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National
Lisa Cox and Amy Remeikis

ABC head defends Four Corners 'toxic culture' investigation before Senate estimates – politics live

ABC managing director David Anderson answers questions over the Four Corners story at a Senate hearing.
ABC managing director David Anderson answers questions over the Four Corners story at a Senate hearing. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Summary

That’s where we’ll wrap up our blog for this evening. In case you missed anything today, here are some of the key events:

  • Scott Morrison has invited Joe Biden, as the US president-elect to visit Australia for the 70th anniversary of the Anzus alliance. Morrison described the president-elect as a “man of grit”, character and integrity.
  • Labor’s Penny Wong said Biden’s victory showed centre-left leaders with ambitious climate policies could win elections.
  • Victoria recorded another day of no new coronavirus cases and no deaths, while NSW also recorded no locally transmitted cases of Covid-19 but seven new cases in hotel quarantine.
  • A petition with more than 500,000 signatures calling for a royal commission into the Murdoch media was tabled in parliament.
  • The executive producer of the ABC’s Four Corners, Sally Neighbour, said the government put “extreme and unrelenting” pressure on the broadcaster over an investigation set to air this evening.
  • In Senate estimates, the ABC’s managing director, David Anderson, confirmed the government contacted him and at least one member of the ABC’s board about the episode, which examines the “toxic culture” in federal parliament.
  • The NSW government announced a $32bn renewable energy plan.

Thanks for joining us. My colleague Amy Remeikis will be back with you in the morning.

Updated

The ABC managing director, David Anderson, has backed the explosive Four Corners episode, telling Senate estimates the evidence in it is “absolutely rock solid”.

Asked if it relates to unwanted sexual advances, Anderson replied it relates to “a power imbalance and potential abuse of power” but it would be “better characterised if you see the program first”.

He also gives more detail about the pressure on the ABC:

Ita Butrose phoned me to let me know a ministerial staffer had contacted a member of the board to alert the board member the story was happening ... I’d already briefed the chair. The chair has seen the program and supports the decision to publish it.

Anderson confirms there were phone calls from government staff in addition to emails, and described it as “problematic”.

Why is that?

“Any contact outside responding to our direct questioning starts to present problems. If we don’t publish it could potentially look like we didn’t publish because we got a call,” he replies.

The Liberal senator Sarah Henderson – who was a reporter and presenter for the ABC from 1989 to 1997 – said that sexism was tolerated at that time and “inappropriate workplace behaviour” occurred.

They’re really gunning for the ABC – and that’s BEFORE the episode has aired.

Henderson goes fishing for whether there is bullying and sexual harassment in the ABC; she didn’t come up with much. Anderson says that in his judgment, “we don’t have a similar cultural issue as the one in the program”.

Henderson wants to know why the ABC didn’t investigate other parties rather than waiting for things to “fall into your lap” – in reference to Anderson’s statement the Liberal party was investigated because complainants came forward.

Anderson said Four Corners had followed all lines of inquiry but some leads “go cold”, and some people pull out.

I’m satisfied this team has investigated it properly ... I believe this team has done fair dinkum investigative journalism.

The ABC has contacted more than 200 people that work (or worked) in parliament.

Updated

A little more out of the Senate estimates hearing, where the ABC managing director, David Anderson, is being asked about tonight’s Four Corners program by Labor’s Murray Watt.

Anderson says the government did not suggest to him that the broadcaster should drop the story.

“What I’ve had are questions as to whether it’s in the public interest,” he says.

Anderson also says he had a call from the ABC chair, Ita Buttrose, to say a ministerial staffer had contacted another member of the ABC board to “alert them this story was coming”.

Updated

Labor’s Murray Watt is asking the ABC managing director, David Anderson, about Monday night’s Four Corners investigation into Canberra’s culture and the parliamentary “bonk ban” that prevents minister from having sexual relationships with staff.

Anderson said women who worked at the parliament had alerted Four Corners to a “toxic culture” and a “women problem”, raising serious allegations.

He thinks it is in the public interest to investigate the ethical standards of ministers of the crown. Anderson assures the committee the story has gone through rigorous legalling and the claims in it are sourced.

So there is lots of forward sizzle – but precisely to whom it relates and what the claims are was not revealed.

Anderson said informants alerted the ABC to issues “across the board, including the Liberal party”. It focuses on Liberals because they are the ones subject to the code of conduct, he said.

Liberal Amanda Stoker is querying why the story focuses on the Liberal party.

Anderson replied: “Nobody was coming forward about anyone else.”

Stoker: “It doesn’t sound like a culture of the building at all, it sounds like a sting with targets in one party, the Liberal party.”

Anderson: “It is not a sting, it’s where the evidence took us with respect to current ministers, after the ministerial code of conduct was instituted.”

Anderson confirms that he along with other ABC senior staff Gavin Morris, Sally Neighbour and Lucy Carter received emails from political offices about the story.

Neighbour warned this morning that the ABC had been subject to pressure over the story.

Anderson urged people to “wait for the program to air” before critiquing the content of it – and said it was “extraordinary” to do otherwise.

Anderson reveals responses from political offices questioned whether the story is in the public interest.

They also asked the ABC to retain documentation. Anderson said he “didn’t see any direct threat in there” – although the clear implication is that the documentation might be required for legal proceedings.

Updated

The ABC managing director, David Anderson, has confirmed to the Senate estimates hearing that he was included on emails from the government in relation to tonight’s episode of Four Corners.

He says the government had suggested to journalists on the program who had sought responses to questions that they retain documentation used in their research.

Anderson says he was included on about half a dozen emails but will come back on notice with the exact figure. He says he did not receive any correspondence from the prime minister, Scott Morrison, in relation to tonight’s program.

Updated

The ABC management is now up at that Senate estimates hearing.

Updated

And on that note, I’ll hand the blog over to Lisa Cox for the evening shift.

A big thank you to everyone who joined me. I’ll be back tomorrow morning. Until then – take care of you.

Updated

Meanwhile...

Updated

The ABC management is in front of a Senate estimates spill over committee today. That’ll be starting from about 5.15pm.

Updated

Parliament is beginning to slow down now, but never fear – there are 11 more sitting days left this year.

Huz-zah.

Updated

The urgency motion on the US election and climate change is playing out in the Senate at the moment.

Updated

Further to Paul’s post:

Updated

The Senate has just voted up a motion rebuking the government over the weakness of its preferred model of national integrity commission.

The motion was voted up 28 to 25, with Labor, Centre Alliance, Rex Patrick, Jacqui Lambie and One Nation combining to warn the Coalition over the draft bill’s inadequacies.

Greens senator Larissa Waters motion stated:

    1. 9 September 2020 marked one year since the Senate passed the Australian Greens’ National Integrity Commission Bill 2018 (No. 2) to establish a strong, independent Federal corruption watchdog,
    2. Polls consistently show that the majority of Australians support the establishment of a strong national anti-corruption body,
    3. The Government has not brought the Greens’ bill on for debate in the House of Representatives, and
    4. Despite public consultation ending more than 18 months ago, the Government’s exposure draft Commonwealth Integrity Commission Bill fails to address many concerns raised during consultation; and
  1. Further notes that an effective anti-corruption body must include the following features:
    1. Broad jurisdiction to investigate corrupt conduct within the public sector,
    2. Strong investigative powers,
    3. The ability to hold public hearings where this is in the public interest,
    4. The ability to commence investigations independently or based on tip-offs from the public,
    5. Adequate and secure funding,
    6. The ability to publicly report outcomes of investigations and refer potential criminal matters to the Director of Public Prosecutions,
    7. Oversight by a multi-party parliamentary committee, including the appointment of commissioners, and
    8. Investigations subject to procedural fairness, and findings open to judicial review.

Senator Anne Ruston stood up to defend the model - but what was more interesting was One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts supporting the Greens motion.

He said the government bill requires “considerable amendment”, describing the ability to hold public hearings as “fundamental”. Roberts said the body should also be able to investigate tip-offs from the public and there should be “no limitations on findings of corrupt conduct” when it comes to politicians.

Jacqui Lambie in the Senate today
Jacqui Lambie in the Senate today. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Richard Marles says Labor is not pursing a royal commission into the Murdoch media empire and will “let Kevin speak for himself”.

Andrew Leigh officially tabled the Kevin Rudd-led petition, which had more than 500,000 signatures, in the parliament today.

Marles tells Patricia Karvelas:

We have talked about our position in relation to the media over a long period of time. Now, this is not something we have been considering. This is something Kevin Rudd has been pursuing in his capacity as a private citizen. I mean, I obviously note it is a significant petition in terms of those who have signed up to it and it has been presented to the parliament appropriately. That is where the matter is that in terms of the opposition.

