What happened today, Monday 24 May
Time to wind the blog down for the evening. Here are today’s main events:
- Four Covid-19 cases have been confirmed in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, three of which are close contacts of the original case. Victoria’s health minister, Martin Foley, has said there are no current plans for a lockdown.
- The disability royal commission heard residents of a national disability insurance scheme accommodation provider in western Sydney were subjected to alleged instances of physical and racist verbal abuse.
- The Australian of the year, Grace Tame, said the prime minister, Scott Morrison, responded to her powerful speech at this year’s Australia Day awards ceremony by remarking, “Well, gee, I bet it felt good to get that out”.
- Environment officials revealed to an estimates hearing that more than 100 endangered species and habitats that had been identified as requiring a recovery plan to try to prevent their extinction may not get one.
- Samoa was plunged into fresh political turmoil, with two rival political leaders claiming they are prime minister of the Pacific nation.
We’ll see you back here tomorrow.
Updated
Over in environment estimates, the department has been asked about a recent Guardian Australia investigation that revealed tens of millions of dollars in offset credits were purchased from properties linked to consultants whose company advised the NSW government on development in western Sydney.
Since Guardian Australia’s stories were published, the NSW transport department has referred purchases it made to the state’s Independent Commission Against Corruption and the state’s auditor general has brought forward an audit of the NSW biodiversity offsetting scheme.
The consultants have denied any suggestion of wrongdoing or conflicts of interest.
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has asked environment officials if they’ve made any enquiries about $37.5m in purchases the federal government made from the same properties to offset the western Sydney airport.
The short answer to that question is no. The department notes the Greens have made a referral to the Australian National Audit Office and officials tell the hearing that would be the appropriate place for any investigation.
They say questions about the transactions themselves should be directed to the department of infrastructure, which bought the offsets.
“No one in the department has bothered to go back and have a look?” Hanson-Young asks.
The officials say as far as the environment department is concerned, the entire airport offset package has met the necessary environmental conditions for the quantity and quality of offsets.
The secretary of the department, Andrew Metcalfe, says:
I think our advice is that we constantly look at these issues and there is nothing at this stage that we believe is necessary.
Updated
On that note, I am going to hand you over to the lovely Lisa Cox, who will take you through the evening updates.
I’ll be back tomorrow, when prime minister and cabinet appears for estimates, so that should be an interesting one. Murph will also have the latest Essential poll, so keep an eye out for that as well.
A very big thank you to everyone who joined me for today – and it was lovely hearing from all of you in the comments! We missed you. We’re doing all we can to keep them open for as long as possible, but each day is different. I can assure you, though, we do want you as involved in the conversation here as possible – you are a crucial part of everything we do.
I hope you all have a lovely evening – and stay warm! I’ll be back early tomorrow morning. In the meantime, as always – take care of you.
Updated
Debate is still continuing on the budget amendments – we are still waiting to see which way Bob Katter will vote. There doesn’t need to be a majority on this vote for the amendment to get up, as it is part of the proceedings – there is no suspension of standing orders to make it happen.
As Paul reports, it is not binding – but it is rare for governments to have things pass against their will in the house – and not something any government relishes. The perils of a minority government continue!
Updated
As we reported earlier, the Greens are attempting a second-reading amendment to the appropriation bill calling on the government to require companies that made windfall gains while claiming jobkeeper to pay the money back.
The amendment is seconded by former Liberal turned independent Craig Kelly.
His contribution was short and sharp:
While fundamentally disagreeing with the vast majority of the speech of the member for Melbourne [Adam Bandt], I second the amendment and reserve my right to speak.
Kevin Andrews, presiding in the speaker’s chair, briefly took advice about whether this was in order. He confirmed this was the case and debate continued.
No word from the crossbench yet, including Bob Katter, whose vote will likely be critical.
This isn’t binding, and it won’t sink the bill, but it would be a major embarrassment for the government.
Updated
AAP has an update on the contest for Tasmanian Labor’s new leader:
The next leader of Tasmania’s Labor opposition won’t be known for at least three weeks.
Former deputy David O’Byrne and Braddon MP Shane Broad are in the running for the role after Rebecca White stepped down following Labor’s third-straight election loss.
A vote of rank-and-file members and party delegates will be held to determine a new leader.
Labor state secretary Stuart Benson says the ballot will be open to members until 15 June and gives them a “genuine choice” about the party’s future.
Updated
NSW Health has put out an update on how it is handling the Melbourne cases – it is still watch and wait.
NSW Health is closely monitoring the situation in Victoria as local health authorities investigate four Covid-19 cases detected in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
The new cases visited a number of venues while infectious.
People arriving in Sydney from the Greater Melbourne area are reminded that they must complete a declaration which confirms they have not attended one of these venues of concern.
The declaration form is available on the Service NSW website, and can be completed in the 24-hour period before entering NSW or on arrival.
NSW Health will be contacting people who have completed declarations to ask them to check the Victoria Department of Health and Human Services website and immediately follow the outlined public health advice. Venues may be updated, so it is important to check this page regularly.
If you have been in Victoria since 10 May and attended any of the venues identified at the times listed, please contact NSW Health immediately on 1800 943 553.
The travel declaration provides critical information to enable NSW Health to contact travellers if required, and is for all travellers who intend to enter NSW by air, road and rail having been in Greater Melbourne in the previous 14 days.
This form includes contact details and confirmation of whether people have been to any venues of concern. Declaration forms can be completed within the 24-hour period prior to entering NSW, or on entry to NSW.
People who have been in the Whittlesea local government area should not visit residential aged care facilities, or hospitals unless seeking medical attention.
The Whittlesea LGA includes the suburbs and rural localities of Beveridge, Donnybrook, Doreen, Eden Park, Epping, Humevale, Kinglake West, Lalor, Mernda, Mill Park, South Morang, Thomastown, Whittlesea, Wollert, Woodstock and Yan Yean.
There are more than 300 Covid-19 testing locations across NSW, many of which are open seven days a week.
To find your nearest testing clinic, visit www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/how-to-protect-yourself-and-others/clinics, or contact your GP.
Updated
There have been a lot of questions in environment estimates today about an academic paper – known as the Spending to Save paper – written by scientists funded by under the government’s national environmental science program (Nesp).
The paper calculated how much the government should be spending to prevent Australian wildlife from becoming extinct.
Guardian Australia revealed recently that the environment department pressured scientists working on that paper and drew up a list of options in a briefing note that included “don’t publish the paper” or publish the paper under a different set of author names.
The scientists ultimately agreed to remove the name of the government-funded program from the paper and not to promote it through the media.
In today’s hearing, officials have said the options in the briefing note were written by a junior staff member and that the two most severe options – not publishing or changing the author list – were not supported by senior staff.
Labor’s Nita Green has asked officials for their recollections of a meeting with two of the scientists, Brendan Wintle and Martine Maron, in Melbourne, and whether these options were discussed at that meeting.
Sally Box, the threatened species commissioner says:
I don’t have a full recollection of everything that was talked about at that meeting. It’s possible that issues around the paper were talked about more fully.
Box said she has been relying on a meeting note, produced following the meeting, to jog her memory. That note sets out what was agreed to – that the paper would be published without government branding – but is not a detailed account of everything that was discussed.
“So we can’t rule out that all those options were discussed,” Green said.
“All I can rely on is the meeting document,” Box responded.
The department secretary, Andrew Metcalfe, stepped in to say he was “confident in the professionalism of my staff” and “we did not seek to interfere with academic freedom”.
He said the department had explained its actions: the paper was not part of the program of research the scientists had agreed to and therefore shouldn’t be published with the government branding.
The department has rejected any suggestion it pressured scientists not to publish or to change the author names.
Guardian Australia stands by its reporting and you can read the full set (577 pages) of documents released under freedom of information here: www.environment.gov.au/system/files/21600.pdf
Updated
Michael McGowan has an update on Christian Porter’s defamation case:
Christian Porter’s lawyers have lost their bid to block a last-minute affidavit from Macquarie Bank managing director James Hooke which the former attorney general’s lawyers argued could “derail” his high-stakes defamation bid against the ABC.
Monday is the first of a three-day hearing into whether Porter’s high-profile Sydney barrister, Sue Chrysanthou SC, should be stopped from acting for the former attorney general in his case against the national broadcaster and journalist Louise Milligan.
Jo Dyer, who was a debater with the woman in the late 1980s, claims Chrysanthou has a conflict of interest because of a meeting the two women had late last year in relation to an article in the Australian newspaper by Janet Albrechtsen about a November ABC Four Corners episode Dyer appeared in.
Updated
Amanda Stoker has responded to Grace Tame’s comments about how the senator attempted to reach her for a meeting through Instagram:
My invitation to meet with Ms Tame remains open. I would welcome the opportunity to hear her concerns and work towards common goals. I believe a direct discussion between the two of us will be far more effective than one had through the press gallery.
AAP has some bad news when it comes to some of our native plants:
Native plants in Australia’s alpine regions may not be adapting quickly enough to survive rapid climate change.
“Australian native alpine plants face a bleak future in the face of rapid climate change,” the University of NSW study’s lead author, Meena Sritharan, concluded.
The study of 21 plants from Kosciuszko national park found 20 were not responding to warming conditions.
Just one species – the star plantain (Plantago muelleri) – adapted to warmer conditions by increasing in size.
A second plant that showed evidence of a change was the cascade everlasting (Ozothamnus secundiflorus), but it had decreased in leaf thickness over 125 years.
Sritharan said:
We predicted leaves would become thicker, as this would be advantageous if plants were facing longer growing seasons and increasing temperatures.
