, clearing the way for the Rennick’s entry.
Mike Bowers checked in on how the Senate was going this morning
Updated
The prime minister will hold a press conference at 11.30am. That is where he will announce the visa changes (and also defend “both siding” the protests).
Updated
Pauline Hanson isn’t actually in the Senate – she has stayed in Queensland
Jacqui Lambie accuses One Nation of running fear campaigns on vaccines in a grab for "cash and seats".
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) November 22, 2021
Pauline Hanson watches on with a wicked smile, either unaware she's onscreen or unphased by the stinging critique.#auspol pic.twitter.com/XODqk4hhk0
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Just a reminder vaccine mandates are not new – it was Scott Morrison who introduced “no jab, no play” rules for daycares while social services minister in 2015.
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What does LNP senator Gerard Rennick want?
Liberal senator Gerard Rennick has spoken in Senate debate on One Nation’s vaccination mandate bill.
As Guardian Australia reported earlier in November, Rennick wants the indemnity scheme for people who experience adverse effects from vaccines to be improved, including by removing a $5,000 threshold for costs before patients can make a claim.
In the Senate, Rennick added to the list, saying he wants:
- Compensation for loss of income
- Immediate compensation, without a waiting period of months
- “In the case of healthy people with no underlying conditions, the onus should be on the government to prove that the injury is not caused by the vaccine”; and
- The standard of proof should be that “on the balance of probabilities” the vaccine caused the adverse event, not the criminal standard
Checking some facts here: the commonwealth has said people have to show evidence of an adverse effect, the nature of the injury and its “likely relationship to a Covid-19 vaccination”.
So Rennick’s characterisation of having to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that link appears incorrect.
Rennick made some unsubstantiated claims that people are getting exemptions from their doctor, but mandates are still requiring them to get a second vaccine despite having an adverse reaction to the first.
He said:
Politicians should not be holding people to ransom with their health ... They should not be held for ransom with their livelihoods, they should not be held to ransom by separating them from their children, they should not be held to ransom by discriminating against their children.
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This is all happening while jurisdictions, including Queensland, try to convince people to get vaccinated so they reach the targets set by national cabinet.
And while the NT deals with an outbreak in Indigenous communities.
Independent senator Jacqui Lambie has been stronger on the issue than government senators
Jacqui Lambie, belting into Hanson: "Having the freedom to choose isn't the same as having the freedom to avoid the consequences of your choice" #auspol
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) November 22, 2021
Back in the Senate:
Liberal senator Gerard Rennick (during the debate on the Hanson bill) says he's withholding his vote from the government to seek improvements to the indemnity scheme. Specifics in this @msmarto story from three weeks ago https://t.co/SfIPwRBiL4 #auspol
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) November 21, 2021
Updated
We have mentioned this before, but here was Scott Morrison in August speaking on vaccine passports with Sydney radio host Ray Hadley.
Hadley: However, what I’ve tried to explain to people – including a bloke that’s giving me a hammering this morning about all of this – is if he wants to travel domestically, internationally, or go to the football or go to the races or go anywhere, there will be organisations – not because they’ve been told to do it – who’ll say: we want to see your vaccination passport.
And I’ve now got it on my phone. Someone – in fact, my wife – showed me how to do it last night. So I’ve got my two jabs on my phone so I can show it to people if I need to. But I think people have got to understand that life will be different for them if they don’t get vaccinated. They’ve got to understand that – whether you make it mandatory or not, their life will be different.
Morrison:
Well, that is true, and living with the virus will be different. I mean, it’s not going anywhere. You can’t eradicate it. So it’s still going to be there, and vaccination and the booster shots – we’ve already, you know, ordered for next year – will be part of, a part of that life, because you make a very good point. A business under property law has the ability to say ‘no, you can’t come in’, and they can ask for that. That’s a legitimate thing for them to do. And they are doing that to protect their own workers, to protect their other clients. And it’s got nothing to do with ideology, and this, you know, these issues around liberty and so on.