Updated

On Labor not yet having a target for 2030/2035, Richard Marles says:

We will be really clear on the policies we take to the next election. And they are going to be completely consistent with Australia’s obligations in respect of the Paris accords. And one of those obligations is to have a medium-term target.

And so we will be setting out our policies before the next election. But I just want to make the point that to suggest that there is not going to be a place for the gas industry and indeed the coal industry or decades to come, is just not right.

And so we do support those industries and we support the people within them and we support that consistently with a view that we want to see Australia achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Q: Malcolm Turnbull, the former prime minister, who was also an Insiders yesterday, said this gas-led recovery rhetoric the Morrison government is using is BS. I don’t swear and we know what it stands for, but I am describing his direct quotes. Is it BS?

Marles:

The issue with the policy put forward by the Morrison government is what it means in terms of actually providing jobs in the here and now. I can talk about companies in my electorate who use gas as a feedstock ... they actually need policy and regulatory change right now to have any form of gas reservation to enable them to continue their work in the manufacturing sector right now. It is a position we have.

So what we’re saying in this is the necessary policy in relation to delivering jobs in the here and now.

Updated

Richard Marles is on ABC radio’s Afternoon Briefing and is asked whether or not Joe Biden’s victory means a unified climate policy can win elections:

Well, I think we are very focused on our next election and doing everything we need to do to make sure we win that election.

I don’t want to overstate the significance of the American election on the other side of the world, we have got our own path to walk. But it is certainly a very welcome sign that Joe Biden has announced ... he will be taking the United States back into the Paris accords.

And from the point of view of tackling climate change at a global level, this is profoundly important and something we very much welcome.

Updated

How Mike Bowers saw question time:

Scott Morrison arrives at question time
Scott Morrison arrives. All photos: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
 Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Scott Morrison talks to speaker Tony Smith
Morrison talks to the House speaker, Tony Smith Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Anthony Albanese talks to Bill Shorten
Anthony Albanese talks to Bill Shorten Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Urban infrastructure minister Alan Tudge in the chamber
Urban infrastructure minister Alan Tudge in the chamber Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Christian Porter, the House leader.
Christian Porter, the House leader Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

The Greens have the matter of public importance for the Senate today:

The Senate congratulates incoming US president Biden on his victory and welcomes his commitment to tackling the climate crisis, particularly his acknowledgement that climate change is an emergency and an existential threat, and calls on the Australian government to match his target of zero emissions electricity by 2035, if not earlier.

Watch to see where the parties fall on the climate question.

Updated

Everyone is friends again.

How nice that we can go back to the ‘normal’ problems we had before the Trump mirror was put up against America and the world.

Asio warns politicians of foreign spies targeting them using 'unwitting' relatives

The intelligence agency Asio has warned Australian politicians that foreign intelligence services may try to approach them via “an unwitting relative, friend or business contact”.

Mike Burgess, the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, told an estimates committee hearing last month that he was planning to write to all federal politicians to warn they were “attractive targets” for foreign spies trying to steal secrets and manipulate policy-making.

In the two-page letter, sent last week, Burgess warns politicians that hostile intelligence activity “continues to pose a real threat to Australia, our sovereignty and the integrity of our national institutions”. He writes:

Multiple countries are undertaking these activities here in Australia, and they are not conducted solely by citizens of other nations.

As a parliamentarian, your ability to influence debate and policy, and your access to information and decision-making, make you an attractive target to foreign intelligence service. Asio has identified foreign governments and their Australian proxies persistently seeking to develop relationships with politicians at all levels of government, in all states and territories. Political staffers have also been targeted, and we cannot rule out a proxy trying to get access to you through an unwitting relative, friend or business contact.

Burgess says engaging with members of the community and attending local events is an important part of the role of politicians, so the letter is not meant to discourage that. He observes that “community, cultural and diplomatic engagement is a cornerstone of the democratic process and cannot automatically be equated with foreign interference”.

But he says politicians should be mindful of the risks, and beware of people who seek to “create a sense of obligations by providing donations, travel, networking opportunities, preferential access to senior officials or business opportunities”.

As the sense of indebtedness grows, so does the potential harm.

Burgess asks MPs who have concerns to report them to a dedicated Asio email address.

Asio chief Mike Burgess before a Senate committee last month.
Asio chief Mike Burgess says ‘multiple countries’ are spying in Australia. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Senate question time ended with Labor asking the aged care minister, Richard Colbeck, about when he became aware of allegations against a former aged care executive who was awarded more than $900,000 in consultancy contracts over the past year.

Colbeck didn’t answer the question directly but accused Labor of engaging in “a hatchet job” against Gary Barnier, whose business Cooperage Capital Pty Ltd has been contracted by the health department to advise on residential aged care financial viability.

The line of questioning revived an issue that came up in Senate estimates committee hearings last month, when Labor pointed to past media reports that Barnier had quit as managing director of Opal Aged Care in November 2017 after the ABC reported allegations he had bullied residents and families.

Colbeck said a review commissioned by Opal had made no findings against Barnier:

I have no intention in participating in an attempted slur of someone doing good and important work … I have confidence in the work he’s doing for the government.

Updated

Tony Smith is now making a statement to the House over a ministerial statement Angus Taylor gave in the last sitting, which was used as a partisan attack against Labor and, in particular, Mark Butler.

You can make as many partisan attacks as you want in the parliament – but the practice details how you can make those attacks, and the ministerial statement is not one of those mechanisms. It has its own purpose.

Smith says ministerial statements are to be used to inform Australians of things which are happening within portfolios and he expects the statements to be used as intended, and the practice respected.

Updated

Scott Morrison adds a line:

I ask further questions are placed on the notice paper, and to add to a former answer, I can advise the deputy leader of the opposition that his information was wrong.

The standing committee of capital he referred to in 2018, that purpose was not as was represented by the member and it continues, and it was a committee also in place under the former Labor government.

Updated

Question time continues for an Angus Taylor answer.

He manages to read the right dixer answer to the question, so you know. Success.

Question time ends.

Updated

Catherine King has a question on infrastructure for Scott Morrison, which goes to Alan Tudge.

King:

This government spent less than 20% of its announced urban congestion fund last year. But the government committed $10.6m to advertise infrastructure promises over the next two years. Will the prime minister deliver on this year’s announcement on advertising before he delivers on last year’s announcements on actual infrastructure?

Tudge:

I thank the member for Ballarat for the question. We have 185 urban congestion fund projects and 90% of those projects will be either completed or well under way by the time of the next election, in line with our commitments.

I could inform, Mr Speaker, that $182m has now been paid. Nineteen projects have been completed or ready, a further 15 projects are under way, including four commuter carparks, and we expect about 90% will be completed or under construction over the next 18 months.

He then lists carparks under construction in Labor electorates.

Updated

Karen Andrews gives us all a laugh with this line:

Now, we understand science on this side of the House, Mr Speaker.

It’s a nice palate cleanser.

Updated

Terri Butler to Michael McCormack:

My question is to the deputy prime minister. I refer to the government’s defunct national water infrastructure loan facility, which was announced 50 times. Can the deputy prime minister confirm that in its last 15 months of operation, $615,986 of taxpayer money was wasted on administering this scheme, which did not issue a single dollar in loans before it was shut down?

McCormack rambles on about how he and the government are committed to building dams, it’s all about the dams, blah blah, we build dams, when he is pulled up on relevance – the question was about dams the government hasn’t built.

Tony Smith tells him to be relevant or wind it up.

McCormack:

We are moving from loans to grants.

We are – that’s because that’s what the states and territories wanted. They want the mourn in grants, preferably rather than loans, and that is what we’re doing. And we’re working with the New South Wales government.

Now, originally, those two particular projects we had said that we would do it as a loan process.

The New South Wales government wants it as grants and so we’re going to build those dam infrastructure projects with NSW as grants and the difference that will mean to NSW for the equivalent of 127 Sydney Harbours of inland water for flood mitigation, for water security for towns, for irrigation, and to ensure that we can grow agriculture from the $61bn enterprise to $100bn that goal for 2030.

He moves into more dams which have not been built, and then the time is up and we all breathe a sigh of relief. McCormack’s one talent seems to be making three minutes last a lifetime (and please, no jokes. I can’t).

Updated

Ahhhh – the previous post is corrected, but for complete transparency sake: Alan Tudge is in the House. I misheard David Coleman’s absence being tabled.

Thank you to those who spotted him!

Updated

Fiona Phillips to Scott Morrison:

Home Affairs has confirmed that despite announcing a mental health national action plan for emergency workers on 12 January this year, at the height of the bushfires, the plan won’t be implemented until halfway through next year. How many more bushfire seasons will have to pass before emergency workers get the mental health support the prime minister announced?

