Summary
With that, we will be closing the politics blog for today. Amy Remeikis will be back with you tomorrow.
Here is what happened today:
- Phil Gaetjens, the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, revealed that he had paused his inquiry into Brittany Higgins’s rape allegations – on 9 March, after advice from the Australian federal police. Gaetjens said that the AFP commissioner, Reece Kershaw, told him it could conflict with the AFP investigation.
- Labor leader Anthony Albanese accused Morrison of “misleading parliament” because he did not disclose earlier that the inquiry had been paused, when asked for an update. Morrison denied misleading parliament.
- The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption has recommended criminal charges against the former MP Daryl Maguire, regarding an earlier inquiry. A separate inquiry before Icac is still ongoing, and previous hearings of that inquiry revealed his secret relationship with premier Gladys Berejiklian.
- The finance minister, Simon Birmingham, said staffers who allegedly masturbated on the desks of female MPs in parliament house should “pack their bags and leave the building for good”. This claim was initially reported by the Australian and on Channel 10.
- New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern said she would later announce a potential date for a trans-Tasman travel bubble on 6 April.
- Morrison said that he “won’t be opposing” a royal commission into veteran suicides.
Updated
Staffers who allegedly engaged in sex acts in parliament house should 'pack their bags and leave', minister says
The finance minister, Simon Birmingham, has responded to a report in the Australian and on Channel 10 that alleges a group of at least four Coalition staffers filmed themselves performing solo sex acts in parliament, including masturbating on the desks of female MPs.
Birmingham told Senate estimates:
I’m disgusted and appalled at what I see alleged in relation to that story. It shows a complete disregard for all that our parliamentary democracy stands for. It also demonstrates an enormous disrespect for the employing member or senator of those staff and officers. It shows a complete contempt of Australian taxpayers who have paid the wages of those staff.
In my opinion any individuals engaged in such activity ought to prepare to pack their bags and leave the building for good. They should also think intently about apologising to their employing member or senator, the parliament and public.”
Birmingham pointed to the fact the government has asked sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins to review parliament’s workplace culture and help stamp out and prevent acts of bullying, harassment and sexual assault.
He said the story reflected poorly on “others doing the right thing” and he wants to see “this sort of behaviour stamped out”.
Updated
The Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission has confirmed that it obtained a warrant to access a journalist’s telecommunications data – and was the only state or federal agency to do so in 2019-20.
Josh Taylor has more:
Prof Lyn Gilbert, an infectious diseases expert, has said Australia’s domestic production of the AstraZeneca vaccine will “eventually address shortages” caused by EU shipment delays.
She told Melissa Davey that it was a “critical and very exciting” step.
Here’s the full story:
In environment estimates, Labor’s Jenny McAllister has asked about this recent Guardian Australia investigation about the environmental offsets for the new western Sydney airport.
We revealed last month that the federal government is using land it already owns, and which had already been promised for conservation for more than a decade, as the primary offset for the new airport. This is a practice known as “double-dipping” where land that had already been committed for conservation is used as an offset.
The site in question is a large piece of bushland at the Defence Establishment in Orchard Hills near the new airport site. Governments dating back to 2007 have promised to permanently protect the site and add it to the national reserve estate. Nobody delivered. Enter the infrastructure department, which claimed the site as the main offset for the western Sydney airport in 2018.
On top of this, our story revealed that the approved offset will not protect the site permanently. Instead, it will fund management activities on the land for 20 years under a memorandum of understanding between the department of infrastructure and defence.
There is no plan to protect the land permanently, which goes against offset policy that offsets to be in place in perpetuity.
McAllister asks about this MOU and whether a 20 year MOU could leave the offset site exposed to potential development in the future.
Unfortunately, officials respond to her question with a brief they prepared in anticipation of questions about another Guardian Australia story about offsets for the M7.
You can read that story here:
Once officials realise they are talking about the wrong offset, they don’t have much to say. They confirm there is no permanent conservation arrangement but say the 20 year MOU is “comparable to other offsetting arrangements” under NSW laws.
It’s unclear what aspects of the NSW system officials are referring to. The state’s biodiversity stewardship scheme for offsets puts agreements over land to protect it in perpetuity.