Our findings suggest that native alpine plants may not be adapting to the substantial local climate change occurring in Australian alpine regions.
The point of the study was to gauge whether alpine plants in the southern hemisphere had changed their physical form over time in response to climate warming.
Alpine environments were facing higher-than-average increases in temperature in the last century.
But rapid changes in the environment can promote rapid changes in species.
The researchers used preserved plant specimens collected between 1890 and 2016, and modern specimens collected in 2017.
The results were contrary to what had been expected, as plants in the northern hemisphere were changing substantially and adapting to changed environmental conditions brought on by climate change.
Scientists also forecast that plant species would migrate to higher elevations to escape the effects of climate warming.
But they were surprised to find that a shrub, cascade everlasting (Ozothamnus secundiflorus), had moved downslope over time rather than to a higher elevation.
Sritharan is a PhD research scholar at the Australian National University who participated in the University of New South Wales study as an honours student.
The study is published in Ecology and Evolution.
Updated
In estimates, home affairs officials are going through the statistics on the backlog of parents and partners of Australian still awaiting visas.
Officials said the family visa program is the biggest in 25 years. Partners waiting for visas peaked at 98,000 at the end of October, but had come down to just over 77,000 in April.
And parent visas? 114,000 people have applied and are still waiting. Just 4,500 places have been allocated for parent visas this year. At that rate it would take 25 years to clear the backlog.
Earlier, department secretary Michael Pezzullo said:
As announced in the budget, the 2021-22 migration program will have an overall planning level of 160,000 places, carrying over the 2020-21 migration program composition and planning levels, including 79,600 places for the skill stream and 77,300 places for the family stream. The skill stream will continue to focus on visa categories that will help Australia’s economy rebound from Covid-19, with priority given to visa cohorts that drive economic growth, job creation and investment into Australia.
Updated
No lockdown planned for Melbourne – as yet
Martin Foley says there are no plans at the moment for lockdowns in Melbourne.
We are not planning [a lockdown] at the moment, we have learnt a lot. Victorians have sacrificed more than anyone else and we have learned a lot about the distribution of the virus. What we want to do is get ... the epidemiological picture as to where cases are, where the contacts are, and then work out from there.
As further information comes to hand, the evidence will determine our response.
Updated
Yes, Craig Kelly is very upset over Tony Smith’s ruling that Facebook has not interfered with his work as an MP by banning him from the platform for his repeated posts on Covid which contradicted its terms and conditions.
Kelly:
Today parliamentary democracy died in Australia. Facebook has primacy over the parliament and elected members. But this is not the end of the matter. I will pursue a private member’s motion, and I will be suing Facebook for defamation. Free speech must be protected and fought for.
Updated
The Victorian exposure sites have been updated:
Tier 1: get tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days from exposure.
Bundoora: Jump! swim schools, 4/37 The Concord, Bundoora, 21 May, 8.55am-10.15am. Case attended venue.
Tier 1: get tested immediately and stay isolated until further notice.
Maribyrnong: Highpoint shopping centre, 120-200 Rosamond Road, Maribyrnong, 20 May, 5-8pm. Case attended venue.
Updated
There has been some confusion over an earlier exposure site – the wrong Woolworths was listed as a place visited by the man who completed hotel quarantine in Adelaide, returned home to Melbourne and then tested positive:
Martin Foley explains what happened:
So the gentleman who picked up the coronavirus from hotel quarantine in South Australia returned home and went shopping at Woolworths, and as a result of the investigations, once you turn positive – from the coronavirus public health team – discussions with him and the production of his phone banking electronic receipt apps was clear.
It said Epping Woolworths.
Where our team fell down is that it took it to the Epping Woolworths spread across the road from another primary exposure site, the Indian grocer.
There is a Woolworths literally across the road. As a result of the wastewater positive last week, our team went back and went through all of that again and checked with the gentleman again and quizzed him again and that’s where, despite the banking app receipts saying Epping Woolworths, it was in fact Epping North Woolworths. So then, as a result of that, with the close cooperation of Woolworths, we tested all of those.
Updated
Professor Brett Sutton is also at this briefing. He says:
I have always made the case we should never be complacent. We have barely gone a fortnight period across Australia without some [red] flag.
We will always be at risk until we have high vaccination coverage. And so those critical messages that the minister is reinforcing: wearing a mask when you cannot physically distance and where it is mandatory in Victoria; being tested whenever you are symptomatic; if you are eligible, getting vaccinated and not delaying.
I know people have spoken about wanting to defer their vaccination because there is no community transmission because there are so few cases in Australia. You never know what is around the corner and, again, I flagged several countries that have gone from zero community transmission to literally hundreds and, for some countries, thousands of cases per day.
Thailand has gone from zero to thousands per day. We should never be complacent and think that the situation from last week will be the way it will be for six months from now.
If people are saying ‘why should I wear a mask on public transport when there is no community transmission?’, I will take you back to this case.
For all those who travelled on trains, who may have transmitted to someone on the train not wearing a mask: we just need to be precautionary, all the time, until we are at a point where the community can be in the safe zone – and that safe zone is a fair way away. It is having 15-plus million Australians being vaccinated; 3.6 million is great but we are a long way from safety.
Updated
So four cases in Melbourne, all linked – close family members, across two households.
They are in isolation.
There is the possibility the first infection is linked to a hotel quarantine case from Adelaide. Authorities are looking for the link.
Updated
Martin Foley says genomic sequencing is under way to work out the source of the infection. However, authorities are not ruling out a link to hotel quarantine – in particular the case who completed quarantine in Adelaide and then later tested positive.
The dates aren’t perfect, but they are close – there is a possibility of another link, but authorities are investigating.
Updated
Four positive cases detected in Melbourne's north
Victorian health minister, Martin Foley, is giving an update on four positive cases of Covid which have been recorded in Melbourne - there are now four.
One believes he has had symptoms since 20 May - they were tested on 23 May.
The second case is known to the first case and attended the testing centre - they were asymptotic.
Another two cases are close contacts of the first case.
The Jump Swim School in Bundoora on 21 May has been added to exposure sites. The Highpoint Shopping Centre on 20 May has also been added to the list.
Updated
Mike Bowers was in question time, this is what caught his eye.
Updated
Political Alert has Tony Smith’s whole statement on Craig Kelly’s facebook complaint, if you’re interested:
The Speaker's statement on the Member for Hughes @CraigKellyMP Facebook ban #auspol pic.twitter.com/yCoTY0Cyue
— Political Alert (@political_alert) May 24, 2021
As Paul Karp reported late last week, Chanel Contos (one of the students who pushed the consent in education conversation) says this petition is just a few thousand signatures short of it being debated in the NSW parliament.
The environment department has been grilled about the government’s new threatened species strategy announced last Friday. The first threatened species strategy ran from 2015 to 2020.
The new strategy will run for 10 years, divided into two five-year “action plans”, and will prioritise a wider range of species, including reptiles and marine animals.
The threatened species commissioner, Sally Box, has told an estimates hearing that a list of 100 priority species will be chosen after consultation, including with state governments and scientists with expertise on individual species.
The plants and animals on the list will likely be a combination of species that featured in the last strategy and new ones.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young asked whether the strategy would address the major threat to many species, the ongoing destruction of their habitat. She said:
What is the purpose of being on a list of species that the department recognises is so threatened its protection needs to be prioritised if it doesn’t act as a veto to destroying their habitat?
Hanson-Young asked Box if the department can guarantee that once the new strategy is in place the 100 species “will not suffer at the approval of development by the minister”.
Box responded that those decisions were up to the minister, Sussan Ley (that’s a no).
Hanson-Young said:
As far as I can see it’s so you can have a nice glossy brochure, it doesn’t do anything to save the animals.
The department’s secretary, Andrew Metcalfe, said the strategy “provides very clear guidance as to the government’s intention in relation to threatened species”.
This does not purport to be a legally binding document. It is a clear plan for threatened species over the decade ahead.
Box also told the hearing a review of the first strategy should be published next month.
She said she thought the animals and plants prioritised under the first strategy had “fared better” overall.
Updated
Tony Smith is answering Craig Kelly’s question about whether his ban on Facebook amounts to interference with a member attempting to do their business.
No, Smith finds. There is not.
Smith says it might have impeded communications between himself and his constituents, but he says the facebook ban is not based on interference on his duties, but on the fact he has broken facebook’s terms and conditions (he wouldn’t stop posting on debunked or disproven covid treatments and vaccine conspiracies)
So no, Smith won’t be referring it to the privileges committee. Kelly is sitting in the chamber for the ruling - he looks very sad.
Question time ends
Greg Hunt is asked whether or not his (and I am paraphrasing) “get vaccinated, over-50s, but btw Pfizer and Moderna are coming at the end of the year” statement was based on health advice.
Hunt tries to condense what have been many, many different vaccination messages in this answer:
The question would over-50s be concerned about the AstraZeneca jab, this is from the press, be able to access Pfizer or Moderna vaccines later in the year?
The answer: during the course of the year we have said repeatedly as there are larger numbers, over 20 million doses, of Pfizer and now the Moderna supplies that can be available, there is more than enough to vaccinate every Australian.
That was a factual statement made on April 9th, May 13th and again on May 11th. Then the next statement which seems to have been omitted: “But right now and I was just speaking to Professor Brendan Murphy before this, right now we want to encourage everybody over 50 to be vaccinated as early as possible.”
The message is very clear ... if you are not vaccinated and you catch Covid, you could die. That is the message. Is the message to all Australians.
There could not be a clearer message and this is what we have said right through because we know this: that we have vaccines now. We have provisioned for all circumstances. We are seeing an increase in the number of Australians who are coming forward to be vaccinated.