David Littleproud gets this one too:

I thank the member for her question and I’m happy to advise the member that there’s been $11.5m committed to Fortum Australia and the Black Dog Institute Australia, to support personnel around particularly PTSD and that will complement another range of initiatives we have put out.

This is not just the federal government’s responsibility. We are working with the states as well.

Just to give an education to those opposite that engage and interject. They need to states have always had the operation of emergency management. They execute and have done an exemplary job. This is above politics. This is about people.

And state and federal governments are working together to make sure we have a world-class mental health program for our first responders and we are doing that with those who know best.

We will not resign from the fact that we will continue to make sure whatever investment needs to be made continues. That is our responsibility to the states in supporting them in making sure we have a world-class mentality health program for our emergency service personnel.

Updated

Lots of federal government MPs are seemingly now fans of the Victorian lockdown, given Australia’s very low locally transmission rate.

Updated

Kristy McBain to Scott Morrison:

Can I draw your attention back to bushfires? Last year, the Morrison government announced an annual $200m recovery and mitigation fund to help communities prepare for and recover from natural disasters.

Can the prime minister confirm not a single dollar from spent from this fund in the last financial year and still not a single dollar has been spent from this fund in this financial year, despite Australia already entering the fire season.

Why does this prime minister not deliver on his photo ops?

Morrison:

Mr Speaker, I’ll ask the minister to add further to this answer. One of the arrangements for that fund is that when there are other funds that are available to be acquitted for those purposes that those funds are the funds that are done first.

That’s why we the $2bn national bushfire recovery fund of which more than $1bn has been applied to the purposes the member has asked about.

When you’re responding to a crisis, the only thing that matters is that people are getting the support that is needed. They don’t look to see what envelope it comes in. What they want is what this government has delivered. And that has been the case through the drought, through the floods, through the fires, through the pandemic on every single occasion this government has responded in a way that we have not seen from governments in a very, very long time.

Delivering on the ground, delivering what was needed to see people through. Now, that may not be convenient for the political objectives of those object sit, but the reality on the ground is Australians know that we have their back. I will ask the minister to complete the answer.

David Littleproud:

The prime minister is correct. As part of the legislation, it should be no surprise to those opposite. They voted for it. That within the $200m, there is $150m of that that can be used to rebuild after a catastrophic event.

That can only be used, that can only be used once other mechanisms have been exhausted, hence the $2bn in immediate recovery that has been put forward for bushfire recovery.

The advice from the department – the department has given advice that that should not be utilised because there is $2bn available.

The $150m will not be utilised. Those opposite voted for that piece of legislation. Either they did not read the legislation when they voted for it or they are playing politics, rather than looking after the people who deserve it.

There is $50m of that $200m that can be utilised for building resilience. There has, in fact, been ... There, in fact, has been applications made by a wide ranges of communities that is being assessed by emergency management Australia as we speak. That is for them to determine what those projects should be and we have invited all members, no matter their political persuasion, to put forward those programs.

But this forms part of the very piece of legislation that those opposite supported yet obviously did not read the detail of it and now are upset about the fact they didn’t understand how this would be utilised but does not acknowledge that this government has put $2bn towards bushfire recovery alone.

Updated

Josh Frydenberg is back, thanking MPs for asking him questions his office has written (as is the case with dixers) and then outlining their LinkedIn profile, of their life before politics.

Updated

Richard Marles to Scott Morrison:

Can the prime minister confirm the priorities and delivery division in his department he announced in August last year lasted around six weeks? And can he confirm his priorities and delivery deputy secretary lasted the same number of weeks, demonstrating the prime minister can’t even deliver a delivery division in his own department. Is the prime minister noticing a pattern here?

(A cranky) Morrison:

The only pattern I’m noticing here, Mr Speaker, is the juvenile nature of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition.

Mr Speaker, the government will make arrangements through the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to support the policies of the government.

And Mr Speaker, on the matter that the member raised earlier, the earlier committee he referred to did not have the purpose that he set out, Mr Speaker.

The policy implementation committee was of a completely different purpose to the one he misrepresented earlier. If the deputy leader of the opposition has nothing better to do than engage in these sort of childish cheap shots, he should look for another job.

Updated

Josh Frydenberg is making very laborious analogies about Jim Chalmers and bikes with training wheels, and you know he thinks it’s great, because he is once again yelling, meaning ‘slap down’, sounds like ‘slut down’ and honestly, it’s not the day for it.

Updated

Richard Marles to Scott Morrison:

Can the prime minister confirm that in August of 2018 he established a Cabinet Committee in charge of delivery of announcements? Can he also confirm that on 13 October this year, he announced a new Cabinet Committee in charge of delivery to replace his old delivery committee which didn’t actually deliver?

Scott Morrison during question time today
Scott Morrison during question time today. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Morrison:

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The policy implementation committee of Cabinet, which has been established to work alongside the expenditure review committee, and the National Security Committee – these three important subcommittees of the Cabinet are designed to, obviously, focus the Cabinet’s attention on the important national security measures that Australia deals with on a daily basis.

A daily basis, Mr Speaker.

The expenditure review committee obviously looks forward to the emption for budget members that will come forward and, if they’re necessary in the midyear statement, will be handed down later this year and the budget next year, of course, Mr Speaker and the policy implementation committee has been established particularly because of the extensive number of measures that have been incorporated in this year’s budget, in particular to ensure that they’re being implemented as quickly as possible because they relate to pandemic responsiveness.

Now, those opposite may want to jeer and may want to make light of these things but the Australian people are dependent upon this government, who has had their back from the start of this crisis, as we have responded in a way that Australians have never seen before from a government with the scale of economic lifeline support and health support of some $18.5bn.

These are measures of scale that governments in this country have not known and that has meant that our Cabinet has been upping, again, the work rate, Mr Speaker, to ensure that these measures hit the ground.

No whether it’s the jobkeeper or jobseeker commitments, the jobtrainer arrangements, the manufacturing strategy, the technology road map, Mr Speaker, the work that has been done on resilience and recovery to ensure that Australia is in a position to ensure that with the impact of climate change on this country, as the royal commission noted, the challenge will be there to build our resilience, all of this is essential to continue to deliver on the ground as this government does.

If those opposite want to make light of that process, Mr Speaker, that reflects on them, not the government.

Updated

Ugh. Michael McCormack still exists.

Here he is on a dixer on truckies (the government theme is on the ‘uniquely Australian response to Covid – no one has mentioned the federation, which is the only ‘unique’ thing about Australia’s response – the states stepped up).

Anyways, back to the deputy white bread loaf in chief:

There’s been good morning news in the last 48 hours.

Indeed, Victoria – no cases for 10 days and no deaths and that is very, very good news.

Tasmania is now open to all jurisdictions except Victoria and announced it will join repatriation efforts as well as trans-Tasman arrangements.

That is good news. New South Wales of course will be open to all states and territories when it opens its borders to Victorians on 23 November.

That is good news too and so I say to people out there, be positive but test negative.

Focaccia rises higher than him.

Updated

Labor has asked in Senate question time about the first arrest under Australia’s foreign interference laws. Di Sanh Duong, who uses the name Sunny, told Guardian Australia last week he has been accused of working on behalf of the Chinese Communist party, and he rejected those allegations.

Labor’s Kristina Keneally asked how Alan Tudge was not advised against a media event at Melbourne Hospital in June, eight months into the investigation by the counter foreign interference taskforce.

Australian trade minister Simon Birmingham.
Australian trade minister Simon Birmingham. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

The leader of the government in the Senate, Simon Birmingham, said it was “quite a sensitive matter” and he was surprised that Keneally “would ask about it in the chamber in that way”.

Birmingham said he could confirm that a charge had been laid last week, but regarding the matter of ministers he would take it on notice.

I think people would expect that AFP investigations are handled sensitively, confidentially, carefully and indeed actions of government ministers during the course of investigations also need to be given appropriate, careful conduct.

In a supplementary question, Keneally said Duong had resigned from the Liberal party yesterday, and she asked what action the prime minister had taken “to ensure no member of his government has been compromised as a result of the foreign interference charges against a member of the party he leads”.

Birmingham said the government and the prime minister received confidential briefings from national agencies, as was appropriate.

I assure the Senate that we take all of those matters seriously.

Updated

Zali Steggall gets the crossbench question:

To the prime minister. Truth and facts matter. We are not meeting and beating our emissions. They’ve gone up by 0.7% over the last four years.

You’ve said you will not be pushed to stronger climate policy by Boris Johnson or president-elect Joe Biden. The Australian Medical Association, the Australian Council of Social Services, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Planning Institute of Australia, the Property Council of Australia, the Business Council of Australia, the Academy of Social Science, the Australian Energy Council and over 100 leading organisations and businesses have all signed up to support the private member’s bill that I introduced this morning with a net to legislate net zero by 2050 with five-year emission reduction budgets.