Labor’s Penny Wong is cross examining Simon Birmingham on Mathias Cormann’s campaign literature spruiking his environmental credentials - including his support for a green recovery.
Birmingham said he’ll let Cormann’s words speak for themselves - but agrees that the Australian government wants to see as much uptake of low emissions technology as possible.
Asked about net zero by 2050, Birmingham said the federal government wants to achieve net zero “as soon as possible, preferably by 2050”.
Updated
Hi everyone, Naaman Zhou here, picking up the blog. Thanks as always to Amy Remeikis for her amazing work today.
Labor’s Tanya Plibersek is on the ABC saying that the prime minister is “gaslighting” the public after the news emerged today that the Gaetjens report had been on pause for weeks.
ABC host Patricia Karvelas asks her:
The AFP commissioner said the Gaetjens inquiry may have hampered the investigation. What would Labor have done if the police gave you that advice?
Plibersek:
It’s difficult to deal in hypotheticals here. We have a prime minister who was informed some time ago this inquiry was not ongoing and he pretended all of last week, in the federal parliament, that the inquiry was ongoing. He misled the parliament on the Gaetjens inquiry.
... There’s too many rapists walking the street and instead of really trying to come to terms with this, we’ve got a prime minister who is sticking his head in the sand and trying to skate true the next few days in parliament.”
Karvelas says that Morrison has said other work is going on into the investigation even though the Gaetjens investigation is paused.
Plibersek:
Black is white, white is back. You can’t say that work is ongoing when you have been briefed that the inquiry has been paused. And then say, ‘oh, no, that’s exactly what I meant to say’.
It’s an insult to the parliament, but what is much worse than it being an insult to the parliament is that it is an insult to every woman who has experienced sexual assault or who has a loved one who has experienced sexual assault and they know these tactics are used.
There’s gaslighting, there’s, you know, ‘oh, no, well, technically that’s not exactly the case’ – it is exactly the sort of treatment that women around Australia experience.”
Updated
I am going to hand you over to the lovely Naaman Zhou for the rest of the evening. He’ll take you through the next couple of hours.
Thank you again for joining us - especially when there is so much else going on outside the building. I hope you are all as safe as you can be. I’ve been through a few floods, I know the anxiety and my eyes are on the skies along with you. Stay safe, and take care of you.
Labor senators have discovered the $1.5m being paid by PMC to Burdeshaw Associates is to hire former US secretary of the navy, Don Winter, as the prime minister’s special adviser on naval ship-building.
The contract runs for three years from 2021 to 2023.
Winter was previously the chair of the shipbuilding advisory board – and officials say his half-a-million-dollar a year pay packet for a part-time job is in line with his previous remuneration.
After discussions between the prime minister and the department of defence, the government decided to “evolve the oversight mechanisms” of shipbuilding by engaging him through PMC.
Winter is advising on attack class submarines and Hunter class frigates.
Updated
Jacqui Lambie is speaking to Afternoon Briefing.
Patricia Karvelas:
You wrote an article recently that you hadn’t experienced sexism in parliament, but you have experienced elitism. What do you mean by that?
Jacqui Lambie:
For me, I went to a public school, I went through public housing, for me, I think the elitism, there’s a lot of people up here who believe they’re better than what you are, just because of my background.
I’m not the only one with that background who feels that way.
And the men are actually worse. The men and their elitism up here, just never ceases to blow me away. I’m telling you now. I don’t get that from the Labor party.
That’s coming from the Liberal party. Go and figure it out. I tell you now, that elitism that’s coming out of that Liberal party, I have also seen in the military. I don’t know – I have seen this journalists covering this over the week, whether this has got a lot of to do with these boys going to all boys schools.
These all boys college have a lot to answer for, in what they’re teaching these men about how to treat women and deal with society. Teach them some emotional intelligence.
PK: What have people said to you that makes you feel like there’s classism going on?
Lambie:
You can feel their aura. They’re looking down their nose at you. I had a minister – who walks into your office and checks the bottom of the rug and sees whether or not it’s, you know, whether it’s pure wool or not? For goodness sake, get a life.