What we have done is make sure that we have vaccinations now for the over-50s. We have vaccination to cover any circumstances where there is a supply and disruption, and we also have adapted to Atargi [the Australian technical advisory group on immunisation] advice.
We have been able to do that because we provisioned with contingencies within the process last year. Who does this mean? It means we have seen 512,000 Australians come forward for vaccination in the last week. It means that we have done everything that we can to ensure support, encouragement and confidence in the vaccination program.
I would hope that the opposition is going to support confidence in the vaccination program ... As I said last week, Mr Speaker, and as we say right now, we want to encourage everybody over 50 to be vaccinated as early as possible and we want to encourage everybody who is in a qualifying group to be vaccinated as early as possible.
Updated
Peter Dutton is taking a dixer which is basically just about Labor cutting money from the defence investment budget when it was last in power eight years ago.
Again, if someone could let me know what war we are planning for, given how much we are investing in defence, that would be great.
Also, just for the country’s sake, it might be best to keep Dutton away from any and all rainbows. They seem very triggering for the poor defence minister.
Bill Shorten asks Scott Morrison why the disability rollout for vaccines has been so slow.
Morrison eventually gets to this:
To the member as point of order, as the health minister was just interjecting across the chamber, this relates to NDIS in residential settings, Mr Speaker. So that is 8,400 doses that have been delivered in that setting for some 5,875 people.
I don’t think we are making enough progress quickly here. I don’t think we are. I think the minister for the NDIS and I have met together with the health minister and the team administering these vaccinations, oversighting I should say, Mr Speaker, to see the in-reach services better targeted, but as these numbers indicate far higher than what the figure was that was quoted to the hearing is that people living with a disability find themselves able to access vaccinations in a range of different settings and we are ensuring by direct contact with those in these settings, Mr Speaker, that we can better target the delivery of those doses to them.
Updated
Tony Smith just ruins Keith Pitt’s big ‘finish’ (I think Smith has less patience than me when it comes to dixers today).
Pitt:
It would be a shame to see the member for Hunter leave. It would be a shame to see the member for Hunter leave. I say to the member for Hunter there are options here for you. You can get your head in the wardrobe and wade through the suits, get to the skinny pile, the stack, it doesn’t matter what colour it is, red, green, blue - I hear the Wiggles [have a new song]: Wake up, Albo, wake up ...
Smith:
No, the minister will refer to ministers by their correct titles.
Pitt withdraws and we are all spared the end of that.
Updated
The NDIS quality and safeguards commissioner does not want to continue into another term.
From Linda Reynold’s office:
I have been informed by Mr Graeme Head, the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commissioner, that he will conclude his tenure at the end of his current statutory term, on 30 June 2021.
Mr Head was appointed for a three-year term in July 2018.
I thank Mr Head for his leadership of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (NDIS Commission) since commencing as the inaugural Commissioner.
A selection process will begin to fill the position.
Updated
Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:
Can the prime minister give a straight answer on whether Australians will be fully vaccinated against Covid-19?
Morrison:
I thank the member for his question, as I said earlier and during the question time, Mr Speaker, last week for the first time we reached half a million vaccine doses delivered in a week.
Last week we also saw 100,000 in a day, Mr Speaker, which is a marked improvement on where we have been in recent weeks. We have got two-thirds of those vaccine doses being administered by GPs and earlier this week we expect more than half of the over-70s population to be vaccinated with their first dose. Now, Mr Speaker, as the minister for health indicated on the weekend, we anticipate, based on Pfizer contractual arrangements and the information they have provided, that we should have sufficient doses into the third and fourth quarter of this year to be able to ramp up those processes to ensure that we make significant progress by the end of this year.
Then he gets off topic:
Now, Mr Speaker, we have a population that is eligible for vaccination of just over about 20 million. I do note that in other countries ... they are sitting and after many weeks...
Albanese:
Mr Speaker, I note we are halfway through, it goes to relevance. It was a straight question, which asked for a straight answer on when Australians will be fully vaccinated against Covid-19?
Peter Dutton must have seen a rainbow, because he gets very upset:
Again, this grandstanding continues from the leader of the opposition.He’s been warned about it before. He gets up to get a grab for the TV tonight ...
Speaker Tony Smith sits him down and rules that Morrison needs to stay relevant to the question.
The leader of the opposition was quite right. It was a very specific request without a preamble. The prime minister has been entitled to some context, which we had in the opening remarks, which is why I enabled him to do that, but now it is time to come to the specifics of the question to be relevant to. The prime minister has the call.
Morrison:
Based on what the health minister has said on the weekend, Mr Speaker, and what we understand to be the supplies and when they would be delivered, we hope to be in a position by the end of year when all Australians that wish to be vaccinated would have had the opportunity for that first dose, Mr Speaker, but that is also subject to many variables that are outside the government’s control, as those opposite would understand, Mr Speaker.
I don’t know what planet the leader of the opposition is living on ... I don’t know what planet the leader of the opposition is living on, Mr Speaker ...
This government is dealing with the realities of the global pandemic and the recession that it has caused in response to that, Mr Speaker, under our government as policies, Mr Speaker, this country has avoided 30,000 deaths when you compare it to the experience of OECD countries around the world and there are more Australians in work today than there were before the pandemic, Mr Speaker*.
*This is a new favourite line. Scott Morrison has taken to reminding people of the modelling of what could have happened if Covid took hold in Australia.
Smith, though, is having none of it:
The prime minister needs to confine himself to the question, not on other things that have happened in the pandemic.
Morrison has decided he has concluded his answer.
Updated
Not even Speaker Tony Smith can continue to pretend dixers are ok.
The member for Grey, Rowan Ramsey, says in conclusion of his dixer, “and most importantly, is the minister aware of any alternatives?”, and Smith returns:
I wouldn’t agree that is the most important thing.”
Updated
Tony Burke to Scott Morrison:
Can the Prime Minister confirm that as well as cutting real wages over the next four years, his government has also refused to back an increase to the minimum wage, has cut penalty rates, has also intervened in a High Court case to rip away pay from long-term workers in insecure work? How do you rack up $1 trillion of debt yet still be so determined to cut workers’ wages?
Morrison:
Well, Mr Speaker, I don’t accept the assertions put forward by the member who came with dispatch box on these issues, Mr Speaker. The submissions that were made by the government to the fair work process are the same as has been made by the government over many years, Mr Speaker.
And they reflect exactly the same submissions that were also put forward by the previous government, Mr Speaker, including during the GFC, Mr Speaker, where they made similar observations regarding the impact on the labour market at a time of economic crisis, Mr Speaker.
But I do note, Mr Speaker, that it was the practice under the member for Maribynong [Bill Shorten] when it related to those processes that the Labor Party would make submissions to that fair work process. Not so under this leader of the opposition, Mr Speaker. So this leader of the opposition is so keen, Mr Speaker, to talk about these issues out there, but when it comes to actually submitting a case, once again, he has a bet each way.
Updated
Emma McBride to Scott Morrison:
The government’s own budget papers forecast cuts to real wages over the next four years. For a worker in health assistance, that amounted to $9,600. How do you rack up trillion-dollar debt yet still cut workers’ wages?
Josh Frydenberg takes this one as well:
This budget is about driving more people into work, Mr Speaker. Creating more jobs and, therefore, getting more competition for Labor and, therefore, delivering higher real wages.
The reality is real wages under our government are higher than they were under Labor, Mr Speaker.*
(*As you would expect - Labor was last in office EIGHT years ago.)
Indeed, in Labor’s last year in office, real wages fell, Mr Speaker.**
(**Yes, because it was the tail end of the global financial crisis.)
Today the unemployment rate at 5.5% is lower than when we came into government. That was after a recession.
Now, Mr Speaker, I explained earlier that with respect to real wages in 2021 that was a function of particular policies that helped drive better outcomes for Australian families with free childcare, with lower rents, with cheaper petrol, which saw the consumer price index have its steepest fall since 1931, Mr Speaker. That then meant that the inflation rate was higher in 2021 and that has meant that the inflation rate has been above wages growth for that year.
As I said, Mr Speaker, real wages continue to increase. Wages are forecast *** - while they are forecast at 1.25% during the year to June quarter 2021, they are upgraded to 1.5% to June quarter 2022.
(***Wages have not met their forecast increase in years. Years. There is a very big discrepancy between what is forecast and what occurs in reality.)
They reached 2.75% over the forecast horizon [20]24-25. The way to enable more Australians to [get] more of their hard-earned money is to support the tax relief that we have legislated through this parliament. If the honourable member wants to support Australians keeping more of their hard-earned money, then they should support our stage three of the legislated tax plan, which will see somebody on $80,000, $800 better off. Somebody on $90,000, $1120 better off; someone on $100,000, $1,300 better off.
Updated
Queensland is opening up its vaccination to 40-somethings:
Covid #breaking: 14 new community hubs opening within weeks: 40-49 year olds next to be vaccinated @7NewsBrisbane
— Erin Edwards (@ErinEdwards7) May 24, 2021
Updated
There is a lot of gloating going on from Coalition members about the outcome of the NSW state by-election in the seat of Upper Hunter, which the Nationals have held for 90 years.
There was not a lot said by the Coalition when it lost seats in both the Queensland and West Australian state elections.
State elections do not have a lot of federal implications any more. Voters can vote for one party at a state level and another at federal level.
At this stage, the coming federal election looks like playing out the same, in terms of results, as the 2019 election - the goverment is on track to win with a 3-4 seat majority. That’s down to the fact there is no mood for change as yet.
By-elections in state elections are not a barometer of anything.