Time is up, as she says ‘when will you debate it?’ but the question doesn’t get in, in time, and the chamber moves on.

Updated

Kate Thwaites to Scott Morrison:

In Senate estimates, the Department of Education said that it expected childcare fees to increase by 5.3% this financial year. Why will families face a further increase in childcare fees in the middle of a recession when wages are flatlining?

Morrison passes this one to Dan Tehan:

Can I thank the member for her question?

It’s a very important question, because the Morrison Government is investing in the childcare sector and not only is it invested in the childcare sector through the reforms that we introduced two years ago, we are driving down pressure on fees and pressure on parents’ out-of-pocket expenses.

Now, let’s go to Senate estimates and let’s look at what the department said.

Let’s look at what the department said. Out-of-pocket expenses are 3.2% lower than what they were two years ago when our reforms were introduced. That is what the department said. 3.2% lower than what they were two years ago when our reforms were introduced.

Not only that. We’re continuing to invest in the childcare sector and our investment goes up from $9 billion this year to over $10 billion over the forward estimates. I’ll tell you what we won’t be doing on this side, because we don’t hear much about it from those opposite and we still don’t know what their policy is when it comes to the childcare wage subsidy and the Leader of the Opposition laughs.

The Leader of the Opposition laughs. Let me remind you what Bob Carr had to say about it. Let me remind you what Bob Carr had to say about it. One policy was simply bad, he said..

He is pulled up on relevance and continues:

What the member has failed to comprehend is the full statement that was made by the department - In Senate estimates. For instance, what they said over the decade was when that number was quoted, was that in the last couple of years, it’s actually underneath that, so underneath what the cost hikes were by those opposite.

Not only that, the member has failed to go to the final point, which is 3.2% out-of-pocket expenses have come down in the two years since those reforms have been in place. 3.2%.

Why did you leave off that part of the statement by the Deputy Secretary in Senate estimates? Because it did not suit your argument. It did not suit your argument. You will not, you will not comprehend or understand. They’ve been in place for two years and it’s let to 3.2% reduction in out-of-pocket expenses and it you’re being honest, you should have quoted the full statement.

The foreign minister, Marise Payne, has called for “contributions to public discourse that contribute to cohesion” in response to questions about Eric Abetz’s tactics in the grilling of three Chinese-Australian witnesses at a recent committee hearing.

But Payne stopped short of directly rebuking Abetz, saying Australia was “the bastion of robust democracy” and people would express a range of views.

“I will defend the right of people to talk about issues that are of concern to them across the parliament.”

Abetz demanded at a Senate hearing for three Chinese-Australian witnesses to publicly and unconditionally condemn “the Chinese Communist party dictatorship”.

Labor senator Tim Ayres pointed to comments at Senate estimates from Frances Adamson, the head of Payne’s department, that China’s state media “project an image of Australia that is intolerant, that is divided, that discriminates against various groups within our society”.

Ayre asked whether Payne thought Abetz’s comments could be used to portray Australia as divided.

She replied: “I encourage all Australians to make contributions to public discourse that contribute to cohesion.”

The reason Australia’s emissions have dropped since 2005?

The carbon price and Labor policies.

As Adam Morton reports:

In the most recent greenhouse accounts, Australia’s emissions were about 14% below 2005 levels. The change mostly occurred under the Labor governments between 2007 and 2013, when they fell nearly 15%.

They had dropped 2.2% since the Coalition was elected in 2013.

Government emissions projections released last December suggested Australia would miss its 2030 target unless it used contentious carryover credits from the previous climate deal, the Kyoto protocol.

The Morrison government has also changed the way we measure carbon. So there is a whole lot of clouding going on in that answer.

Mark Butler to Scott Morrison:

My question is to the prime minister. Why won’t the prime minister commit to net zero by 2050 when it’s supported by every state and territory government, the Australian Industry Group, the Business Council, the National Farmers’ Federation, AGL, BHP, Rio Tinto, Santos, Telstra, Origin, EnergyAustralia, the Property Council, the Aluminium Council and the Commonwealth Bank, among many others?

Morrison:

Well, thank you, Mr Speaker. As I just responded in answer to the leader of the opposition’s question the government has a very clear target for 2030, just like we had clear targets for 2020, which were achieved – not just achieving, but they were beaten.

They were beaten and our performance in this area speaks loudly...

Since 2005 in Australia, emissions in this country have fallen by 14%. Now, that compares to an OECD average of 9% and it compares to 1% in New Zealand, so Australia continues to achieve when it comes to reducing emissions.

We are signatories to the Paris agreement and we have put in place the measures that will ensure that we will meet that commitment.

And it’s important that there is, I think, a bipartisan commitment to the targets that have been set and those opposite have no commitment to any target in 2030 at all. They have walked away from a target in 2030 because they wish to speak about something 30 years from now, than something, if they were to obvious the Treasury benches they would have some responsibility for achieving.

But Australia also, with national electricity market as a share of the national electricity market, the generation from wind and solar is 18%. Now, the OECD average is two-thirds of that at just 11% and the global average is 6.5%. Australia is achieving when it comes to reducing emissions and ensuring that renewable energy technologies are becoming a lasting and permanent feature of our energy mix here in Australia. But we’re doing it through technology, not taxes, Mr Speaker.

We’re doing it through technology, not taxes. But I note this, Mr Speaker. I note this – of the many countries that have stated something about net zero by 2050, I note there are only four through nationally determined contributions – that is the proper process for actually having a binding commitment with the overseeing accountabilities – only four have submitted that through the process internationally.

Now, others may seek 20 do that. There are some 34 who have set out some longer-term strategies. But I note this, Mr Speaker: That our government will always be up-front with Australians about these plans and policies. At the last election, we were, Mr Speaker, and at the last election, it was exposed what the Labor Party’s policies were and what the costs were.

And so our government will enact the policies put in place that we took to the last election and was supported by the Australian people, but what we will also do is through $1.9bn in investment in new technologies we will ensure we meet all the challenges.

Updated

Everything in that answer...sigh.

Updated

Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:

I refer to the fact that now more than 70 countries have committed to net zero emissions by 2050, including Japan, Korea, France, Germany, Canada, the UK, and New Zealand. And now the United States, under President-elect Joe Biden will support net zero by 2050 or perhaps even better. Why is the prime minister leaving Australia behind by refusing to support net zero by 2050?

Morrison:

I thank the member for his question. I welcome the fact that the United States will be rejoining the Paris accord. Australia never left, Mr Speaker. Australia never left and not only did we not leave, Mr Speaker, we continued to meet and beat its commitments that we have had.

Meeting and beating Kyoto 1. Meeting and beating Kyoto 2. And Mr Speaker, we will meet and beat 2030 as well. Mr Speaker, those opposite, when we said that about Kyoto 1 and Kyoto 2, they mocked us, Mr Speaker.

They said the plan wouldn’t work and we wouldn’t be able to achieve it, but they were proved wrong.

They were proved wrong on two counts counts. One, that we are committed to reducing emissions consistent with our agreements and meeting those commitments. So when I say to the Australian people what our government will do and how we will do it, Australians have confidence in that, because they understand our track record of performance and delivery when it comes to meeting these challenges.

Now, when it comes to the matter of net zero by 2050, Australia would like to meet that as quickly as possible, as quickly as it’s able, Mr Speaker. That is why the energy minister and the minister for emissions reduction has set out the technology road map which is the way that that can be achieved, Mr Speaker.

But until such time as we can be very clear with the Australian people about what the cost of that is and how that plan can deliver on that commitment, it would be very deceptive on the Australian people and not honest with them to make such commitments without being able to spell that out to Australians and I’ll give another guarantee.

Australia’s policies will be set in Australia and nowhere else for Australia’s purposes and consistent with our national interest and you can always guarantee that when it comes to a Coalition government, Mr Speaker.

We will always act in Australia’s interests. Now, Mr Speaker. We have our 2030 target that we have signed up to under the Paris accords.

But I note the Labor party has not. The Labor Party would rather talk about something 30 years from now.

And there may be a reason. The Labor party has signed up to a net zero by 2050 without qualification. Unlike in New Zealand, where they have admitted methane, which means agriculture and forestry sectors are not included in their net 2050 commitment. The Labor Party hasn’t done that. And some simple, linear analysis will tell you that for a net 2050 that Labor wants, it requires a 4% emissions reduction in 2030.

Why won’t the Labor party tell the Australian people what their 2030 target is?

Updated

Question time begins

Anthony Albanese begins by welcoming back all the Victorian MPs.