We all believe in freedom, but we also believe in people being healthy, and the sheer fact of it is, if you’re not vaccinated, you represent a greater public health risk to yourself, to your family, to your community and others about you. So it’s only sensible that people will do sensible things to protect their public health.
Updated
Switching to the (less dramatic) developments in the lower house for a moment - and Rebekha Sharkie has introduced a bill “to ban the importation of goods that are produced in whole or part by forced labour”.
It’s the same as the measure that passed the Senate a few of months ago (Rex Patrick was the one who introduced that bill in the Senate, but the government did not support it). It is driven by concerns about China’s actions in Xinjiang - but the bill itself is not country-specific.
Groups supporting the bill have issued a statement today urging the government to get on board with the plan.
Ramila Chanisheff, the president of the Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Womens’ Association, said:
We urge the Australian Government to support this bill and take meaningful action against slavery. The industrial scale at which Uyghurs are being held in internment and labour camps means immediate action on this issue is needed.
Michele O’Neil, the president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, said there was “no possible defence for standing in the way of this bill”.
Freya Dinshaw, a senior lawyer at Human Rights Law Centre, added:
The Australian government should take this opportunity to strengthen its modern slavery laws by introducing a robust and transparent forced-labour ban that places the onus back on to importers to show their goods are slavery-free. We should all have confidence the goods we purchase are not made at the expense of other peoples’ freedom.
Carolyn Kitto, co-director of anti-slavery group Be Slavery Free, said the bill would “give consumers the confidence they are not supporting slavery and slavery-like conditions in the imported products they purchase”.
Updated
Matt Canavan supports Hanson's vaccination bill
The Queensland Nationals senator Matt Canavan is speaking in support of Pauline Hanson’s bill, saying vaccine mandates are “unfair, cruel and unnecessary”.
He says:
You should not need to undergo a medical procedure to earn a living.
Everybody should have the right to work and provide for their family, and no government in this free country that I was born in, has the right to take away people’s right to work and provide for their family.
Canavan then has a rant about the efficacy of vaccine passports, saying they don’t work to reduce transmission. (This is despite the scientific evidence making clear that vaccines reduce transmission rates, contagion and the severity of the disease, and vaccine passports ensure that high-risk settings are less risky, so that fewer people get sick, get admitted to hospital or die from Covid.)
Canavan says he supports vaccination but does not believe they are going to prevent future waves of the virus.
I encourage others to be vaccinated because I think it does protect oneself from the severe disease Covid can inflict, but these vaccines do not seem to be doing a good job at stopping transmission.
He also says he supports mandates in “narrowly targeted” settings such as in aged care, which, along with frontline quarantine workers, are the two areas subject to commonwealth mandates.
He says the “politics of fear” is dividing the country, and the Hanson bill will help restore unity.
Labor senator Kristina Keneally is now speaking, saying the opposition supports mandatory vaccines when based on public health advice.
She then turns on the government, saying the prime minister, Scott Morrison, is “pandering to these extremist elements” by allowing debate on Hanson’s bill.
Updated
While we wait for more from the Senate, AAP has an update on the coming announcement for Australian visa holders:
Visa holders, skilled migrants and international students will soon be allowed to return to Australia.
Prime minister Scott Morrison will make an announcement on Monday confirming the arrangements.
It has been nearly two years since these groups have been able to come to Australia without having to quarantine after international borders were closed due to Covid-19.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said allowing more people into Australia from overseas was the natural next step.
He told Sky News:
We want to allow skilled migrants to come to our country as well as international students sooner than later.
International students are worth some $40 billion to our economy, and we know that there are workforce shortages out there and skilled workers can play a key part.
It comes after Australia welcomed tourists from Singapore on Sunday, following the start of a quarantine-free travel bubble between the two nations.