Updated
Richard Marles to Scott Morrison:
My question is to the prime minister: the government’s own budget papers forecast a cut to real wages ever the next four years. For a worker in education and training, that amounts to a cut in real wages of around $8,200. How do you rack up $1 trillion of debt, yet still cut workers’ wages?
Morrison (speaking like he is on the election campaign, because he is. This is basically the Liberal’s election platform right here):
There are more people in work today than there were before the pandemic hit. This country has gone through the worst economic crisis we have seen since the Great Depression but, unlike so many other countries around the world ... like so many other countries around the world, only Australia stands alone amongst so many advanced economies in being able to demonstrate the resurgence of our economy and our labour market in particular, Mr Speaker, as more and more and more Australians get back into work.
Now, it is not by accident because we know, we know that as more and more people get back into work, then that creates tightness in the labour market which ultimately, Mr Speaker, ensures that wages can grow again, but it is not just the only reason why wages will agree.
When you encourage businesses to invest in productivity, when you encourage them through the instant asset write-off and when you encourage them with the multitude of tax incentives to invest in research and development, to invest in their manufacturing capabilities as we are through the modern manufacturing initiative, what that is showing, Mr Speaker, the tax rate on new investment in Australia today is not 30%.
It is not 25%. It is 21%, Mr Speaker. What that means is Australian businesses investing in the plant and equipment which list the productivity of their workers means that they can earn more, but it goes beyond that because they won’t just ... benefit from a growing economy and their own employers investing in their businesses so they can earn more, they can keep more of what they earn under a Liberal-National government because those opposite, we know, we have seen the cat belled down in Victoria.
What is first thing that the Labor government wanted to do in Victoria? Increase taxes, Mr Speaker, at the first opportunity. That is the Labor way. That is the Labor way.
The Coalition’s way, Mr Speaker, is to lower taxes, to keep taxes low so Australian businesses can invest, so Australians can keep more of what they earn, so they can save for their first home.
We have got first-home ownership at the highest level, Mr Speaker, in 11 years, in 11 years, Mr Speaker, because we are allowing Australians to get ahead. We believe if they have a go, they will get a go, Mr Speaker.
Under our policies, they are getting that go. The businesses who employ them are getting that go, Mr Speaker. What they will get from those opposite, as we know, as is their form, Mr Speaker, is higher taxes, higher taxes and higher taxes from Labor.
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Ed Husic to Scott Morrison:
Prime minister, the government’s own budget papers forecast a cut to real wages over the next four years and for a manufacturing worker that amounts to a cut in real wages of $7,800. How do you rack up $1 trillion of debt yet still cut workers’ wages?
Josh Frydenberg (whose confidence levels could be used as firming power this question time- has anyone considered using the treasurer’s confidence to fill the gap in the energy market?) takes it:
I am surprised to get a question from the member for Chifley about wages when real wages went down in Labor’s last year in office, Mr Speaker! Real wages went down in Labor’s last year in office.
Now, Mr Speaker, wages are forecast to grow 1.25% through the year to the June quarter, but as I said to the house just two weeks ago, the CPI is expected to be 3.5% in the June quarter for 2021.
The reason being that, in the previous year, we saw the steepest quarterly fall in the CPI since 1931 off the back of particular measures that were introduced in the middle of Covid, like free childcare, Mr Speaker. We saw cheaper rents, Mr Speaker.
We also saw cheaper petrol. That was the reason why we saw inflation [go] negative in that year.
That is why we saw those results with respect to real wages, but we will see wages increase to 2.75% over the forecast horizon period [20]24-25. Mr Speaker, what we are seeking to do is allow Australians to keep more of their hard-earned money with a tax relief that we have put in the budget with more than 10 million Australians getting tax relief.
Mr Speaker, we will drive policies that will see more Australians in work. We will drive policies that will help to bring the unemployment rate lower. That will help drive real wages up and we are helping Australians get more of their hard-earned money with the tax relief that we support on this side of the house and which the others on the other side of the house want to boot each way.
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Honestly. Just kill the dixers. Just put us all out of the misery. This is the latest one:
My question is to the treasurer: Will the treasurer remind the house how the Morrison government keeps delivering on its promises to cut taxes for hard-working Australians and their families and to let them keep more of what they earn? Is the treasurer aware of any alternative policies?
Death to dixers. I will die on this hill.
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You may have seen some reports that Victoria was looking to change its vaccine eligibility for residents in certain areas. A Victorian health spokesperson has told Donna Lu:
This is not correct. There is no change to eligibility. Victoria’s focus is on priority population groups eligible under the commonwealth’s Covid-19 vaccination program. The department is regularly exploring options for new vaccination centre locations and has previously said that further locations will open.
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Helen Haines asks one of the independent questions today:
“Widespread Covid vaccination is crucial to keeping Australians safe. I represent a border community that suffered enormously from the New South Wales and Victorian border closure last year.
“The prime minister’s recent comments about a vaccine passport for interstate travel have alarmed my constituents.
Such a passport would impose extraordinary hardship on our community once again. Can the prime minister give an iron-clad guarantee that his government will not require vaccine passports for interstate travel?’’
Scott Morrison then blames the media for the vaccine passport being raised:
The proposal that has been raised in the media, Mr Speaker, and I look forward to ... I was responding to questions in the media about this matter, Mr Speaker. I responded to those questions.
You may remember the last time Morrison blamed the media, it was for reporting on the penalties for returning citizens from India that Greg Hunt had included in his press release.
Morrison:
A proposal will be discussed at the next meeting of national cabinet, but let many be very clear, when I was in - the first task was to ensure that we continue with the process of vaccinating Australians and I was pleased last week it was first time we had reached half a million in a week, 100,000 in a single day, Mr Speaker, and early this week we expect to be over half of first doses of the population over 70 and we welcome that and we will continue to press on.
The proposal that we are talking about is not that someone would require a passport to get from one state to another.
Not at all. Not at all, Mr Speaker. The proposal actually was put to me by the president of the AMA when I was in Western Australia and I was meeting with him at the time and he suggested to me, Mr Speaker, that in the event that ... border restrictions like the member would have experienced between Victoria and NSW that had states put those in place, then it would be very helpful that if people who had been fully vaccinated would be exempt from those restrictions and would be able to move across the borders, where in the extreme circumstances where border restrictions were put in place that they would be able to move freely across those borders.
I would have hoped that that would be a good suggestion, particularly for those living in border communities where they have been fully vaccinated and in the rather extreme situation if border arrangements were put in place by state governments, not by the federal government, but if it was the state government putting in place a border restriction ...
We will consider it.
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Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:
This morning, Senate estimates were told that more than two years after the reported sexual assault of Brittany Higgins in this building there have been no changes in the way that this building responds to serious incidents and none of the reviews that the prime minister ordered have concluded. Despite everything we have heard from Ms Higgins, how can that be so?
Morrison:
Well, thank you, Mr Speaker. The member would be aware that while it is not in the purview of the president of the Senate, what was initiated very soon after the reporting of these events was the new counselling service that operates for all members and senators of this place...expanded hours of access to those reports.
That was in place, Mr Speaker. I am pleased to report that that service is being well used by staff members of this place where they need to.
Also, by members of parliament and others who are seeking support from those services. I am pleased that is in place. That was put in place very soon after, Mr Speaker.
Now, in addition, I am expecting very, very shortly a report from the deputy secretary who is very close to finalising her report to me and that matter will then be raised with cabinet, Mr Speaker, in terms of the recommendations that come forward and I look forward to engaging with the opposition on the establishment of an independent complaints process.
There is significant work being done there by the department working actually closely with the sex discrimination commission to ensure that an independent complaints process won’t have to wait until the end of this year when the independent inquiry is completed, but we can get that independent process in place much sooner than that. I look forward to engaging with the opposition on those matters, Mr Speaker, in the very near future.
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The deputy prime minister is at the despatch box and he is very excited about the Upper Hunter by-election result. It’s like the marching mouse plague has taken up residence under Michael McCormack’s skin, he’s jumping so much.
He then says “I am asked about alternative approaches” - which he was not. Barnaby Joyce threw in a reference to the “commonwealth of Australia’’ when asking the dixer, but he did not ask about alternative approaches.
Speaker Tony Smith:
I will say to the deputy prime minister, you might have expected to be asked that, but you actually weren’t.”
That’s because the minister’s office usually writes the questions they receive from backbenchers. So either someone left it off, or Joyce just didn’t read it. And the deputy prime minister didn’t listen to what was actually said.
So instead, he finishes with this:
The proof is in the pudding. We are backing those areas, we are backing those regions. We are backing those resources and even to use the member for Hunter’s own words: you lot need to wake unto yourself!
Which is basically just the two Spidermen pointing at themselves meme, in verbal form.
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Jim Chalmers to Josh Frydenberg:
Can the treasurer confirm that more than 30,000 Australians lost their jobs in April? Sixty-four thousand people gave up looking for work altogether and, for those who are fortunate enough to keep their jobs, the budget papers confirm this government will deliver a cut to their real wages.
Frydenberg:
It is quite alarming to get a question from the shadow of a shadow treasurer after he went into witness protection on the day the unemployment numbers came out because the unemployment rate came down, Mr Speaker! It came down!
It came down to 5.5%. Mr Speaker, 33,800 new full-time jobs were created, Mr Speaker. The underemployment rate came to its lowest level in seven years and the youth unemployment rate was the lowest at its lowest level in 12 years. The member for Rankin was nowhere to be seen because he didn’t read the ABS [figures] ...