*a previous version of this post said Alan Tudge was missing, he is the house. I misheard David Coleman being absent

Updated

Anthony Albanese is now giving a statement by indulgence on the US election:

We are certainly not shrinking violets here in Australia.

But when we look to the US and its democracy, we’re sometimes struck by the scale and the energy of it. It is robust. It is fought hard.

But even in its occasional untidiness, we see a democracy that has survived the tumult of history, a democracy that has passed yet another test.

We revel in it, but we do not take it for granted, which is why we must always speak up in favour of democracy, in favour of having every vote counted.

One-person-one-vote, one value. That’s the principle that both our countries hold dear. And while we witness the strength of US democracy, we also see the dangerous circus of conspiracy theories casting shadows and doubt.

They should be called out for the nonsense that they are.

We need top stand up for democratic values here and abroad. Indeed, this should be the first of anyone who is leader of a democracy. Labor looks forward to the US reprising its leadership role in global institutions.

Labor welcomes the incoming President’s commitment to engage with our region critical issues, including climate change by signing up to the Paris accord and by re-engaging with the World Health Organization.

The US has played such a critical leadership role in the world and we cannot afford for it to retreat either from the world but particularly from our region.

We are pleased that our great friend and ally will be guided by a president who has not only accepted the reality of climate change but is ready to pursue new industries and jobs of the future.

The foreign minister, Marise Payne, told the Senate the US election was “ultimately a smooth, calm and extremely well attended process”.

She said while president-elect Joe Biden was yet to announce the members of his administration, the Australian government knew him and his team well.

Then Scott Morrison moves into a ‘we love America, but sometimes we are different to America’ space, as he concludes his statement:

Australia believes in a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

We are committed to upholding the rules, the norms and standards of our international community.

We share views on the importance of multilateral institutions and strengthening democracies. And on the crucial role of open, rules-based trade as the world emerges from the pandemic recession.

And like President-elect Biden, we’re committed to developing new technologies to reduce global emissions as we tackle climate change.

My message at this time is clear: American leadership, as always, is indispensable to meeting these challenges.

As I said on the White House South Lawn last year, Mr Speaker, Australia looks to the United States but we don’t leave it to the United States and we never have. We play our part. We carry our own.

Sir Robert Menzies once said that Australians and Americans are warmed by the same inner fires and we are.

That’s why this relationship has always been bigger than any one of us.

As Prime Minister and to the President-elect, we share now, in that special custodianship of that relationship that has endured so long and been so important to the citizens of both our countries.

And I have absolutely every confidence it will continue to go from strength to strength as we work again with an old friend of Australia, President-elect Joe Biden.

Updated

Scott Morrison praises Joe Biden as 'man of grit'

Scott Morrison has invited Joe Biden, as the president-elect to visit Australia for the 70th anniversary of the Anzus alliance (next year).

Morrison:

President-elect Biden has been a good friend of Australia over many, many years. There is a shared affinity.

President-elect Biden once said this about Australians: “In my view, Australians are defined by their character, by the grit, by their integrity, their unyielding resilience.” Having witnessed the President-elect’s personal and public journey over many years, I believe we can say the same of him – a man of grit, character, integrity and unyielding resilience. Australia looks forward to working with him on the many challenges the world faces.

Updated

Question time is delayed slightly, for a statement by indulgence on the US election.

Petition calling for inquiry into Murdoch media tabled in parliament

The parliament’s chamber attendants do heavy lifting in more ways than one, most days.

What happens now? Well, that would depend on the will of the government.

So ... probably not a lot.

Labor MP Andrew Leigh tables the petition in the House of Representatives
Labor MP Andrew Leigh tables the e-petition, calling for a royal commission into the Murdoch media’s influence in Australia, in the House of Representatives today. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

And NOW it is officially tabled.

Half a million e-signatures makes for a lot of paper.

Updated

There is about 30 minutes until question time.

I’m tired already.

Updated

*Content warning*

AAP has looked at the suicide data during Covid:

New data from New South Wales confirms a trend from Victoria – the Covid-19 pandemic has not caused additional suicides.

The first report from the health ministry’s ‘suicide monitoring system’ shows 673 people from NSW took their own life in the first nine months of the year.

This compares with 672 for the same period last year.

“While every death by suicide is a tragedy, we need to underline that there has not been an overall spike in numbers in a year that has delivered so many challenges,” NSW Mental Health Minister Bronnie Taylor said.

The state government is spending $87m over three years towards suicide prevention initiatives, including the new system which will send up-to-date data to health and support services so they can respond appropriately.

In August, an investigation from Victoria’s Coroners Court showed 466 Victorians had died by suicide in 2020 compared with 468 people during the same period last year.

The data is perhaps counterintuitive, with many holding concerns that Covid-19 would see a rise in self-harm, owing to worsening health and economic situations.

Nieves Murray, the chief executive of Suicide Prevention Australia, warned in September the mental health of Australians could worsen.

“International research shows as economies go down, suicide rates go up, and Australia has just entered its worst recession in nearly a century,” Murray said.

“The longer Covid-19 and its economic and social impacts run, the bigger the risk of a hidden ‘third wave’ of suicide deaths not recorded in the official virus figures.”

According to the NSW data, those fears have yet to materialise.

Roughly 3000 Australians take their own lives each year, with three times as many males killing themselves than females, and two times as many Indigenous Australians than non-Indigenous.

Suicide Prevention Australia’s first annual report lists employment, social isolation and relationship breakdown as the chief drivers behind suicide attempts.

Helplines available:

  • Lifeline 13 11 14
  • beyondblue 1300 22 4636

Updated

The Nationals don’t have the trade portfolio, so I am not sure the government would let David Littleproud be the first minister they sent to Beijing.

It seems Bob Katter missed this story from the New Daily this morning:

As the New Daily reported:

A recruitment company set up at the start of the pandemic to find Australians work on farms has found it ‘impossible’ to get locals jobs, despite the industry crying out for boots on the ground.

One of the founders of AgriAus, who spoke to The New Daily on the condition of anonymity, said the company had put out a ‘call to farms’ to employ interested Australians and get them picking fruit and vegetables on the nation’s farms to save produce from waste.

Independent Bob Katter.
Independent Bob Katter. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

The New Daily can also reveal that many labour-hire companies for the agricultural sector are advertising positions exclusively for backpackers, leaving unemployed Australians, who say they’re happy to work for fair pay, out in the cold.

AgriAus had more than 1500 applicants for farm work but was unable to secure even one of them a job due to farmers’ preference for foreign workers, the firm’s co-founder told The New Daily.

“We got 1,500 applications from people desperate for farm work in three days,” he said.

“We started making contact with farmers to gauge if they wanted people to go out there or not. We spoke to the Department of Agriculture to see if they could push it, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference because the farmers don’t want to change their habits.”

Katter, of course, blames unemployed people, because thinking anything else would require looking at the issues of the industry as a whole.

Katter:

The ministers need to explain why fruit is now being left to rot on the ground in far north Queensland when there are 20,000 people on jobseeker, but 15,000 fruit picking and packing roles are vacant.

The privatisation of social welfare job allocation has been disastrous for jobs because it means these people can get away with doing nothing whereas they couldn’t before.

Mr Katter has spoken to a number of key farm leaders as late as today who had supported his call for intervention on the issue, particularly interested in lifting the restrictions on South Pacific Islander workers and the reignition of backpackers to fill the jobs, by smooth transition through dedicated quarantine centres.

Updated

Remember how Australia issued a travel warning for the US (not that we can travel at the moment) given the potential for violence following the election?

Well, the US has returned fire (not so much an official warning, but more of a ‘shiz happens here too, Australia – and they are right, it does, although it looks more like floods this season).

The relationship is totally cool though.

Updated

Honestly, we really, really, really need to look at what is happening to Australia’s workforce.

From Naaman Zhou:

Food delivery riders say their hourly rates of pay are being cut during the pandemic, even as demand rises, meaning that food delivery companies like UberEats and Deliveroo are profiting off “both sides” of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Three food delivery riders were killed in the space of a month in October, in three separate road collisions in Sydney and Melbourne.

On Monday, four current delivery riders and rideshare drivers testified before a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry about their experiences of being injured or financially stressed on the job.

Esteban Salazar, a student from Columbia, told the inquiry that he had worked for UberEats since April. On 20 September, Salazar was delivering food in heavy rain in Sydney’s Surry Hills when he slipped and was struck by a light rail tram.

A food delivery rider rides past a Chanel boutique in Melbourne, Australia.
A food delivery rider rides past a Chanel boutique in Melbourne, Australia. Photograph: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

Updated

The House has passed the social services amendment bill, which allows for the $250 Covid payments for pensioners and other concession card holders (which is basically to make up for the lack of indexation).