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Matt Canavan, the LNP senator, is seconding Pauline Hanson’s bill:
Canavan says he will support the Hanson bill removing vaccine mandates even if his amendments fail. He says his amendments countenance an exception for the aged care sector (which is the mandate the Commonwealth sought) #auspol
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) November 21, 2021
Pauline Hanson introduces 'vaccine discrimination' bill
Pauline Hanson is introducing her vaccine discrimination bill in the Senate, which the government has allowed in place of the territory rights bill being sponsored by NT CLP senator Sam McMahon.
The Covid-19 Vaccination Status (Prevention of Discrimination) Bill 2021 prohibits discrimination based on a person’s Covid-19 vaccination status by the commonwealth, state and territory governments, statutory authorities, local governments and private enterprises.
In introducing the bill, Hanson said there was a “pandemic of discrimination” in Australia against people who have refused the vaccination”.
One Nation would not stand by and witness the demise of Australian democracy and freedom without a fight, Hanson said.
We don’t do this lightly. We do it with sincere regret that such legislation is even necessary. But make no mistake: it is not only necessary, but absolutely vital.
Senators here are on notice if you don’t support my legislation, then you don’t support Australian democracy and freedom and you don’t support the right to choose.
We are not here to wield power against the Australian people. We are here to wield the power of the Australian people.
We have no right to take away their rights.
She also accused the prime minister, Scott Morrison, of being “weak”, and said he could use the advice of the solicitor general to improve the bill if the government could not support it in its current form.
Updated
And in the Senate:
Matt Canavan has told the Senate he is supporting Pauline Hanson's private member's bill #auspol
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) November 21, 2021
Anthony Albanese was also on ABC radio RN this morning, speaking about the prime minister’s rhetoric on the protests:
I hold the prime minister responsible for failing to call out, unequivocally, the violent and extreme comments that are made, the taking of gallows, the threatening of Labor MPs and premiers and independents, the fact that so many MPs have to have security at the moment.
And there is always a but, Fran. We heard it again from Simon Birmingham. Barnaby Joyce, this morning, we heard as well. The prime minister should be capable of just showing leadership, not being weak, and saying that these comments and this behaviour is unacceptable in Australia in 2021.
Updated
That answer is followed up with this question:
Q: Minister, do you believe some of your colleagues are a bit stupid for threatening to block certain bills over something the prime minister can’t control?
Simon Birmingham:
I’d never get the point of using that sort of description towards my colleagues.
Simon Birmingham also did a quick doorstop interview this morning, where he was asked if he had spoken to his colleagues Gerard Rennick or Alex Antic about their threats to veto government legislation unless the prime minister stops vaccine mandates in the states:
Well, I and other members of the government have had many discussions, as we always do with our colleagues. I respect the confidentiality of discussions with my colleagues. I understand that they have passionate views, and it’s why the Liberal and National parties allow our amendments without threat of expulsion, like the Labor party has to exercise their rights and their will.
But equally I, along with every other Liberal senator, were elected by voters supporting the Liberal party, as a result of the hard work of Liberal party members and volunteers, and they want to make sure that I engage in support of the government as much as possible across all areas of our agenda. And I’m sure that holds true for what members expect of all our colleagues.
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The House is also sitting – Tony Smith is in the speaker’s chair, but not for too much longer. He announced in the last sitting he would be stepping down to ensure a smooth handover and so he could speak on his electorate again.
Kevin Andrews is favourite at this stage to take over.
Good morning! The House resumes at 10am. Today will be the final time Speaker Smith takes the Chair at the commencement of a sitting. This morning's Private Members' business will then include the introduction of two bills and two motions. Full program: https://t.co/pWJxbQVHJK pic.twitter.com/rbJVAUrBbO
— Australian House of Representatives (@AboutTheHouse) November 21, 2021
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Summary
And the Senate business agenda is out (a reminder: the government sets the agenda, although it can be changed by the Senate through motions, so when these agendas first come out, it is what the government wants to bring to the fore).