Updated
We have some updated figures on the progress of the refugee resettlement arrangement with the US.
Marc Ablong, a deputy secretary at the Department of Home Affairs, said there continued to be people moving from Nauru, Papua New Guinea and Australia to the US after they had received a positive approval from the American government. “That continues.”
“As of the 14th [of March], 929 transferees – 419 from PNG, 391 from Nauru and 119 from Australia – have resettled in the United States.”
(That’s an increase from the total of 870 individuals as of October last year, when Ablong last gave an update to Senate estimates.)
Asked today how many people had received provisional approval and were awaiting departure, Ablong said about 265 people – about 10 in PNG, about 15 in Nauru, and about 240 in Australia – had been “provisionally approved to resettle”.
Updated
Labor’s Tim Ayres has asked if the PMC organised an event at which Mathias Cormann and OECD heads of mission were present.
Officials confirm an event was held at the Lodge, organised by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, on 28 October which included a total of 63 guests.
PMC is a bit sketchy on the costs – we’ve found out there was a $32,000 marquee, but officials have taken on notice the rest of the costs including food and drink and entertainment.
The marquee is usually put up before Christmas and serves a number of events, so only a portion of the cost will be attributed to this event.
Updated
Over in environment estimates, Labor’s Nita Green has been asking about the government’s proposed environmental assurance commissioner.
Legislation for the commissioner was introduced to the parliament last sitting period.
Green is asking what exactly the commissioner will do and whether they will have staff to help them carry out their work.
The department has explained the new role will be a statutory role within the environment department.
They will have an auditing-type function and will be responsible for monitoring and auditing bilateral approval agreements – when those agreements are set up between state governments and the commonwealth and if the Morrison government manages to pass its legislation to transfer environmental approval powers over to the states.
The department says the assurance commissioner will have powers to check activities on the ground but expects much of the commissioner’s auditing function will be based on reporting provided by state governments.
How this will all be funded is a little unclear, as is whether or not it will create extra work for the states.
The department says it can’t say yet if any of the $9m the government has said will be spent on creating the new role will go towards hiring staff to support the commissioner. That decision will likely be made later they say and it depends on how quickly the commissioner’s functions are rolled out.
Updated
So probably not security concerns, then (that had not been raised until Jason Falinkski’s commentary).
Ha! Penny Wong just asked Simon Birmingham in #estimates about this. Birmingham says he doesn't know why Falinski said this https://t.co/cqsXcCbcbO
— Luke Henriques-Gomes (@lukehgomes) March 22, 2021
Updated
The Australian government is working on “ways to collect and validate a traveller’s health and vaccine status” as part of the preparation for a large-scale resumption of international travel.
Michael Pezzullo, the secretary of the home affairs department, is up now at Senate’s legal and constitutional affairs committee.
Pezzullo said there was a need for international collaboration on standards that would allow for the resumption of overseas travel:
“We are working with international partners to design ways to collect and validate a traveller’s health and vaccine status. The aim would be to capture a person’s recent travel history along with their visa and contact information digitally. This information will support effective contact tracing, quarantine management and individual health risk evaluations. Home affairs is also working closely with other agencies including services Australia to develop specifications and standards for personal digital vaccination certifications as part of a bio-secure border framework. In the end the government will, of course, take advice on this matter, including especially from public health experts.”
“Mr Speaker” is now trending on Twitter, if that gives you any indication of how the QT hour went.
Updated
A quick note on the vaccine rollout. Today, of course, is the first day of phase 1b of the vaccine rollout, in which 6m Australians are to receive the AstraZeneca jab.
We’ve reported extensively on the problems general practitioners - the main distributors of phase 1b vaccinations - have experienced. To help ease the pressure on GPs, the government stood up 100 respiratory clinics to help distribute the vaccine. But the Guardian can reveal that at least one of the new respiratory clinics, the clinic in Campbelltown, has already had to delay the start to its work and turn people away.
The Department of Health says the delay was caused by a potential cold chain breach with a shipment destined for the Campbelltown clinic, which was reported to the vaccine operations centre on Friday.