Updated

Victoria Health has released its official update for the day:

Victoria has recorded no new cases of coronavirus since yesterday, with the total number of cases now at 20,345.

There have been no new deaths from Covid-19 reported since yesterday. To date, 819 people have died from coronavirus in Victoria.

People exercising in a class at FoxFit Gym in Melbourne, Monday, 9 November 2020.
People exercising in a class at FoxFit Gym in Melbourne, Monday, 9 November 2020. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

This is the tenth straight day where Victoria has recorded zero daily new cases or deaths.

A positive swab result was received by the department yesterday from an individual who was recently cleared as a confirmed case of Covid-19. The case has remained asymptomatic throughout. This case was diagnosed and cleared intestate prior to returning to Victoria and is not included in local numbers.

The case was ruled by the Chief Health Officer to be persistent shedding from their previous infection. This case has also been considered by members of the expert review panel. While this is not considered an active case, out of an abundance of caution additional testing and serology is being undertaken and the individual will remain in isolation until these results are received.

The average number of cases diagnosed in the last 14 days (26 Oct – 8 Nov 2020) for metropolitan Melbourne is 0.4 and regional Victoria is zero. The rolling daily average case number is calculated by averaging out the number of new cases over the past 14 days.

The total number of cases from an unknown source in the last 14 days (24 Oct – 6 Nov 2020) is two for metropolitan Melbourne and zero from regional Victoria. The 14-day period for the source of acquisition data ends 48 hours earlier than the 14-day period used to calculate the new case average due to the time required to fully investigate a case and assign its mode of acquisition.

Updated

Mark Butler is asking how Angus Taylor could not have realised he was reading the wrong speech.

And if not, once pointed out, how he could not come in and address the issue himself (the government has sent in someone else to make the necessary mea culpas).

Updated

It feels like it happened at least a year ago – but last parliament sitting – which was just a week ago, Angus Taylor appeared to give a speech for the wrong bill – he got the bills confused.

Tony Burke is on his feet in the chamber talking about it saying it is “an embarrassment” that the government no longer seems to care what speech is given to what bill.

It doesn’t seem to have happened before so the parliament is trying to work out what to do with it.

Updated

I’m hearing salmon and wine are among the products that have arrived unhindered into China since the start of the reported restrictions on seven categories of Australian exports.

But it might take a few weeks for Australian exporters and officials to get a handle on what precisely is occurring at the border, given the different processing time and shipment schedules for various products.

Beijing says any inspection and quarantine measures on imported products are ‘in accordance with laws and regulations’.
Beijing says any inspection and quarantine measures on imported products are ‘in accordance with laws and regulations’. Photograph: Mal Fairclough/AP

There has been uncertainty after Chinese state media last week appeared to confirm a “halt” on Australian wine, lobster, sugar, coal, timber, barley and copper, starting from Friday – something that Beijing had officially denied.

The Australian government has been relying on the Chinese government’s public and private assurances that there is no concerted action of discrimination against Australian goods, while raising significant concerns about mixed messages and uncertainty. It’s understood Australia last received that private assurance around the middle of last week.

Late last week an editorial in the state-run China Daily warned that if Canberra went out of its way to be hostile to Beijing (and stick with Washington’s hard line) it “will be a decision Australia will come to regret as its economy will only suffer further pain”. No specifics were offered, and it is consistent with messages coming from Chinese state media for several months.

While blanket bans haven’t been evident, there have certainly been issues with some types of seafood, notably lobsters. Australian exporters of live lobsters are understood to have mostly suspended shipments to China for the time being because of concerns about hold-ups for extra testing that emerged about a bit over a week ago. It has been estimated that 21 tonnes of live lobsters, worth $2m, died during delays in processing in Shanghai last week.

Beijing says any inspection and quarantine measures on imported products are “in accordance with laws and regulations”.

Updated

Ken O’Dowd spoke* on Kevin Rudd’s petition for a royal commission into the Murdoch media.

Mike Bowers was there – he said O’Dowd (noted) it got half a million signatures (the most for an e-petition, but not the biggest tabled in parliament).

*A secret squirrel House watcher has informed me the petition was not tabled. Stay tuned for 90-second statements in the House later this afternoon.

Ken O’Dowd this morning
Ken O’Dowd this morning. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Also, I am not sure what is going on here – but hairdressers have been open in Queensland for months – so this is a choice.

George Christensen as the parliamentary sitting week gets under way
George Christensen as the parliamentary sitting week gets under way. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

That exchange ended with this:

SM: How can you determine that they wouldn’t be acting consistent if you haven’t seen the program?

Morrison:

Well, Sam, you’re making assumptions. You’re making assumptions.

SM: I don’t think it’s an assumption, I understand that you have contacted the ABC managing director.

Morrison:

All I’m simply saying is the government wants the ABC to stand up for its charter and act consistent with its charter and Australians will make the judgment about whether they do, or they don’t.

Updated

Here is the exchange between Scott Morrison and the News Corp journalist Samantha Maiden this morning about tonight’s Four Corner’s program:

SM: Prime minister, the ABC will be broadcasting a program tonight that’s billed as some sort of sex scandal involving senior members of your government. There are reports this morning that the government’s applied pressure to the ABC via the managing director, the news director, Gaven Morris, and possibly the board as well. Have you, any members of your government, or your office been pressuring the ABC to pull that story and why would you do that?

Morrison:

Well, there’s a lot of allegations in there, Sam, and I’m not sure what they’re based on. So I’m not in the habit of responding to allegations people make based on a program that I haven’t seen and I don’t even know what’s in it. So I think that it’s a bit difficult for me to respond to a whole bunch of hypotheticals but I’d say this, we would just expect that the ABC always is that they would act in an independent and an unbiased a-partisan way. And if they’re going to make inquiries, I would think they’d want to do them across the political spectrum and it’s really for the ABC under their charter to remain true to that and it’s always important the ABC remains true to their charter, and I would expect them to do that.

SM: Do you still support the bonk ban, if you want to call it that, that Malcolm Turnbull put in place? What would be the penalty if one of your ministers was found to have been in breach of that?

Morrison:

Well, Sam, I more than supported it, I ensured that it continued and you use that term to explain it but it’s actually a very important issue. I mean, when the former prime minister introduced it, I was one of its strongest supporters and why it’s there, is to protect, I thin,k the culture in the parliament and it’s not just on any one side of politics, can I tell you, it’s important as a cultural change within the parliament. And certainly the former prime minister and I supported it and continued it as prime minister to ensure that you have these sorts of standards, that they are important to ensure you have the right sort of a workplace. I note that the Labor party has mocked the ban and hasn’t supported it. It wasn’t supported by the former leader of the opposition and it’s not supported by the current leader of the opposition. So our standards and that we’ve set as a government are very clear. I’m unaware of the matters that you’re referring to because I can’t know about a program that I haven’t seen but that arrangement was put in place on a prospective basis by the former prime minister and I have continued it.

SM: So I don’t want to ask you about a question [on] a program that you haven’t seen. I do want to ask about any pressure that the government has applied. Are you aware that your office or other members of your government have contacted the managing director of the ABC or the news director, Gaven Morris, to try and pressure them not to run the story? Have you applied pressure?

Morrison:

Well, the only thing I’m aware of is that the government always stands up for ensuring that the ABC would act consistent with its charter and I would think all Australians would expect the ABC to act consistent with its charter.

Updated

The Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, has accused the Morrison government of having a “big problem” with its climate policies, contending that the US election has left Australia increasingly isolated internationally.

Addressing reporters in Queanbeyan this morning, Albanese also reaffirmed Labor’s own policy commitment to net zero emissions by 2050. But when asked about setting an interim 2030 target, Albanese kept Labor’s options open, saying voters would be told “our process” of how it intended to reach that point before the next election:

A big change happened in the world last Wednesday. One of the things that I’ve said consistently is we will take our policy to the election consistent with net zero emissions by 2050.

That is now consistent with the United States, with Japan, with Korea, with Europe, with the United Kingdom, with New Zealand. Australia is now isolated amongst our major trading partners when it comes to those issues.

And we adopted a policy in 2015 of a 15-year target. We didn’t get elected in 2016, we didn’t get elected in 2019. We are not the government.

Albanese said there were “substantial changes” in the global environment, including the fact president-elect Joe Biden was planning to convene a meeting next year of likeminded countries. Albanese said John Podesta – who was likely to play a critical role in the next administration – had earlier this year named the UK, Europe, New Zealand and Japan as among those the US could work with on climate:

He doesn’t name Australia. That’s a big problem for us and what we need to do is adopt positions that are consistent with the zero net emissions by 2050. We will do that.