The #Senate meets at 10am today. The first bill on the agenda is Senator @PaulineHansonOz's COVID-19 Vaccination Status (Prevention of Discrimination) Bill 2021 https://t.co/zKEjVHQic9 pic.twitter.com/FPyE5Muesm
— Australian Senate (@AuSenate) November 21, 2021
Updated
Why the constant need for qualifications on this issue? Fran Kelly asks Simon Birmingham.
The leader of the government in the Senate pivots to the question he wants to answer, saying:
This is this is actually about making sure that we keep all Australians together through the process of finalising our responses to Covid-19. We’ve done so well as a country through 2020 and 2021. Estimates show that the national response to Covid has saved in excess of 30,000 lives, from closing our international borders to the work that we’ve done with states and territories right across the country – Labor and Liberal have all done – have saved tens of thousands of Australian lives.
They’ve also, from our economic responses such as jobkeeper and other policies, saved many thousands of Australian businesses and hundreds of thousands of Australian jobs – estimates of more than 700,000 jobs being saved through our national responses to the pandemic.
The vaccine rates across this country now are some of the highest in the world – 91% first vax, in excess of 85% now second-dose vaccination. These are world leading rates and now should give us confidence to try to move together as united as possible into the next stages, which the prime minister will further outline today in terms of opening our international borders – as we’ve been doing safely and progressively – to fully vaccinated international students and essential workers coming back to our country.
Q: I want to come to it that in a minute. But just to stay with the tenor and the temperature of some of these protests that MPs have told us they’ve received death threats – federal politicians are saying their electoral offices are being inundated with, you know, angry anti-vaxxers. If the temperature isn’t worried, are you worried that we could see the same type of political violence that’s occurred in the US or even in the UK? Could we see physical attacks against politicians here? Are you concerned at [that]?
Birmingham:
That’s always a concern, perhaps in the back of the mind of any politician.
Q: Is it?
Birmingham:
Ultimately, I’ve seen, you know, vandalism, attacks and other things on my own electorate office, and have had occasions where I – as many others –have had police engagement in terms of some of my public events and activities.
That’s a sad part of public life. We should always try to keep the debate as respectful as possible and that is why, indeed, those who seek to elevate it to the levels that do provoke or promote violence in any form deserve condemnation – and have been condemned by the prime minister, by the leader of the opposition, by both sides of politics in this country, as they should be.
Updated
For those who missed it, here was Simon Birmingham attempting to rewrite the narrative on how the prime minister answered questions on the anti-vaccine/mandate/far-right/conspiracy protests last week, which included threats of violence and death against sitting MPs.
Fran Kelly: What angered many is the way the prime minister seemed to qualify his condemnation. He said that while he has no tolerance for violence, it’s time for Australians to take their lives back, expressly expressing sympathy for those who are demonstrating. I mean, doesn’t that signal to protesters that the prime minister’s got their backs?
Birmingham:
No, Fran. I mean, the prime minister listens to all Australians and listens very carefully to the concerns that he hears not just from those who might turn out to protest – who are usually only a very small proportion of the populace – but to those that he hears from right across the length and breadth of the country. And –
Kelly: Sure. But was that the time to send that message to them rather than just stop at condemning those who bring gallows, death threats, all sorts of violent acts to a protest?
Birmingham:
Fran, he did condemn them, and –
Kelly: And then he qualified it.
Birmingham:
And the condemnation was clear and he repeated it again subsequently, and the government has continued to do so. And I’ve certainly done so in no uncertain terms, and I’m happy to do so again. As I said, Fran, those activities, those actions, those banners and placards have no place in respectful debate, deserve condemnation, and we have done so.
That doesn’t mean that you don’t keep trying to listen to all Australians, and legitimate concerns expressed in more peaceful ways.
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Victoria reports 1,029 new Covid cases, three deaths
Victoria has posted its daily cases, deaths and vaccine numbers.