The government contacted AstraZeneca about the error. AstraZeneca reviewed the temperature data for the shipment, determined the vials were still safe and dispatched them to Campbelltown today.
They are expected to arrive this afternoon.
A spokesman said:
The vials were returned to the distribution centre, and order will be re-delivered to the Campbelltown GPRC this afternoon.
Updated
Icac recommends charges against ex-NSW MP Daryl Maguire in council probe
The New South Wales corruption watchdog has recommended charges against the former NSW MP for Wagga, Daryl Maguire, for giving false evidence during its long-running inquiry, Operation Dasha, which investigated serious corruption within Canterbury council in Sydney’s south-west.
But this could be only the first chapter for Maguire. He still faces further possible findings and charges as a result of Operation Keppel, which was begun as a result of phone taps in Operation Dasha.
The second inquiry has heard evidence of Maguire’s involvement in several property deals, and exposed his secret close personal relationship the Premier Gladys Berejiklian. It is ongoing.
Today’s report by the Independent Commission Against Corruption is still pretty astounding. It has found the former Canterbury city council councillors Michael Hawatt and Pierre Azzi, and then-director of city planning Spiro Stavis, engaged in serious corrupt conduct by dishonestly and partially exercising their official functions through misusing their positions in relation to planning proposals and applications at the council.
In the report, “Investigation into the conduct of councillors of the former Canterbury city council and others”, the commission also finds that the council’s former general manager, Jim Montague, engaged in serious corrupt conduct by appointing Stavis as director of city planning at the council.
Although Montague believed Stavis was not the most meritorious candidate for the position, he improperly allowed himself to be influenced by pressure from Hawatt and Azzi, Icac found.
For those who look at the skyline of Sydney, the report will likely confirm their worst fears about how councils make decisions on development.
Icac has recommended charges against most of the main players.
Updated
Chris Moraitis, the director general of the office of the special investigator, which is investigating war crimes allegations against Australian special forces soldiers, says he is open to looking at new allegations.
He is asked about the number of allegations he will be looking at. Moraitis says allegations relate to 19 individuals and “there are about 38 acts”.
But he says he has not had access yet to the primary evidence (given the office is still in the process of recruiting and establishing its procedures) and is going off the redacted version of the Brereton report.
We’re also open to looking at new allegations that emerge. That’s based on what we know at the moment.
Updated
Labor has quizzed PMC about its new climate coordinator, James Larsen, who is a deputy secretary of the department.
Larsen was appointed on 1 March to deal with increased workload leading up to the COP26 climate talks, coming across from the department of agriculture, water and the environment.
Stephanie Foster said it was “not unusual” to make appointments without advertising a job when they are seconded from another department at level on a fixed-term contract.
Asked if he has been asked to work on a net zero by 2050 policy, Larsen says no. Asked if he supports, one, he begins an answer “my views are not...” before realising it was largely a try-on from Penny Wong. He smiles.
Wong:
You could’ve been a good guy.
A moment of levity.
Updated
Chris Moraitis, the director general of the office of the special investigator, has been giving evidence to Senate estimates, the first time in this new role. The office was set up late last year and will work closely with AFP to investigate potential criminal allegations against Australian special forces soldiers who served in Afghanistan. Where appropriate, Moraitis said, the office will provide briefs to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
Since the office was set up on 4 January, it had been focused on establishing its workforce, structures, systems and protocols to ensure independence. Moraitis said the office had made progress on hiring legal and support staff, and said recruitment was currently underway to find suitably qualified investigators and analysts from AFP and state police forces.
“It will be challenging work, not least of all due to the legal complexities involved in this.”
Moraitis said there were important differences between the office’s work and that of the inspector general of the Australian Defence Force, IGADF, which resulted in last year’s Brereton report. He said the IGADF had compelled evidence - but noted that such compelled evidence would be inadmissible in a court proceeding. He said an accused person had other rights, such as the right to silence and to avoid self-incrimination.
Tim Begbie, from the Australian Government Solicitor, will perform the role of special counsel. He will review the inquiry report and provide advice on what “information we should and should not receive from inquiry”. The office would only receive information that could lawfully be used in criminal investigators or proceedings, Moraitis said. This review would take some time, he added.