Pressed on the need for a process to get to 2050, Albanese said:

There does indeed, and before the election they [voters] will certainly know exactly our process of going up to net zero emissions by 2050 ... We will make an announcement about the full detail of our policies at an appropriate time.

Albanese said there were “a range of mechanisms” and “various models” that could work. He contended that the government didn’t have a 2030 target because it relied on the “accounting trick” of Kyoto carryover credits that would not be accepted by Eupoe, the UK, US or New Zealand.

Anthony Albanese
Anthony Albanese. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Anthony Albanese held a press conference in Queanbeyan this morning, where he was asked about the split in the Labor party room over what to do on climate policy:

No one has said, no one has argued in this country, in this country, that the transition to a clean energy future means that things stop immediately and you just turn off the lights. No one argues that.

No one argues that’s the case was not when it comes to gas – gas plays a critical role in manufacturing in things like plastics, fertiliser, in a whole range of areas …

Look at the Liddell power station which is being shut down.

Contrast what the government said, they shouldn’t be allowed to get away with having argued year after year after year, they are in their eighth year now, so for seven years, they argued Liddell should be extended, it was an outrage if Liddell was not kept going into the future with no end in sight was not they know that wasn’t real, it just wasn’t real in terms of their rhetorical position.

Now, Liddell will be replaced by a mix of renewables with battery storage and gas.

That will be a good thing stop that is happening. AGL have a plan for that.

The government at the same time is going and we voted in the parliament on this issue of funding a feasibility study for a new coal-fired power station at Collinsville in Queensland even though everyone knows that will not go ahead.

It is millions of dollars given to the proponents with no record of running a major infrastructure project or a major energy project anywhere at all, millions of dollars of taxpayers’ funds being given to that which would have, of course, a life of many decades.

If anything exposes the hypocrisy and the political game playing that this government engages in, it is that. I’ve said consistently, since well before I was environment spokesperson and climate change spokesperson more than a decade ago, that we need to listen to the science on climate change and we need to respond accordingly.

One of the ways that we’ve got through this pandemic is we’ve listened to the science, listened to the experts and acted accordingly. We need to take that principle to the issue of climate change but this government is frozen in time while the world warms around it because it can’t stand up to the climate sceptics on their backbench.

Updated

NSW records no new locally transmitted Covid cases but seven in quarantine

NSW has also recorded no locally acquired cases of Covid in the last 24 hours, out of 9,499 tests.

Seven people who were diagnosed were all part of the hotel quarantine program.

After last week’s mystery cases in the NSW southern highlands, the health department is reminding people that, as the original source of infections has not yet been found, there is concern that other people in the broader area may have an unrecognised infection.

NSW Health is urging people with even the mildest symptoms to come forward to testing. There is a walk-in Covid-testing clinic at Moss Vale Showground, 16 Illawarra Highway, open from 9am to 5pm.

Updated

“We would just expect that the ABC would always, act in an independent and an unbiased, a-partisan way, and if they were going to make inquiries, I would think they would want to do them across the political spectrum” – Scott Morrison on the pressure put on the ABC’s Four Corners program in the lead-up a program it is airing tonight, on the “bonk ban” - the ban on MPs sleeping with staff, put in place by Malcolm Turnbull after the Barnaby Joyce affair.

Morrison says he not only supported the ban, he has continued it. He says he hasn’t seen the program and cannot comment on its contents.

It will air tonight.

Updated

And of course, Victoria is once again, open for travel across the state.

If you are seeing a loved one, or just getting to see something you’ve longed to gaze upon while in locked down – I hope it is bringing all of the joy.

Updated

Victoria now has just four active cases of Covid.

That’s half Queensland’s total (although Queensland’s cases are in hotel quarantine).

Still, it’s a wonderful achievement and one that proved all the doubters wrong.

Lockdowns work.

(Now let’s have a chat about the policing of those lockdowns and whether such punitive fines are actually helpful to the cause, and who are the people getting fined.)

Updated

Just going to assume this is a bag full of the CSIRO’s funding.

Dr Cathy Foley with Scott Morrison at the CSIRO in Canberra this morning
Dr Cathy Foley with Scott Morrison at the CSIRO in Canberra this morning. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Both the ACTU and the Australian Council of Social Service have immediately expressed their support for Zali Steggall’s climate bill.

There feels like a bit of a mood for change on in the country at the moment. Perhaps we too, have reached the tipping point.

Updated

As someone who didn’t talk much for years because of a speech impediment (a pretty bad lisp that still pops up when I’m tired and can’t focus on controlling my mouth) this is wonderful:

Updated

Oh. Great. Crown can reopen its gaming operations. Huzzah:

Crown Melbourne has received approval to commence the operation of a limited number of electronic gaming machines and electronic table games in accordance with restrictions agreed with the Victorian Government, including:

• restricting operation to ten designated VIP areas, each with a maximum capacity of ten patrons with no smoking permitted;

• physical distancing between patrons with every second electronic gaming machine and electronic table game deactivated;

• restricting patron activity to 90-minutes per day;

• a COVID Marshal for each area; and

• enhanced hygiene protocols.

Gaming operations are expected to commence from Thursday, 12 November 2020.

Updated

Zali Steggall, seconded by Helen Haines, has introduced her climate bill.

Let’s see how this goes.

A little bit of history for you.

Updated

Labor is becoming increasingly critical of the Morrison government’s handling of the relationship with China.

The opposition’s foreign affairs spokeswoman, Penny Wong, has urged the government to keep open the prospect of a challenge on trade issues through the World Trade Organization.

Penny Wong
‘We can’t just leave our exporters to go it alone,’ Penny Wong has said. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

She told the ABC this morning:

Well, look, whenever any country unreasonably blocks our exports, we do have to act. Whether that’s through the WTO or bilaterally or more broadly. We do have to act and we’re deeply concerned about the consequences for our exporters and the consequences for Australia’s economy about the sorts of trade problems we are seeing with China.

Wong also accused the government of not properly helping exporters to find other markets:

I think that the government’s ‘go it alone’ advice to exporters is not helpful. We see reports that what exporters are being told is [to] find another market. Well, we can’t just leave our exporters to go it alone, and the government really needs to ensure that it advocates and supports our export sectors.

Updated

Simon Birmingham says claims of “complete blanket stoppages” affecting Australian imports into China have not yet materialised.

There was a lot of talk last week about new measures affecting at least seven export sectors – including wine, lobsters, coal and sugar – from Friday, fuelled by apparent confirmation in the state-run Global Times but denied by official sources.

In an ABC interview this morning, the trade minister said the Australian government had been monitoring the flow of those goods “very closely over recent days ... and some of the predictions that have been made about complete blanket stoppages occurring at China’s borders have not materialised”.

He said: “There remain points of concern, particularly in relation to the length of time of testing regimes for certain goods, such as those lobsters entering the China market, where, because of the time sensitive nature of that product, it needs to be sped up.”

He wasn’t declaring victory, though, saying “it’s early days”.

The Australian Industry Group told Guardian Australia on Friday that Australia should take China to the World Trade Organization to resolve the widening trade dispute, because attempts at talks have broken down.

The ABC’s David Speers asked Birmingham about that prospect on morning TV today.

Birmingham reaffirmed that the government had “certainly reserved our right” to take action through the WTO, particularly in relation to the 80% tariff on barley that was imposed this year because of claims of “dumping” and subsidies.

The minister said if the government had “other concerns along the journey that are appropriate to raise through the WTO, we will do so”.

Birmingham also said hoped the Biden administration would engage in WTO processes to achieve a “more efficient and effective World Trade Organization in the future”.

(Donald Trump’s administration blocked appointments to a key dispute body.)

For more on that story:

Updated

Happy Naidoc Week.

Updated

Zali Steggall’s climate bill will be introduced to the House sometime after 10am. It can only be brought on for debate if the government supports it.

Here’s what Simon Birmingham had to say about that, when asked about it on ABC radio this morning:

Fran Kelly: Given your certainty and confidence, will you allow Zali Steggall’s private member’s bill on zero by 2050 to be debated and voted on when it’s introduced today? It actually has built in an ongoing monitoring system, to work out where we’re at, just as you were talking about.

Birmingham:

Look, that’s a matter of management in the house. We’ve got quite a lot of Government business priorities as we continue to respond to the pandemic …

Kelly: Well, do you support it though?

Birmingham:

… and the economic recovery necessary for the pandemic. I can’t say that I’ve looked at the details of Ms Steggall’s bill. I know that what we have as a priority this week is to get our jobmaker legislation through and that is about helping to create hundreds of thousands more jobs, being supported across the Australian economy, and making sure that we get Australians back to work from what we can’t forget and is right now still the biggest economic shock to the world since the Great Depression.

Updated

Simon Birmingham was a little more together on Sky.