We thank everyone who got vaccinated and tested yesterday.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) November 21, 2021
Our thoughts are with those in hospital, and the families of people who have lost their lives.
More data soon: https://t.co/OCCFTAtS1P#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/5knbIBn7Zv
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Peter Dutton is smiling again.
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Stuart Robert, though, admits he doesn’t actually know how the Senate works (from a chat with the Nine network this morning).
I’ve been here 14 years representing the people of my electorate and I’m still yet to work out how the Senate works. It’s a little, interesting place but we’re a broad church in the Liberal party. There are strong views and strong passions but we always tend to work it through in the interests of the country, so I’m very confident we’ll do the same thing in the next fortnight.
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AAP has pulled together the Morrison minister’s quotes from this morning trying to quell the level of discontent within its own ranks:
Senior ministers have insisted the federal government won’t be held to ransom by rogue coalition senators over the issue of vaccine mandates.
As parliament gets ready to sit for its final fortnight for the year, Queensland senator Gerard Rennick and South Australian senator Alex Antic have said they would withhold their vote from all legislation unless vaccine mandates are scrapped.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has already promised to cause “mayhem” for the government over the issue.
Finance minister Simon Birmingham said the government would not seek to overhaul mandates.
He told ABC Radio on Monday
The government won’t be dictated to, we will do as we’ve always done, which is work with our health advisers.
What I urge any parliamentarian to do is not to hold one issue to another unrelated issue, each piece of legislation ought to be considered on its merits.
Birmingham said he still respected the right of other government members to cross the floor of the Senate.
It is a time-honoured tradition of the Liberal National party ... that we allow our MPs to cross the floor without being tossed out of the party.
However, it’s a right that should always be used sparingly and I would urge any member of parliament to not conflate unrelated issues.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said discussions were ongoing with the disaffected senators over their vaccine mandate stance.
He told the Seven Network:
We will continue to present to the parliament important pieces of legislation.
The treasurer said the issue of vaccine mandates were for state governments.
Meanwhile, opposition leader Anthony Albanese has accused prime minister Scott Morrison of pandering to extremists for not fully condemning violent demonstrators protesting against vaccine mandates.
Morrison had drawn criticism for urging states with mandates to allow freedoms for the unvaccinated, such as being allowed to enter retail and hospitality venues.
Albanese told ABC Radio:
The prime minister should be capable of just showing leadership, not being weak, and saying these comments and this behaviour is unacceptable in Australia in 2020.
I hold the prime minister responsible for failing to call out unequivocally, the violent and extreme comments that are made, the taking of gallows, the threatening of Labor MPs and premiers and independents.
The government also plans to use the final sitting weeks of parliament for the year to pass its religious freedom laws.
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Barnaby Joyce, who says the National party – the government’s junior partner – did not sign up to the Glasgow communique which was voluntarily signed by the Australian government, wants to know why LNP senators are bringing a disagreement they have with state government policies to the federal government:
The federal government is not stopping people in Queensland from going to the football, the federal government is not stopping them from going to the shops, or for going to the pub – they are state laws so this is an issue that you’ve got to take up with the state. The federal government does not believe in compulsory vaccines, or vaccine mandates.
Why are you bringing a fight into the federal government?
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NSW records 180 new Covid cases, one death
NSW has posted its latest case, death and vaccine numbers:
NSW COVID-19 update – Monday 22 November 2021
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) November 21, 2021
In the 24-hour reporting period to 8pm last night:
- 94.4 % of people aged 16+ have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 91.8% of people aged 16+ have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine pic.twitter.com/wilxsv6fGH
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Everything seems completely normal and fine in the Coalition party room at the moment:
Update to this: Sam McMahon "extremely disappointed" that One Nation's vaccination discrimination bill has been prioritised over her territory rights bill. Says Pauline Hanson has "hijacked" legislative agenda through threats to vote against the Morrison government. https://t.co/S2krlX3zeH pic.twitter.com/tQTlzGPUbK
— Dan Jervis-Bardy (@D_JervisBardy) November 21, 2021
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There is still a lot of opposition to the government’s attempts to legislate voter ID laws – despite there being no problem or issue which needs to be addressed.