“I wouldn’t see us commencing investigations at least for a couple of months.”
Moraitis said while the office of the special investigator would exist as long as needed to perform its function, it was also clear-eyed on the need for work to be done as expeditiously as possible. He said he was mindful that the complexity of evidence collection would only increase over time.
“We must take the time needed to get this right.”
AAP has the latest on the vaccine rollout:
Australians are being asked to be patient as the next stage of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout begins.
More than 6 million Australians are now eligible to receive their jabs.
Phase 1b of the program takes in everyone over the age of 70, along with Indigenous Australians over 55 and younger adults with a medical condition or disability.
Workers deemed critical or high risk can also apply.
Department of Health secretary Brendan Murphy said it was an exciting milestone in Australia’s fight against the deadly virus.
Prof Murphy said on Monday:
I know there is a lot of enthusiasm, which is great, to get vaccinated in Australia.
But be patient and wait, look at the eligibility checker and wait for appointments to come up.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said 250,000 doses would be made available from this week, telling reporters:
We all have to recognise there’s enough vaccine for every Australian three times over.
General practices would be contacting their patients most at risk, including very elderly people.
People would also go online to find out whether they were eligible and where the vaccine was being delivered in their local area.
The initial phase of the rollout would continue for another six to eight weeks until all people in that group have received their second jab.
Hunt said some 281,500 vaccinations had been provided so far, including 58,358 does to people in aged care.
More than 1,000 general practices have registered to administer the vaccine, with another 3,500 clinics to begin over the next four weeks.
Vaccines will also be available at 100 respiratory clinics.
Flooding has caused delays to the vaccine rollout across some parts of NSW.
Emergency management minister David Littleproud said the length of the interruption would depend on how quickly floodwaters abated.
He told Sky News:
We’re in no rush, we’re in a really good position in Australia, better than any other country in the world because we’ve been able to manage this pandemic.
We haven’t got people severely ill in hospitals in any great quantities.
We’re very confident that we’ll work with the medical profession to roll those vaccines out in a Covid-safe way and a safe way in terms of emergencies, once the water abates.
Regulators have finalised approval for the locally manufactured AstraZeneca jab, with the first doses expected to be made available within days.
The federal government will not say how many doses CSL will produce in its first few weeks or when the rollout will ramp up to the promised 1 million doses a week.
Updated
Question time ends.
Updated
Angus Taylor goes on about energy prices or something. I don’t know. He talks about alternative approaches, of which there are none, because the Coalition has been in power since 2013 and has been in charge of everything, including energy, since then, so you would think that the alternative approaches we hear about would be one of the many, many different energy policies the Coalition has had in the last eight years or so, but no.
The divisions ended with the government winning, 63 to 60. and we return to question time.
Updated
During the estimates hearings, the Asio chief, Mike Burgess, has defended telling Guardian Australia there were “no direct lessons” for his organisation from the far-right terrorist attack in Christchurch in 2019.
In an interview with Guardian Australia’s politics podcast last weekend, Burgess said:
No, other than it’s an example of this can happen for us and we continue to focus on identifying individuals or groups that are going to do these violent acts and acts of terrorism.
He also said the lack of any “direct” lessons for Asio was “because it’s an event that happened in another country”.
At the Senate’s legal and constitutional affairs committee this afternoon, the Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi said she had “listened with some alarm” to Burgess’s comments in the podcast.
Faruqi said the Christchurch terrorist was active Australian far-right social media channels and the royal commission report noted a message that was reported to Australian police but no action taken. He said:
I’m really disturbed that you can look at that report and say that there are no direct lessons for national security agencies in Australia … Will you reconsider your stance on this?
Burgess replied:
No, senator, I actually did say there are no direct lessons for Asio because the event didn’t occur here. But let me also say ... if you’re suggesting that we do not care about the threat, on behalf of my organisation, I do find that a little bit inappropriate and offensive. My staff work hard and they put their lives on the line to protect Australians and there is certainly no blindness or bias away from these ideologies, which we find abhorrent, totally inappropriate.