On Australia being the cheese (the cheese stands alone) on a net zero by 2050 target, Birmingham said:

What our prime minister’s made clear is that he wants to see any targets as being ones that we have full confidence in their achievability and how we will get there and knowledge about the pathway to being able to achieve those sorts of targets.

And that is crucial and it is where the type of investment in technology and the type of changes that need to occur are crucial and hence, the fact that we so warmly welcome the opportunity to collaborate with a Biden administration around areas of technology investment when it comes to emissions reduction.

That’s what’s going to get not just us or the United States, but ultimately, the rest of the world, including developing countries where the largest amount of growth in emissions projection is forecast to occur over the next few years.

If we are to change that trajectory of growth in emissions in those developing countries to one that flattens and ultimately reduces, we will need technologies that allow them to have affordable, accessible energy and that’s where technology’s going to play a huge role.

Simon Birmingham.
Simon Birmingham. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Simon Birmingham, who steps into Mathias Cormann’s shoes today as government leader of the Senate, had some issues finding a line that worked this morning, as this exchange between himself and David Speers shows:

Speers: One of the things that Joe Biden spoke about in his victory speech there was climate change. He wants to recommit to the Paris agreement. He has plans to implement a net zero by 2050 emissions target. Do you think that the US setting that net zero target by 2050 will be helpful?

Birmingham:

Well, we welcome the fact that Joe Biden is committed to the Paris agreement. Our government never walked away from the Paris agreement …

Speers: I’m asking about the target – do you think that’s going to be helpful?

Birmingham:

Well, look, David, I’m making the point very clearly here – the Paris agreement is what Australia is deeply committed to. We’ve never walked away from it.

Speers: No. We know that. I’m just asking about the target through, minister – do you think that’s helpful?

Birmingham:

I think what is helpful is that Joe Biden has also outlined a clear approach to invest in technologies – the same type of technology roadmap.

Speers: He has, but the target is what my question was. Is that helpful?

Birmingham:

Well, what is helpful are policies that actually change emissions profiles. That’s what we’re investing in in Australia, and we look forward to the United States taking a complementary approach in investing similarly in terms of emissions reductions policies. You know, Australia has reduced emissions by a greater rate since 2005 than the OECD, on average, by a greater rate than the United States. What we want to see is that the rest of the world achieves the same type of success as we have in building a strong trajectory to get us to the point of net zero as soon as possible. The Paris agreement commits all parties to achieving that in the second-half of this century but we want it done as soon as possible …

Updated

Penny Wong: 'Biden victory demonstrates is that a centre-left party can be elected with an ambitious climate policy'

And here is Penny Wong on what Murph was talking about, with Mark Butler:

You know, what the Biden victory demonstrates is that a centre-left party can be elected with an ambitious climate policy. President-elect Biden’s policy is not only net zero by 2050. It’s zero emissions from the electricity sector by 2035. It’s a massive investment in clean energy. And that demonstrates that we have the world’s greatest power on track to be part of the fight against climate change, part of trying to control what we are seeing already occurring. And that’s what matters. That’s what matters and what matters also is that we have a government which is now increasingly isolated.

We have the US, we have Japan, we have South Korea, United Kingdom, the European Union and many others, all signed up to net zero by 2050. And here we have Scott Morrison and Matt Canavan playing politics on climate.

I’d invite you and others in the media to focus on a climate policy that is about science and about hope, rather than about politics.

Updated

Penny Wong was pushed on ABC News Breakfast on Donald Trump:

I think that the alliance has remained the bedrock of our strategic arrangements and that the alliance is beyond politics. What the Trump administration has done, however, is advocate on a range of issues, a position which we did not believe is in Australia’s interest.

We did not believe that the erosion of multilateral institutions, whether it’s the World Trade Organization or the World Health Organization, has been in Australia’s interests and we said so and we said that the government should say so. So that is one example. Obviously, another is on climate.

We believe that the Paris agreement, a multilateral agreement to confront the warming of the planet and the disastrous consequences for this generation and beyond – it’s in our interests for the world’s greatest power to be in that. And it is a great thing on the day that America actually withdrew from the Paris agreement, was election day, and now that will, once a Biden administration is sworn in, be reintroduced.

Shadow foreign affairs minister Penny Wong.
Shadow foreign affairs minister Penny Wong. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated

I just had to triple-check the date (it is that sort of year) but that is the 10th day in a row Victoria has had no new Covid cases and no deaths.

Given we are well within the time frame of when newly infected people would start displaying symptoms from when lockdown was lifted, and we are seeing testing in the double digits, this is very, very good news for Victoria.

Updated

The NSW Coalition is backing a rapid shift to a clean energy future in a way its federal counterpart continues to resist, based on an announcement this morning.

It is promising what it describes as an electricity infrastructure roadmap to create a long-term investment signal for wind and solar in previously announced renewable energy zones, and to back the energy storage – including pumped hydro and batteries – needed to support them.

Government ministers say it will create more than 9,000 jobs and $32bn in private investment over the next decade, and is expected by 2042 to deliver $1.5bn in leave payments to landowners who host new infrastructure.

The push appears to have broad internal support. It is backed by the Nationals leader and deputy premier, John Barilaro, and the environment and energy minister, Matt Kean, who have been at loggerheads over land clearing and koala-protection policies, and by the treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, who says it will be great for productivity and the economy.

Among other promised benefits, Kean says it will lower power bills while addressing the need to replace most of the state’s dirty and increasingly unreliable coal plants over the next 15 years.

The policy is reportedly also supported by the state Labor party, which has been briefed before its announcement.

Updated

Victoria records no new coronavirus cases and no deaths

The state’s 14-day average is 0.4.

Absolutely knocking it out of the park, Victoria.

Updated

See?

The pressure on the Coalition to actually act on climate has just been ramped up to 11 by Joe Biden’s projected win of the US presidency.

Biden is recommitting the US to the Paris agreement, and considering an office of climate change within the White House.

It means Australia doesn’t have cover any more – the UK has already been lobbying Australia to do more (along with France) and it looks as though the US is about to rejoin their ranks.

Updated

Zali Steggall’s climate bill will be introduced into the parliament today.

It’s an attempt to force the government into actual action on emissions reduction, and having a proper climate policy, which sets out a way to address the issues we are facing – and are about to face.

Updated

Of course, there is still parliament to get through. We saw Labor ask some questions about this in the last sitting a week ago – Paul Karp has taken a deeper look:

A former Coalition staffer appointed to the administrative appeals tribunal is also working as a consultant to a lobbying firm, a potential conflict of interest.

The AAT has asked Tony Barry, a former staffer to the then Victorian opposition leader Matthew Guy and then federal opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull, to explain his work as a consultant for Next Level Strategic Services.

The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has used the revelation to renew Labor’s critique that Christian Porter and his predecessor, George Brandis, have stacked the tribunal with more than 70 Coalition mates.

Updated

Cathy Foley to be Australia's next chief scientist

Australia has a new chief scientist.

Dr Cathy Foley AO, who has been the CSIRO’s chief scientist for the last two years, will step into the role when Dr Alan Finkel AO departs.

Foley has spent the last two years as the CSIRO’s chief scientist. Finkel’s tenure ends next month.

Updated

Good morning

Welcome to the third-last sitting week of the year.

It honestly feels like it’s about 2023, but no. It’s still 2020.

For the Coalition though, 2020 is ending where it has spent the last 10 years – under pressure over climate policy. As Adam Morton reports:

Australia risks becoming an isolated laggard in addressing the climate crisis, without obvious allies to shelter it from rising international pressure to act, as the US takes a leadership role under Joe Biden, experts say.

The president-elect has declared addressing climate change “the No 1 issue facing humanity” and promised $2tn in climate spending and policies to put the US on a path to 100% clean electricity by 2035 and net zero emissions no later than 2050.

Biden last week promised to rejoin the Paris agreement (which due to a quirk of timing the US officially left on the day after the election) on his first day in office and has said he would “use every tool of American foreign policy to push the rest of the world” to increase their ambition to combat the problem.

That is not to say that Labor won’t have its issues either, with the right faction, led by Joel Fitzgibbon, all aboard the gas train.

Meanwhile, NSW wants to be a renewable energy superpower within Australia, as Australia’s largest economy works out where the future money is, under its ambitious environment minster, Matt Kean.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports the government will provide funding to the private sector to build energy infrastructure, preparing NSW for a post-2030 world.

The states have powered ahead with plans for 2030, with targets, and a shift in how they plan for future power needs – they would just like a federal policy that helps to lock it all in.

We’ll cover that, as well as everything else which happens today, including Covid and the odd US presidential update. You have Amy Remeikis with you for most of the day.

Ready?

Updated

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