This is the third hit to voters in the NT following cuts to AEC NT staff & the exclusion of remote communities from direct enrolment. We must stop this Bill. Write to crossbench senators Jacqui Lambie and Stirling Griff (Senator.Griff@aph.gov.au) to ask them to vote against it. pic.twitter.com/npR33kKMJ8
— Malarndirri McCarthy (@Malarndirri19) November 21, 2021
Sydney bus drivers turn off Opal machines on select routes
Bus drivers are turning off their Opal machines across Sydney’s inner west and western suburbs today, as part of industrial action taken against private operator Transit Systems.
Drivers are protesting against a “two-tiered” pay structure that allows Transit Systems to pay some drivers lower wages, and provide worse conditions than others doing the same job.
David Babineau, secretary of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union NSW, says Transit Systems has refused to attend negotiation meetings, forcing drivers into industrial action.
Transit Systems has refused pointblank to do the right thing and give its workers the same pay and conditions for doing the same job.
This two-tiered system is absolutely rotten, and of course Transit Systems wants to keep that arrangement in place if it means they can get away with paying wither workers less.
All bus drivers want is to be treated fairly, and they have had enough. That’s why on Monday they’re taking industrial action to turn off their Opal machines, carrying passengers for free so Transit Systems can’t profit.
The two-tiered system came after some regions in the city had their bus routes privatised, allowing Transit Systems to hire new drivers who are not on government contacts.
Babineau:
This is what happens when public transport is privatised and run for profit – the public are robbed of their reliable services and workers are robbed of their pay and conditions.
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And it turns out that there are still some vaccine mandates the federal government is in support of – the ones it has set for international travellers coming in to Australia.
Josh Frydenberg:
Again, people who have come to Australia need to be double vaccinated and that is a requirement that applies and therefore you don’t have to go through the usual [quarantine].
As you know, the international students are a big part of our economy worth some $40bn and skilled migrants play a critical role.
Last week I sat down with many Australians leading CEOs and company chairpeople and a single biggest issue, the most pressing issue for them, was allowing the borders to reopen and skilled workers to come back in because we do have work shortages and job ads are now 30% higher than they were at the start of the pandemic, and that is a real impact on the economy, so the sooner we can open safely, the better for the economy and for people’s jobs.
Updated
Josh Frydenberg is also asked about the new Covid waves sweeping through the northern hemisphere as it enters winter and is asked if Australia is prepared for that, if it happens here when the weather cools off again next year:
As I said here before, we want to look forward not back, and looking back is looking at lockdowns. That’s why booster shots is so important and we have been able to secure that vaccine so people should be encouraged to get the booster shot when they are eligible, but I think we can live safely with the virus.
Of course, there will be hospitalisations and tragically, even some deaths, but the alternative to see economy-wide lockdowns and seeing people confined to their homes and, to see a repeat of the curfews, that is not on.
I think it had a big impact, not just in terms of job losses, but it also had what Patrick McGorry has termed an impact on people’s wellbeing, so as not just about preventing Covid and the illness and is we should also be focused on people’s general wellbeing as well.
Updated
Josh Frydenberg was also on the Seven network this morning, trying to walk both sides of the line on state vaccine rules (which were established as part of the national plan which came from national cabinet, which the prime minister chairs) as the federal government tries to shift any blame for vaccine angst to the (Labor) state governments.
Q: State governments have already enforced work, travel and going to the pub [mandates]. Would the [federal] government ever overturn that?
Frydenberg:
These are matters for state governments.
Q: Treasurer, you cannot handball like that.
Frydenberg:
[The federal government don’t] make those laws.
Q: I know, but months in the past, you and the prime minister have all said, yes, it is every employer’s right to mandate vaccination and we want everyone vaccinated. Now, you seem to be backing off?