Burgess said Asio had for years “been calling out these threats and making them public so we can all inform ourselves to the nature of this problem to ensure Australians are protected”.
He described the event in New Zealand as “abhorrent” and “terrible”, but said he had believed there were no direct lessons because “we’ve been alive to these ideologies and the threat they present to Australians for many, many years, and in recent years we’ve been openly reporting that that caseload and that problem is growing”.
Burgess said he had read the New Zealand royal commission report summary, but not the full document.
Asked by Faruqi whether he agreed that the Christchurch terrorist was motivated by an extreme rightwing Islamophobic ideology, Burgess said: “Yes.”
Updated
Tanya Plibersek gets out
You can’t fix it until you face it – you want to see no evil, you want to hear no evil...
and then she is shut down.
Updated
Labor’s Penny Wong has asked a string of questions about who is paying for legal advice and whether Christian Porter will be paid full salary when he returns to work. The answer is: Porter is paying for the case, but yes he will be on full pay.
The finance minister, Simon Birmingham, said Porter’s defamation case was self-funded. Wong asked if any advice was taken on conflicts of interest before Porter launched his defamation action. Birmingham said his understanding was the government sought advice from the solicitor general after the action was launched.
The advice from the solicitor general on whether Porter will have to delegate any of his duties due to perceived or potential conflicts of interest has not been returned yet. Porter is back at work on 31 March, so Birmingham expects the advice later this week.
Wong asks whether Porter will be responsible for defamation law reform, the Sex Discrimination Act, the Evidence Act and legal services to the commonwealth. The questions are taken on notice, as they will depend on the advice.
Asked if Porter will take a reduction in salary, Birmingham replied:
I don’t think there are provisions to vary or differentiate cabinet ministers’ pay aside from those who hold other offices.
Birmingham objects to the suggestion Porter will only be working “part-time” for the Australian taxpayer, by noting Porter has a “very large area of responsibility”.
Asked whether Porter would take leave to fight his defamation case, Birmingham said he “can’t prejudge that” and it was a “hypothetical”.
Updated
The divisions are rolling on through to their inevitable conclusion.
Catherine King manages
Don’t ask so you can then deny
before she too is shut down.
Updated
Anthony Albanese gets out:
Mr Speaker, the prime minister is an empathy vacuum and an accountability black hole.
Before Peter Dutton shuts down the debate.
Updated
Anthony Albanese moves again to suspend standing orders .
Scott Morrison keeps his back to him as he reads out the motion:
That the house notes that the prime minister told the house last Thursday about the inquiry: those inquiries are being made by the secretary of my department and this work is being done by the secretary of my department.
But the secretary of this department has given evidence to the Senate today that he told the prime minister of nine months that he was putting his inquiry on hold.
Also, the prime minister has repeatedly refused to answer whether he has asked his staff if they sought to undermine Brittany Higgins’ loved ones.
And the prime minister told the house last Tuesday he was briefed by the commission of the federal police on the contents of the dossier, which contains allegations of serious sexual assault against the attorney teneral, but the commissioner of the federal police has told the Senate today he did not briefed the prime minister on the details of the allegations.
And therefore condemns the prime minister for failing to give straight answers to simple questions about his government’s response to the reported sexual assault of Brittany Higgins and his handling of serious sexual assault allegations against the attorney general.
Updated
Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:
My question is to the prime minister and it relates to the reported sexual assault of Brittany Higgins. Can the prime minister confirm he told the house inquiries were being made when they weren’t, he told the house work was being done when it wasn’t, he told the house he had been briefed on the contents of a dossier when he hadn’t, and after being asked numerous times he still won’t answer whether his office briefed against the loved ones of Brittany Higgins.
Why is it the prime minister doesn’t hold an inquiry and won’t answer a question?
Morrison:
As usual the leader of the opposition seeks to make this a personal attack. That’s his form, that’s his standard, Mr Speaker.
Rather than stick with the substance of issues, Mr Speaker, the leader of the opposition is always quick to smear as he goes across, but that is his case, that is up to him, Mr Speaker.
But I correct him. The commissioner appeared before the Senate estimates, he was asked to debrief the premise on the details of the dossier, Mr Speaker, and my recollection was around the general details.