They said in their statement on the day even with the end of JobSeeker, the end of JobSeeker had no discernible impact on the employment numbers between March and April. So the member for Rankin has shown himself to be the economic novice that we all know he is, Mr Speaker. He’s no credibility. He’s got no - this is what the member for Rankin said would happen with the end of JobKeeper. Cutting JobKeeper will have diabolical consequences for workers of small businesses - wait for it, wait for it - this is what the member for Rankin said...
Chalmers jumps up with a point of order on relevance, saying “30,000 people lost their jobs and you’re laughing”.
Frydenberg: “We are laughing at the shadow of the shadow treasurer.”
He really likes that line - he started it last sitting, and says it again as he finishes his answer.
There were about 31,000 jobs lost in the last unemployment figures. And yes - unemployment went down. Both things can be true when you look at the participation rate - and the closed borders mean there are fewer migrants looking for work, which brings down the number of people contained in the labour force.
If you are in the tourism industry at the moment, for example, you wouldn’t be feeling very jovial.
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Question time begins
Tanya Plibersek gets straight into it - asking about Grace Tame’s comment on the Betoota Advocate podcast (we reported that a few posts below).
Can the prime minister confirm that was his response to this brave woman’s extraordinary speech?
Scott Morrison seems confused anyone would wonder about him saying, “Gee, I bet it felt good to get that out’’ after an impassioned and powerful speech on surviving what Tame has, and says:
I would agree it was, indeed, a very brave speech, Mr Speaker. I can’t recall the exact words I used, Mr Speaker, but I wouldn’t question that in any way shape or form, what Grace Tame has said. That is roughly my recollection. That was a very brave statement.
That is exactly what I meant when I said that to her on that occasion. It was a very proud moment for her and her great struggle and challenge over a long period of time and what she did on that occasion was speak with a very strong voice about what had occurred to her, Mr Speaker.
I think in raising her voice in that way, it would have been great to so many victims of sexual abuse and harassment around the country. That is exactly what I meant, Mr Speaker. Exactly what I meant. I don’t know why some other meaning may have been put upon those words, Mr Speaker.
It was Tame who mentioned the comment. So perhaps the prime minister could ask her.
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Security guards who work for the Australian embassy in Kabul have staged a peaceful protest on the streets of the Afghan capital, campaigning for access to visas and resettlement in Australia, fearing for their lives and the safety of their families.
In September, Australia – following the US and other coalition forces – will withdraw its military from Afghanistan after 20 years of war.
It will maintain its embassy in Kabul.
The guards argue their work for the Australian government will expose them to Taliban retribution once foreign forces leave. Many in Afghanistan fear another civil war will seize the country, with the Taliban - resurgent across much of the country, and granted a seat at peace talks - seeking to target anyone with links to foreign forces.
“The Taliban is likely to make gains on the battlefield” and the prospects for peace are “low”, a bleak US intelligence report issued in April said.
Sources in Afghanistan have told the Guardian Afghans working for foreign governments are regularly targeted by Taliban insurgents. Employees have been shot, targeted with bombs, or run over by vehicles. Many have received death threats against themselves or their families.
A spokesman for the group of protesting guards said a representative was meeting with the Australian ambassador on Monday, and that many of those seeking passage out of Afghanistan had worked for Australia for more than a decade.
“Everyone knows about Afghanistan’s situation right now,” a spokesman for the group said.
“All 103 members want and request from the Australian government and minister for foreign affairs to not play with our lives, and pay attention to our demands and future.”
Australian runs a dedicated visa program to resettle locally-engaged employees from Afghanistan, where their work with Australia exposes them to the risk of retribution.
Since 2013, about 1,200 people have been granted humanitarian visas under the policy.
But Afghans who work, or have worked, with Australia argue that with just over 100 days until coalition forces leave, it is critical to remove people from the country now, and the existing policy is moving too slowly.
Security guards are acutely vulnerable: their job requires them to stand outside the embassy in Kabul for hours at a time, where they can be easily identified. They fear without foreign militaries in Afghanistan, they will be acutely vulnerable to Taliban attack.
The Guardian has approached Australia’s department of foreign affairs and trade for comment.
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No votes can be heard until after question time. Right now we are on 90-second statements, and then we will head into QT, so we will let you know the result of that as soon as it comes in.
It is very, very rare for the government to have bills pass against its will - that is why the Medevac bill was such a big deal.
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There are some very interesting things happening in the wings of the chamber right now. Labor has put through amendments to the budget (as is normal) and the Greens are amending the amendments. One of them - forcing companies who received Jobkeeper and posted a profit to pay it back - may actually have a chance of getting up, because of Craig Kelly.
The Greens and Kelly are not usually political bedfellows, but the (now) independent member for Hughes has co-signed the Bandt amendment. The rest of the crossbench looks like being on board, as is Labor.
Which, on the numbers in the chamber, gets them pretty close to what they need. It will be very, very close - and will depend on Bob Katter voting with the group, as well as the rest of the crossbench, but at this point the Greens are confident.
The government has pushed back any attempt to have companies which made a profit while receiving Jobkeeper pay back the funds, so this is going to be interesting.
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Australia’s vaccination rollout has now hit 3.6m doses (not people), a milestone which was originally meant to have occurred in March.
Of those 3.6m, 512,000 vaccine doses were administered last week, 101,000 of them on Thursday alone.
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If you missed it, the health expert advice panel, Atagi, has issued a “clarification’’ on the blood clot advice for the Astra Zeneca vaccine.
Chief medical officer Paul Kelly says GPs now have that new information:
I wrote to every doctor in Australia over the weekend, just to really make it very clear who can have the AstraZeneca vaccine and the answer there is almost anyone over the age of 50.
There are very few contraindications – that has been narrowed down significantly from the statement for people who shouldn’t have the vaccine.
Most people over 50 can have the AstraZeneca vaccine.
I also took the opportunity to remind Australian doctors about the facts in relation to this TTS syndrome, this rare but sometimes serious clotting disorder related to AstraZeneca.
[There are ] 25 cases now, which is increasing because of the large numbers of vaccines which are being administered now in Australia, and Commodore [Eric] Young will talk about that shortly.
As we increase the number of vaccines, we expect to have more cases of this disorder, but there are 25 so far. We had one unfortunate death that was reported in the media when it happened up in the Hunter [in New South Wales].
Of the others, there are only two remaining in hospital. All the others have gone home, they responded to the treatment, and it’s really testament to the information [that has] gone out to all doctors and to people that are having the vaccine about what symptoms to watch out for, to get looked at quickly to be diagnosed properly, and to be treated properly.
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Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has accused the government of “putting up the white flag” on threatened species after officials revealed more that than 100 species and habitats that had been identified as requiring a recovery plan might not get one.
Recovery plans are documents that set out actions needed to stop the extinction of species and ministers are legally bound not to make decisions that are inconsistent with them. Since changes were made to legislation in 2007, they have increasingly been replaced with what’s known as a conservation advice, a similar document but which does not have the same legal force under national law.
The threatened species scientific committee (TSSC), which advises the government on endangered wildlife, has been reviewing recovery plans to determine which species and habitats should continue to have a recovery plan and which can just have a conservation advice.
We’ve heard in previous estimates hearings that there are many recovery plans that are overdue.
Helene Marsh, the chair of the TSSC, has told today’s environment estimates hearing her committee had recently advised the government that of the 167 overdue recovery plans, 150 are no longer necessary.
Hanson-Young has been asking officials if this means all of those 150 species and habitats will no longer have a recovery plan.
Ilona Stubutzki of the environment department says that will be up to the minister, Sussan Ley, and after public consultation. No word on when that consultation will be.
Hanson-Young asked Marsh to explain why the shift is being made to favour conservation advices.
Marsh said it was because the documents could be made more quickly and changed at short notice, for instance if a fire burns through a species’ habitat.
Making and changing recovery plans requires negotiation with the states, which she said took “a minimum of 34 months”.
“Sounds like putting up the white flag because it’s all too hard for the department,” Hanson-Young said.
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The sister of a woman with an intellectual disability has broken down while telling a royal commission how her “beautiful” relative was “kept in a cage” at school next to chickens.
Eliza, the sister of a woman known as Melissa, whose experience is being investigated by the disability royal commission on Monday, agreed she was “ferociously protective” because of these past experiences.
The inquiry is examining alleged abuse Melissa experienced at a national disability insurance scheme accomodation provider and claims the company, Sunnyfield, tried to evict her following Eliza’s complaints.
Internal Sunnyfield documents tendered to the commission described Eliza as “highly demanding”.
Eliza told how, while Melissa was at school, the family was given a video detailing what it said where her sister’s behavioural issues.
And it highlighted what this school and these particular teachers did to her when she was struggling, when she was finding it hard to communicate.
And they kept her in caged areas between a basketball court and a shed where they kept chickens, and this footage of her, this beautiful little girl, screaming while she’s watching all the other kids play cricket.
Kate Eastman, the counsel assisting, asked her:
These experiences early in Melissa’s life and development mean that you are ferociously protective of her?
Eliza broke down as she replied:
One hundred per cent I am. I don’t want to watch her go through that again.
The hearing continues.
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Grace Tame reveals reaction to what PM, minister said
Grace Tame also spoke about Liberal National party senator and assistant minister for women Amanda Stoker:
Tame:
Okay, so when I was interviewed by Kerry O’Brien it was the day that there was the cabinet reshuffle. And there was the installation of the taskforce for women’s safety. And the new assistant minister for women was appointed.
And the new assistant minister for women is someone who has aligned herself with the commentator who gave my abuser a platform. She’s actually done so multiple times. On multiple occasions she’s defended this commentator who’s, you know, actively supported and enabled a paedophile.