Frydenberg:
I’ll tell you what, I’m not backing off, the need for a string of people to get the jab and I think it has been a great success, our voluntary vaccination program that has seen Australia past the 85% threshold double dose. That is wonderful news, and in those states and territories where there has been extended lockdowns, there has been extended lockdowns, the ACT, NSW and Victoria, those vaccination rates are even higher, so our focus has been rolling out that they seem to as many people as possible, and as you know, that has allowed our economy to open up. That’s our focus. It has never been a mandatory vaccination program, it was always been voluntary.
Q: You have said in the past, every employer has the right to mandate vaccinations in the workplace. Do you still agree with that?
Frydenberg:
I absolutely agree that those employers have those rights and so do the state governments under their own public health orders. I think it has been really effective, to be honest, to see the vaccine uptake increase to ease those restrictions. I was out in the CBD over the weekend and it was pumping.
People moving about from venue to venue, and obviously, that is good news for our economy as well. As you know, we have an announcement today about skilled workers coming in and more international students come in. That is the next stage, and one of them reasons we can do that safely is because the vaccination rates in Australia are so high.
Updated
'We've got to understand the frustrations,' Barnaby Joyce says of protesters
Simon Birmingham may be trying to walk back the “both sides” of the so-called freedom protests, which included threats of violence and death against sitting state MPs, but Barnaby Joyce is holding the line. There is a lot of work being done by a small group of people to make sure those protesting aren’t all labelled as “mad”. This is despite that same group of people usually condemning peaceful protests from the left.
Here is Joyce on the Seven network this morning:
There’s not there’s not a person in this building, not any one, I hope exists that says that threatening a person’s life, building gallows, doing all that kind of total garbage is something that is just … we don’t want it.
OK. So, no one is suggesting for one second, we do that. And it’s outrageous.
But just because there’s a crazy person in the Carlton crowd at a football game that throws a rock doesn’t mean that every person in the Carlton crowd is crazy.
We’ve got to understand the frustrations that are behind this. And you can’t be saying, ‘Oh, well, you therefore you’re a sympathiser,’ because you acknowledge that there are also people in those protests, who are not outrageous, who are mums and dads, who are law-abiding citizens who also want to be heard.
You can’t say every person in that crowd is somehow a you know, a madman or a mad woman or a bad person – they’re not.
And when you say that, that is also is kind of insulting because there are a lot of people just there, they’ve just had, it they’re frustrated.
Updated
And a reminder that there is a lot more to the Hunter Valley than coal.
There has been very short notice for this photo opportunity just announced by Peter Dutton’s office:
Picture Opportunity – Signing of the Exchange of Naval Nuclear Propulsion Information Agreement.
That will happen with Dutton, the United States chargé d’affaires Michael Goldman and United Kingdom high commissioner Victoria Treadell.
Updated
Labor leader Anthony Albanese is not buying it though:
"I hold the Prime Minister responsible for failing to call out unequivocally, the violent and extreme comments that are made, the taking of gallos, the threatening of Labor MPs and Premiers and Independents." @AlboMP, Opposition Leader
— RN Breakfast (@RNBreakfast) November 21, 2021
Simon Birmingham condemns threats of violence at protests
After Scott Morrison “both sided” last week’s anti-lockdown/mandate/far right protests, which included threats of violence and death (and gallows and guillotines) against elected MPs with this comment (made after saying he condemned the violent threats):
Of course, there are many people who are feeling frustrated.
I mean, over the last couple of years, governments have been telling Australians what to do. Now, there’s been a need for that as we’ve gone through the pandemic. But the time is now to start rolling all of that back.
Simon Birmingham is now trying to walk it all back, telling ABC radio RN:
We absolutely condemn any threats of violence, acts of violence in Australian political debate, they have no place at all.
Updated
What is happening for visa holders waiting to get back into Australia now that the international border has been reopened?