He was asked was he briefed on the nature that it was a sexual assault. The Commissioner responded from memory, yes.
What we have had consistently from the Opposition today as a whole range of assertions, misconstruction of things that have been said, Mr Speaker, for one simple purpose, to pursue the political objective of the leader of the Opposition. There is no genuine intent that are coming from the Labor leader...
They simply see this as an opportunity for scoring political points. That is the form and character of the leader of the opposition. Mr Speaker, over the course of these many years, when the former prime minister Julia Gillard put in place a very important bipartisan process to deal with the serious issue of protecting women against violence, that process was not only supported by the Coalition, but it was picked up in government with successive action plans totalling more than $1 billion in support and that will continue stopping almost half of that has come in just the last two years.
So instead of engaging in the partisan contest of a smear , Mr Speaker, that the leader of the opposition is seeking to take advantage of these issues, he should remember that the way we address the substance of issues of protecting women against violence is by doing it as prime minister Gillard intended, by doing it together, Mr Speaker.
By working together, whether it is the action plan in this parliament which has had bipartisan support or doing it with the state and territory governments which draws those resources together.
That’s what I’ll remain focused on stopping the leader of the opposition can come in here and through his smears around all he likes, he can go as personal as he likes, Mr Speaker. I don’t intend to get into that gutter with him.
Updated
Officials from the prime minister’s department have described the sequence of events regarding the complaint against Christian Porter:
- Liberal MP Celia Hammond received it first on Wednesday 24 February, and informed the PMO because it was also addressed to the PM, Penny Wong and Sarah Hanson-Young
- PMC did not receive their copy until Thursday 25 February, and it wasn’t opened, digitised and processed on Friday 26 February.
But already at 5pm on 24 February, Morrison, his departmental secretary Phil Gaetjens and AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw had a conversation about the allegation.
Stephanie Foster said that Kershaw had the dossier making the complaint, briefing Morrison that there was a criminal allegation against the attorney general, of a sexual assault, that was known to NSW Police.
Foster also suggests that Morrison already knew the name of the complainant - because Hammond had told it to Morrison’s chief of staff. “I believe that was the sequence – that when the PM was speaking with the commissioner that fact was already known,” Foster said.
Labor’s Penny Wong also asked if the prime minister has read the complaint yet - the answer is still no. When she asked if anyone else in the prime minister’s office had, Simon Birminghamhad to take it on notice. Wong had said it was “remarkable” he hadn’t come prepared to answer that question.
Wong is now asking how Morrison could have put the allegations to Christian Porter without having read them - but Birmingham takes it on notice.
Updated
In environment estimates we’ve moved on to questions about the final report from last year’s review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
That report, led by the former competition watchdog head Graeme Samuel, was delivered in October last year and the Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young wants to know why the government is yet to respond to the report and all of its 38 recommendations.
Officials tell the hearing there won’t be a response delivered as “a single document” that is tabled to parliament. Instead, the government is responding in a “staged” fashion that will evolve over time they say. Hanson-Young points out that this is confusing.
“A significant review of this kind would normally have a comprehensive response delivered for the public to see and that is not what is occurring here,” she says.
She wants to know how many of Samuel’s recommendations the government has responded to in this staged fashion the department talks about.
Officials can’t give a figure but say the response so far is two pieces of legislation that are before the parliament. The first bill would clear the way for the transfer of federal environmental approval powers to the states and territories, the second is to establish national environmental standards and an independent assurance commissioner.
We’ve written about both of those bills extensively and you can read more here:
They agree to answer on notice how many of the 38 recommendations the government has responded to and how long it will take to respond to any it has not addressed.
That is nine times now.
And the prime minister is accusing Labor of political games.
Catherine King to Scott Morrison:
My question is again to the prime minister and I refer to his previous answer. The prime minister just said there was no evidence that his staff undermined Ms Brittany Higgins’ loved ones. Why does the prime minister ignore the words of Ms Higgins, who said: “I watched as the prime minister of Australia publicly apologised to me through the media privately his media team actively undermined and discredited my loved ones.” Don’t Ms Higgins’ words count and has the prime minister asked to staff if they are true?