And I said that, I just stated facts. That’s what I deal in really, common sense and facts. I don’t actually see any merit in going tit for tat and entering into slanging matches, it doesn’t serve any purpose.
So, I stated these facts. And the reaction was from her was that I was uninformed of her previous history of pro bono work for survivors of sexual violence, which is about as good an example of moral licensing as I think I can find, other than, you know, “I’m not sexist, I voted for Julia Gillard”, “I’m not racist, I’ve got a black friend”. Yeah.
Host: “Twenty years ago, I represented someone in some town. Nothing to do with this conversation we’re having right now.”
Host: The corporate people in this world, though, I just, you know, they are a different breed.
Tame:
Anyway, that’s what she came out and said, but then she’s also gone to the media and complained because she’s sent me Instagram direct, or direct messages, even though I don’t follow her. So they’ve gotten swept in …
Host: In the abyss?
Tame:
Into the, I’m not joking, 1000s that, I just can’t go through them all. And she’s come out and, you know, said that she reached out to me on Instagram, which I think is a little bit like …
Host: “I drove past your house and honked!”
“I opened my living room window, and called your name and heard no response. I’ve reached out.”
Tame:
Yeah – “I sat in a room and thought about you. Why haven’t you reached out?”
Host: Man, that is a lightweight response.
Tame:
I just sort of thought, it’s not that I don’t want to sit down and put differences aside in necessary cases and work with people. But I believe that paedophilia is an absolute wrong, right? And if you don’t absolutely oppose it, you therefore condone it. And she’s aligned herself with this person who’s enabled that sort of culture. And so I just, I don’t think that she’s the adequate person for the job.
Host: Yeah, in this in this dwindling cabinet of, you know, eight years of gradual brain drain with each prime minister.
Which is saying something. Do you feel like they just went “woman, here”?
Tame:
Yeah, exactly. And like I said to Kerry O’Brien, you know, we’ve got to be really careful not to be naively misled by distractions that are posing as solutions.
Host: Performative gestures.
Tame:
Performative gestures, yeah.
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Grace Tame on what Scott Morrison said to her after her speech
Australian of the Year, Grace Tame, has spoken to The Betoota Advocate podcast. It touches on some federal political areas and Tame, as she has proven time and time again, is more than up to speaking for herself without fear or favour.
She speaks about being painted as the “quote unquote, ‘poster child for Labor’ - I don’t know where that came from”, and also talks about what prime minister Scott Morrison said to her after she delivered her powerful speech at the Australian of the Year awards – the one that sent waves across anyone who heard it:
Host: That’s what happens when you take pictures with [Labor leader Anthony] Albanese.
Tame: It was one picture.
Host: It’s then right up all over every newspaper, it’s like “look, here we go, she’s going to be running for Hobart next”.
Tame: I took one picture.
Host: I don’t think it’s so much getting a photo with Albanese, it’s more so delivering that speech next to the prime minister, who was visibly uncomfortable during the Australian of the Year ceremony.
Tame:
Do you know what he said to me, right after I finished that speech and we’re in front of a wall of media? I shit you not, he leant over and right in my ear he goes: ‘Well, gee, I bet it felt good to get that out.’
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Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson has an update on what is happening in Samoa:
Given the concerns with vaccine hesitancy, this is an important part of the conversation.
How long can Australia remain clear of Covid outbreaks? And if a major one occurs what then for the people who have put off having a vaccine? Where do they end up in the queue? We don’t know.
‘The full-blown virus is going to come. It’s going to break out of quarantine.. everyone is going to get covid. You will get covid, I will get covid it’s just a case of how bad..’ @ama_qld Chris Perry on importance of vaccination @7NewsBrisbane
— Erin Edwards (@ErinEdwards7) May 24, 2021
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If you haven’t read about this case, I recommend you do. You can catch up with Andrew Roth here:
Belarus has been accused of hijacking a European jetliner and engaging in an act of state terrorism when it forced a Ryanair flight to perform an emergency landing in Minsk after a bomb threat and arrested an opposition blogger critical of authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko.
Roman Protasevich, a former editor of the influential Telegram channels Nexta and Nexta Live, was detained by police after his flight was diverted to Minsk national airport. Minsk confirmed that Lukashenko ordered his military to scramble a Mig-29 fighter to escort the plane.
Marise Payne has responded:
.@MarisePayne statement on the Belarusian Government forcing down a commercial plane to detain a dissident. @SBSNews #auspol pic.twitter.com/So778tPr8v
— Pablo Viñales (@pablovinales) May 24, 2021
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It is surprisingly quiet today, particularly for a Monday. It has much more of a Tuesday vibe, when things tend to be quieter because the partyroom meetings keep the MPs away from the cameras for hours.
Still, we are keeping an eye on all of the committees and the parliament, and we’ll let you know the moment something happens.
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The national Covid update will be held at 1.30pm today.
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Physical, racist abuse alleged at NDIS home
Residents of a national disability insurance scheme accomodation provider in western Sydney were subjected to alleged instances of physical and racist verbal abuse, while staff at the home were “segregated” based on race, the disability royal commission has heard.
In one shocking incident, a support worker, known as SP1, allegedly said words to the effect of, “If it was up to me, I would have shot them all”, while news coverage of the Christchurch shooting was playing on the television.
When another support worker noted that one of the residents, known as Carl, was Middle Eastern and asked, “How can you say that?”, the first support worker is alleged to have replied: “I don’t care.”
The alleged comment was eventually relayed to Carl’s mother, Sophia, who felt it was “absolutely shocking”.
This week, the disability royal commission is investigating violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation in disability services, focusing on a case study at the home run by Sunnyfield Disability Services.
Senior counsel assisting Kate Eastman said the commission would explore the experiences of residents Carl, Melissa, and Chen, who have intellectual disabilities and continue to live at the home.
The commission heard on Monday that two support workers were charged with assault over separate incidents involving the three residents. The charges were later dismissed in court, the hearing was told.
However, some were upheld by an independent investigation launched by Sunnyfield.
The support workers were sacked in late 2019 and early 2020.
The inquiry also heard Sunnyfield attempted to evict Melissa after her sister Eliza made several complaints about staff conduct.
Sunnyfield is expected to give evidence during the week. However, Eastman said that the company had told the commission it deeply regretted what had happened.
The commission hearings continue.
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Stalemate in Samoa
AAP has an update on what is happening in Samoa - so far, it is a stalemate.
Samoa’s prime minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi says he will remain in office, despite an order by the country’s Supreme Court that legislators sit to appoint a new leader.
Samoa’s Supreme Court last week overruled an attempt by the head of state, Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, to void last month’s election results, which ended Tuilaepa’s grip on power.
Opposition leader Fiame Naomi Mataafa was on Monday set to become Samoa’s first female prime minister following the election.
Fiame has pledged to cancel a $129m Chinese-backed port development, calling it excessive for the small Pacific island that is already heavily indebted to China.
China’s growing reach in the South Pacific is unsettling for the United States and its allies, who have been the dominant powers in the Pacific since World War II.
The Supreme Court ordered parliament on the weekend to sit on Monday to appoint a new prime minister, but Tuimalealiifano cancelled the session and Tuilaepa said he would stay in office.
“We remain in this role and operate business as usual,” Tuilaepa told reporters in the capital, Apia.
“There is one head of state, he has the power to convene parliament, and only him.”
Supporters of the opposition parties gathered outside parliament on Monday singing songs from Samoa’s independence movement more than 50 years ago, local media reported.
With no sign that the stand-off would end soon, Australia’s foreign minister Marise Payne urged calm.
“It is important that all parties respect the rule of law and democratic processes. We have faith in Samoa’s institutions including the judiciary,” Payne tweeted.
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Luke Henriques-Gomes is watching the disability royal commission. He will have an update for you very soon.
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Gladys Berejiklian was asked about the future of her opponent, Jodi McKay, following the Upper Hunter by-election result and gave a very human response:
I actually feel sorry for her, New South Wales is a tough political business. NSW politics is tough.
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Department didn't take all reasonable steps to ensure Leppington value
In Senate estimates, the infrastructure department has tabled an independent report into the Leppington triangle land acquisition, in which the federal government paid $30m for land later valued at $3m.
The Sententia Consulting report supports many of the conclusions of the ANAO regarding poor process around the acquisition, although it found “no evidence” of “poor integrity, criminal activity or personal benefit for officers involved in the transaction”.
What it did find is that the department was “heavily focused on maintaining a positive relationship with [Leppington Pastoral Corporation], and was less clear on how broader risks to the success of the acquisition, including the risk of not achieving value for money, would be managed”.
The department and its officers failed to make decisions or failed to apply key process controls, including:
- Failure to obtain and present sufficient information to inform a judgement on the amount to pay to acquire the property that would represent value for money;
- Lack of documented analysis of options and risks in reaching material decisions such as the timing of the acquisition and the acquisition approach;
- Absence of a rigorous negotiation plan, thereby potentially weakening the commonwealth’s negotiation position in reaching an agreed amount to pay, that demonstrably represented value for money, to acquire the property; and
- Choosing to implement an acquisition by agreement approach without a rigorous analysis of the risks and benefits over a previously approved compulsory acquisition approach, and without consulting with the approver of the strategy.
It said:
“This review has not been tasked to assess whether the department achieved value for money in acquiring the property at the price it paid. However, it is clear that the department did not undertake all reasonable steps to determine what a suitable cost would be for the government to acquire the property, to demonstrate that the price paid for the property represented an efficient, effective, economical and ethical use of public funds. These are core principles of Australian government resource management which were not demonstrably applied to this procurement ...