Karen Andrews:
The Morrison government made it very, very clear that they are a priority in opening the borders was to make sure that we opened to Australian citizens and permanent residents. We have done that.
We’re very much aware of other cohorts that we need to make sure are getting into the country. That includes international students. It also includes skilled workers.
We know that there is a desperate need for skilled workers in this country. So the Morrison government has always been very clear that we would work in accordance with the national plan and we are now at over 80% vaccination rates across Australia double dosed. So we are going through the process now of reopening Australia to the world.
Q: How soon will those visa holders be allowed in?
Andrews:
Well, it will be as soon as we can possibly do that and we will be looking at bringing those people back into Australia as soon as we possibly can. So it’s imminent.
Updated
Home affairs minister Karen Andrews spoke to ABC News Breakfast about a new AFP taskforce this morning but was asked about her colleagues Gerard Rennick and Alex Antic threatening to withhold their votes over vaccine “mandates”:
All parliamentarians are elected to do their job. And that means that they need to look at the legislation that is before the House and before the Senate.
There is some pretty significant legislation that will be in the senate this morning and that includes one of my bill, which is the critical infrastructure bill.
It’s a national security matter. Now, there is nothing more important in terms of keeping Australians safe and secure than passing national security legislation.
So I would encourage all members and senators to focus on the job that they were elected to do, which is to turn up at parliament and to look at the legislation and give their views on it.
Updated
In other news coming out of South Australia, the state is about to hit its 80% vaccination rate, which means it will open its borders to Victoria and NSW (with some conditions).
Updated
SA deputy premier steps down from ministerial roles
The South Australian deputy premier (and attorney general) Vickie Chapman will step down from her ministerial roles after a vote of no confidence from the SA parliament late last week.
An inquiry, which had been moved by Labor MPs and found support from former Liberal MPs who now sit on the crossbench, found Chapman had acted with a conflict of interest when she blocked a timber port on Kangaroo Island while planning minister.
Chapman owned property on the island, which the inquiry said presented an actual and perceived interest in rejecting the port, which it said was, in the committee’s view, was a breach of the SA ministerial code of conduct.
She announced her decision to step down from her ministerial roles while an investigation is carried out.
Updated
Good morning
Welcome to the start of the final parliament sitting for 2021.
The next two weeks were meant to be about Australia’s “new normal” but instead it’s about what legislation the Morrison government can get through its own party room.
Gerard Rennick and Alex Antic have both said they will withhold their votes, leaving the government even shorter in the Senate than usual, while the religious discrimination bill, which was meant to be a salve for conservatives after the marriage equality legislation, has angered both moderates and their more conservative colleagues. The integrity commission bill is also up in the air, with the crossbench wondering what it even does.
So as a lead-up to an election year, it is not shaping up as the ideal last sitting for Scott Morrison and his cabinet.
Throw in Barnaby Joyce and his followers doing all they can to talk down the government’s climate policy as actually doing anything, Morrison himself trying to harness vaccine and lockdown discontent and a new war of words brewing between the federal government and popular Labor state premiers, and it’s all a bit of a mess.
Meanwhile, while Australia may be “opening up” the pandemic is not over, with the Northern Territory dealing with its most serious outbreak in more than a year – 35 people are now part of the cluster which has hit Indigenous communities. Health authorities have identified 385 close contacts and 374 have been contacted and are isolating while 314 have tested negative so far.
NSW and Victoria are both still recording deaths from Covid infections; it’s a stark and heartbreaking reminder of just how dangerous this virus is. Australia could not remain in lockdown forever but it doesn’t mean that there is still not an impact.
We’ll bring you all of the parliament happenings, as well as anything else, with Mike Bowers, Katharine Murphy, Sarah Martin, Paul Karp and Daniel Hurst at your service in Canberra. Amy Remeikis is on the blog for the sitting duration, while the rest of the Guardian team is working on news across Australia for you.
It being Monday, I have had only two coffees. That will change though.
Ready?
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