While there is no question that the likely future benefit from the acquisition is significant, it has come at a high reputational cost to the department.”
Updated
Anthony Albanese held a press conference in Queanbeyan a little earlier, where he was asked about the criticism of Labor’s loss in the Upper Hunter by-election (a seat the Nationals have held for 90 years).
The federal member for Hunter, Joel Fitzgibbon, has been leading the criticism from inside the tent (and any media outlet that will have him) but Scott Morrison has also said that he believes Labor’s traditional voters now fit better with the Coalition.
I say this, if Scott Morrison wants to argue that there are federal implications behind a by-election result in one seat in New South Wales, then he should apply that to Western Australia and to Queensland, which are the big two resource states in this country.
The biggest two resource states in this country have seen Labor win seats in Queensland and become almost a one-and-a-half-party state in Western Australia.
And my team will continue to work constructively, including with the resources sector.
We have a full shadow ministry meeting scheduled for Port Hedland in the coming weeks.
We will continue to engage and stand up for working people and their rights at work.
This is a seat that Labor has not held in the last nine decades at any time. At any time whatsoever. This is a seat whereby frankly, a couple of elections ago, we would have struggled to find people to hand out how to votes.
Albanese says there should be more attention paid to what happened to the National party’s primary vote in the seat:
That’s a question for the National party, why has their primary vote has fallen by 24%. It would have been impossible for Labor’s primary vote to go down by 24% because we were only on 17% a couple of elections ago.
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Labor is asking home affairs officials about an Australian National Audit Office audit of its safer communities program, after revelations the former minister Peter Dutton had asked his department to fast-track a proposal weeks after an industry body made a political donation.
The secretary, Michael Pezzullo, advised that questions should be directed to the ANAO, because he can’t say much beyond that the department is co-operating with the audit.
Another official said he had participated in an “entry interview” with the ANAO in April and the audit was expected to take “the best part of this year” with its report not due to be tabled until next year.
Dutton has denied any wrongdoing, and rejected suggestions that he was influenced by a $1,500 donation to the Liberal National party of Queensland.
The head of the retailers association, Dominique Lamb, has also denied discussing the grant with Dutton at the event at which the donation was made.
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New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian has again said it is too early to talk about opening the international border (including whether people who are vaccinated could be allowed to travel), saying there haven’t been enough vaccinations yet.
I think moving forward ... there is no doubt that people who are vaccinated will have extra protections others don’t.
I think it’s too early to weigh in to that at this stage.
Our focus is to build up our systems, get people coming through the doors – whether it’s the GP clinic or one of the hubs around the state – as much as possible, and our conversation we can have over the next few months but I think it’s too early, we haven’t had enough people getting the jab to be able to get those conversations.
The important thing during a pandemic is to focus on what we do and the focus we need in NSW is to get as many jabs in arms as possible. That is a combined effort, can I stress that. It is Team NSW. Plus the NSW health hubs. Three or four providers working together, as quickly as we can, then we can have those conversations but it’s too early. Until we get enough jabs in arms, too many of our population won’t be vaccinated.
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NSW’s chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, says she is watching what is happening in Melbourne:
Again, the details are very preliminary so I’m not going to comment on the specifics of those cases.
Through the usual information sharing we will be updated rapidly about those cases and any information that relates to them.
But I think it provides a warning to the community that we have seen, just two weeks ago, a case within New South Wales where we couldn’t find the missing link for a transmission and incursion through our borders.
Again, we don’t know anything about these cases, but, again, the risk is there is an incursion.
You can see how Covid can be transmitted in the community, because for many it can be a mild disease.
And therefore it can go undetected. And it highlights [that] the risk is ever-present.
And so those people that are contemplating delaying vaccination need to consider that this risk is present and they can’t assume that they will not be exposed to Covid in the coming months
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Following on from my last update, Labor senator Katy Gallagher in the finance committee and the Senate president Scott Ryan have reached an agreed landing point: Parliament House is a difficult environment to administer because there are a number of different people with different authorities and responsibilities in the building (senators and MPs, the Department of Parliamentary Services, the Department of Finance, the presiding officers).
Gallagher asks the officials from DPS whether they did enough to protect Brittany Higgins in 2019.
The DPS official says:
I believe out of any situation there is always an opportunity to learn and make improvements”
The official adds: “We are looking at matters of process and policy.”
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NSW reports no new local Covid cases
NSW Health has released its Covid data – no new cases of community transmission (we are waiting to hear more from Victorian Health):
NSW recorded no new locally acquired cases of Covid-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
Two overseas-acquired cases were reported in the same period, bringing the total number of cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 5,383.
There were 9,659 tests reported to 8pm last night, compared with the previous day’s total of 10,020.
The total number of vaccines administered in NSW is now 1,097,515, with 345,393 doses administered by NSW Health to 8pm last night and 752,122 administered by commonwealth government providers, including GPs, to 11:59pm on Saturday 22 May 2021.
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Amy has updated you on an interesting exchange between the Senate president Scott Ryan and the Labor senator Katy Gallagher.
Ryan (as Amy says) is doing some work to ascertain whether senators want to change the rules about staff access to offices after hours.
Ryan points out if the rules were to change, this is “not within the remit of DPS”. What he means is senators are kings and queens of their domain.
“I don’t have an easy answer,” Ryan says.
Katy Gallagher clearly thinks DPS needs to do more, change the rules, overhaul the processes, improve safety in the building.
“Something failed that night,” Gallagher says, meaning the night of the alleged sexual assault in March 2019.
Ryan: “No one disagrees with that senator”.
The DPS officials say they are reviewing the state of play in the light of events in March 2019.
But no changes have yet been implemented as of today.
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Seems like gas isn’t enough for some people
I spent the whole day at the Upper Hunter by-election. Not a single person asked for us to build a gas fired power plant. Lots wanted to see us build a coal power plant. Let's give the people want they want and build a coal fired power station to keep jobs here 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺
— Matthew Canavan (@mattjcan) May 24, 2021
There have been no changes to security policy since the allegations were raised.
Over in that same estimates hearing Murph was updating you on, Scott Ryan says the parliament is investigating whether or not it can collate a list of people who enter the building after hours.
He says senators and members can set their own rules for their offices – such as when they are allowed to enter.
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Good morning, as Amy has flagged, in the finance committee, officials from the Department of Parliamentary Services are being grilled about the various investigations triggered by the alleged sexual assault of Brittany Higgins in March 2019.
If you’ve been following this story closely you will recall that there was some contention early on after the story broke about Higgins wanting access to CCTV footage from the building from the night of the alleged rape, but being unable to view it. Just a small addition to the timeline.
DPS officials have told estimates this morning that the Australian federal police made a request to view the CCTV footage on 3 April 2019 (after making contact on 2 April).
The presiding officers were briefed a couple of days later, and the AFP’s request was granted on 11 April.
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Labor has decided to just take over all of estimates – it is also live blogging the hearings.
Itself.
Kristina Keneally set up this website – looks like the party has decided it should be getting more use.
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Over in finance and public affairs estimates, Katy Gallagher is still trying to find out dates and times from DPS about what it knew when in regards to Brittany Higgins’s allegations (again – no comments, please).
The officials don’t know what they can say because of the police request no one speak about the case. So it is a lot of back and forth about what can be answered, how and when – a lot are being taken on notice.
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Labor’s Kristina Keneally has been asking about Michael Pezzullo’s controversial “drums of war” speech to his department on Anzac Day which argued Australia should not avoid conflict at the price of liberty and was widely interpreted as a broadside at China.
The new home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, has previously backed Pezzullo’s right to make the speech (and publish it online), and claimed she had seen it in advance.
But Pezzullo told Senate estimates “no [I can’t confirm that, because] it was sent to her after” and Andrews didn’t see a draft.
Pezzullo also reveals he didn’t authorise the Australian newspaper to republish it or even know about the piece before it was published on the front page.
Pezzullo:
I’ll check when it was posted to the intra and internet. The Australian didn’t seek any consent from me, they simply published it. I opened up and saw a picture of myself, I was surprised as many others ... I didn’t ask for a fee, I haven’t sought a fee.
Pezzullo said he was lamenting the cost of war and hoping to avoid it, and is now rattling off a list of references to earlier speeches he made arguing that statecraft – not war – should be the first resort.
A reminder, the piece argued:
In a world of perpetual tension and dread, the drums of war beat – sometimes faintly and distantly, and at other times more loudly and ever closer.
We must search always for the chance for peace amidst the curse of war, until we are faced with the only prudent, if sorrowful, course – to send off, yet again, our warriors to fight the nation’s wars.
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Victoria reports two new 'likely' local Covid cases in Melbourne
Victoria Health has released new information on possible Covid cases in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
Media statement: two likely positive cases of COVID-19 in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) May 24, 2021
To see where to get tested, visit https://t.co/WZI0U7BRyW pic.twitter.com/MrmiPpqMiF
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Adam Bandt introduces bill that makes fossil fuel companies liable for climate crisis damage
Adam Bandt has introduced a private members’ bill – Liability for Climate Change Damage (Make the Polluters Pay) Bill 2021.
(There is a newish trend for parenthesis names in legislation – it is what the part/MP wants you to call the bill.)
Here is how Bandt describes what the bill will do – remember: the government has the numbers in the House, so without any government support, it will go nowhere.
This bill makes fossil fuel companies liable for climate change damage, giving victims of climate change, such as the 2019–2020 bushfire survivors, the right to bring an action against thermal coal, oil and gas companies for climate change damage.
Major emitters of greenhouse gases, including fossil fuel producers and owners or operators of coal-fired power stations, will be liable for climate change damage if their emissions are greater than 1 million tonnes in any 12 month period that began on or after 1 September 2020. The first Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report was released in that year, unambiguously linking fossil fuels to global warming. From at least this time onwards, every fossil fuel corporation has known, or should have known, about the consequences of their actions. For corporations that actively knew about the consequences of their actions earlier, liability will attach from that earlier date.
A person who suffered climate change damage, the attorney-general of the commonwealth, or of a state or Territory, can bring an action against a major emitter. The federal court of Australia will have the ability to:
· Grant an injunction requiring the major emitter to reduce or cease activities that may cause climate change damage in the future; and
· Determine the amount of damages the major emitter is liable for. When deciding, the court may assume the major emitter’s share of the climate change damage is at least the same as their share of total global greenhouse gas emissions.
Updated
Over in finance and public affairs estimates, Scott Ryan is being asked about the statement he issued (as Senate president) about what people could say in relation to any of the sexual assault allegations in parliament (remember these are all subject to legal proceedings, and please don’t post comments on any of the cases, or anyone involved).
Ryan is asked about the timing – he says he is still constrained by the ongoing police case, but he is doing his best to answer the questions.
Updated
US has resettled 940 refugees previously detained by Australia in bilateral deal
Marc Ablong, from the home affairs department, has revealed that 940 refugees and asylum seekers have been resettled in the US, under a controversial bilateral deal struck between Australia and the US while Malcolm Turnbull and Barack Obama were in charge in 2017.
That includes 418 people who were being detained in Papua New Guinea, 394 in Nauru and 128 from Australia. There are 109 refugees and asylum seekers still on Nauru and 130 in Papua New Guinea.
Updated
Kristina Keneally questions whether Dutton had role in contracts awarded to Canstruct
In Senate Estimates, Labor’s Kristina Keneally, is probing contracts (now worth $1.4bn) awarded through limited tender to Canstruct to run garrison and welfare services on Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
Keneally noted individuals involved in the company have made 11 donations to Coalition figures, including former home affairs minister Peter Dutton, several of which we reported in May 2019.
The secretary, Michael Pezzullo, said:
The decision was taken within the department, by a Border Force officer exercising my delegation. The minister had no role in awarding the contract.
The duty minister, Amanda Stoker, agreed, telling estimates that Dutton had “no role whatsoever in awarding this contract”, which was decided at arm’s length from Dutton and his office. She urged Keneally not to “mislead or confuse the public”, said it was “fanciful” donations could have influenced the decision, and the allegation is “entirely baseless”.
In May 2019, Guardian Australia reported the chief executive of Canstruct International paid $3,500 to the Liberal National party to attend a business dinner while the company was negotiating the Nauru contract.
Canstruct’s chief executive, Rory Murphy, told Guardian Australia his attendance at Coalition functions had “no bearing” on the government department’s decision and any suggestion it did was “ridiculous”.
According to Electoral Commission of Queensland disclosures, Murphy donated $3,500 to the LNP on 10 October 2017, just weeks after a letter of intent was issued for Canstruct to take over garrison and welfare services from Broadspectrum on Nauru.
A further $3,000 payment was made in November 2018 by a company of which Murphy is a director.
Murphy has strenuously denied any link between the payments and contract negotiations, telling Guardian Australia both payments “were for dinners that provide companies with the opportunity to hear from senior MPs about policy”.
Updated
The legal and constitutional affairs committee has just had a short suspension after Kristina Keneally started asking questions about Peter Dutton and whether or not he met with anyone linked to Canstruct before it was awarded a $221m government contract.
Updated
Marise Payne responds to Samoa election crisis
This seems very careful language (yet another reason I very quickly gave up any plan for a diplomatic career) from Marise Payne.
This is in response to a challenging constitutional time for Samoa after the head of state, Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi cancelled a parliamentary session just as the leader of the opposition, Fiame Naomi Mata’afa had the numbers to become Samoa’s first female prime minister (and the first change of government in about 40 years).
A supreme court session was held on Sunday which found the parliamentary session should go ahead.
Australia values our close friendship with Samoa. It is important that all parties respect the rule of law and democratic processes. We have faith in Samoa’s institutions including the judiciary. #SamoaElections2021
— Marise Payne (@MarisePayne) May 23, 2021
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Michael Pezzullo outlines how Border Force might use digital vaccine passports
The home affairs department secretary, Michael Pezzullo, has given an opening statement explaining how a new digital permit system will be used to verify people’s Covid-19 vaccination status.
Pezzullo told Senate estimates that “digital passenger declarations” will be the first use of that technology, digitising the incoming passenger card people fill out before they enter Australia.
Border Force will be able to verify people’s vaccination status – including if they have been vaccinated overseas – which Pezzullo said “could support the ability to travel without 14-day quarantine on return” or alternatives to hotel quarantine.
Pezzullo said before Covid the Australian Border Force dealt with 50m passenger movements per year, but it’s now down to just 2% of that.
Pezzullo says the successful tenderer will need to have a prototype ready by the end of this year with a trial by the first half of next year, before an assumption that Australia will reopen “at scale” by mid 2022.
The new declaration will require passengers to declare vaccination status as they check in, before they arrive in Australia.
Updated
Over in legal affairs estimates (which Paul Karp is watching for you) home affairs is up. Which means Mike Pezzullo is up. Which means we will probably get a little more “drums of war” action.
Although, it does now seem a little more xylophone of war, given the response.
Updated
The estimate Senate hearings have begun.
We have legal and constitutional affairs, environment and communications and rural and regional affairs today.
Updated
Federal MPs reflect on NSW Upper Hunter byelection result
AAP has pulled together some of the federal reaction to the NSW Upper Hunter byelection result:
The federal finance minister Simon Birmingham has cautioned against drawing too many national implications from a state byelection in the NSW seat of Upper Hunter.
Prime minister Scott Morrison says Labor has completely lost touch with blue collar workers, with the party’s primary vote plunging 7% in the coalmining seat.
But Birmingham is more circumspect on the federal fallout.
“It was a state byelection and I would treat it as such,” he told ABC radio on Monday.
“It had a range of different factors at play and certainly many of them were very much local, very much state politics.
“It is a state byelection and I wouldn’t read too much into it myself.”
The Coalition is expected to target the Labor-held seats of Hunter, Paterson and Shortland at the next federal election.
Birmingham said it was far too soon to speculate on how many Hunter Valley seats the Coalition could win.
“It’s a long way away to start making those sorts of predictions but we will put up a strong fight in those regions,” he said.
“They are regions which clearly have large numbers of working Australian families who want to know they’ve got a government that is with them and backing them.”
Joel Fitzgibbon, the federal member for the Hunter, said the result was devastating for the Labor party. Just one in five voters put Labor first on their ballot papers.
itzgibbon warned Labor was on track to lose the next federal election unless the party changed its ways. He said the party needed to be more vocal in its support of working people.
“When your supporters leave you it takes a long time and a lot of effort and you need to be very clear to win them back,” Fitzgibbon told 2GB radio.
“We have been at best whispering. We have tried to walk both sides of the fence on issues like work and on the other side, the environment. They’re suspicious and sceptical.
“Federally, if Labor can’t persuade not just mine workers but everyone in those regions whose jobs are dependent on mining, that we stand with them, you can expect a similar result whenever Scott Morrison goes to the polls.”
However, the Nationals only polled 31.4% of the primary vote in the Upper Hunter byelection, despite holding the state seat for 90 years.
One in three voters were happy to ignore both major parties, siding with independents and minor parties instead.
This could have major implications for the Senate if the trend was replicated at the next federal election and could also deliver a much more diverse crossbench in the lower house.
Updated
Joel Fitzgibbon meanwhile, has just told ABC RN Breakfast that Labor’s brand “will go the same way as the Kodak brand” if it doesn’t switch up its message.
He thinks he will be just fine at the next election though.
Updated
If you want to know how Australia is actually going when it comes to lowering emissions, Adam Morton has taken a look at the numbers
Joel Fitzgibbon seems very distraught NSW Labor lost a byelection in a seat the Nationals have held for the past 90 years.
He thinks the Upper Hunter byelection result (Labor’s primary was down 10 points) was because it didn’t back in the $600m gas-fired power plant.
But when you look at the vote, the anti-Nationals vote was split between One Nation, the Shooters and Fishers, and an independent. It’s not a Labor seat.
.@fitzhunter says Labor needs to do more work to represent hard-working people.
— News Breakfast (@BreakfastNews) May 23, 2021
"We need to tackle discrimination, racism, and bigotry and all those terrible ills but not in a way which threatens the rights of those, the overwhelming majority who do the right thing every day." pic.twitter.com/diXgbPCjVj
Updated
Good morning
Welcome back to Politics Live!
We have two weeks of parliament for you, along with estimates, so I hope you are ready for shenanigans.
Of course there is all the other political news which is ongoing as well – including the vaccine rollout, quarantine and energy.
Joel Fitzgibbon has been spreading himself very thin this morning talking about all the things which he thinks is wrong with Labor – his party – in the wake of the NSW Upper Hunter byelection loss.
He’s just held a doorstop interview where he says that he “plans” to run for Labor in the next election, but he “won’t stick around if the Labor party doesn’t wake up to itself”.
Waking up to itself apparently means backing in fossil fuels.
We’ll bring you all the day’s events as they happen. Mike Bowers is already out and about – you also have Katharine Murphy, Paul Karp and Sarah Martin filling in you in with the day’s events.
You have me, Amy Remeikis, on the blog for most of the day.
Ready?
Let’s get into it. On current predictions, we are going to be at a four-coffee day, so no better time to get started than right now.
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