Morrison:
I refer the member to my earlier answers on this matter – there is no information before me that has supported that. What my government will continue to focus on is dealing with the substance of the issues that need to be addressed by this parliament and my government to making sure people working in this place – whether they be members or senators, staff members in this place or access to the counselling support they need – the complaint process that when we achieve that. That will be a new high water mark for people working in this place.
These standards have not been put in place by previous governments (the Coalition has been in power since 2013).
These counselling and support services were not put in place by previous governments when they had the opportunity to do so, we have moved to put those in place and provide those protections, more than that, the broader issue of making sure women can be safe in the workplace, save more broadly in the community, that they can walk to their own car after leaving a railway station on their way home from work, or Mr Speaker, women can have that feeling of confidence and support that they can be supported and they can go to the police, to make complaints that can see crimes investigated and perpetrators brought to Justice.
The next national action plan, the next national action plan to support protection against violence against women will make sure we could funding and support is provided together to states and territories, those who interject opposite seem to suggest an allegation of criminal conduct, there has been no suggestion of criminal conduct by my staff at all, the suggestion is offensive by the interjections of those opposite, my government remains focused on providing the support needed for women and men in this place to make sure they have the support they need when they are placed in situations that, Mr Speaker are completely annexing book, we need to focus on fixing the problem.
The Labor party is playing political games, seeking to score political points open issue that is far more important than their political objectives.
Updated
So that is at least eight times since last Monday, when Brittany Higgins made her statement, that Scott Morrison has been asked whether or not he has questioned his staff on whether it was true someone from his office had backgrounded against Higgins’s loved ones.
He has not answered, only saying there is no information in front of him to suggest that – not that he has asked whether or not it is true.
Updated
Catherine King to Scott Morrison:
My question is again to the Prime Minister and I refer to his previous answer. Why hasn’t the Prime Minister asked his staff if they sought to undermine Brittany Higgins’s loved ones? Is his refusal to answer questions about whether he asked about the actions of his office just another example of don’t ask, don’t tell?
Morrison:
I refer the Member to my earlier responses on this matter. There is no information that has been put before me that would suggest is being undertaken and I have been very clear to the House about that.
When it comes to the issues that this House is dealing with, in regard to the matters of Brittany Higgins and many other issues that have arisen since, issues that I know have caused deep distress across the Australian community and what they are seeking from the government is what we are seeking to provide, that is to make sure first and foremost we put in place immediately the support line and assistance to people working in this House to make sure they find themselves position with a need to reach out and get counselling and support that being provided, the government has taken action to put that in place, in addition there is the multiparty committee process put in place under Sex Discrimination Commissioner which will investigate these issues, and make sure they bring back meditations to this parliament.
Tony Burke:
All the information the Prime Minister is important and known, there is an issue that is not known whether he has asked to stop and that is what he should be being direct to.
Morrison:
Let me conclude on this, the next element the government is responding to our recommendations of the dignitary Secretary of the Department to broaden the complaints service people can access and that work is being done and been liaised with the Sex Discrimination Commissioner so we can do with the issues that are at the centre of the matters, Mr Speaker that I have so impacted this parliament, we were care and concern around this country, that is what my government is focusing on.
Catherine King to Scott Morrison:
My question is to the prime minister and I again refer to his previous answer. As the prime minister’s refused to answer the question whether he asked his staff if they sought to undermine Brittany Higgins’ loved ones – because the answer is yes – prime minister, is it true your staff sought to undermine [those] loved ones?
Morrison:
Mr Speaker, I reject the assertions made by the member in the way the question was framed. There is no information in front of me that is suggesting any of these things have occurred, Mr Speaker.
Updated
Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, who had previously raised concerns over the use of the term rightwing extremism, thanks Asio chief Mike Burgess for the new umbrella terms for violent extremism.
Fierravanti-Wells has some thoughts. She asserts that Nazis and national socialism “are not rightwing”.
She continues:
I think, as Margaret Thatcher so succinctly put it: socialism and fascism are two sides of the same coin.
Burgess says Asio will continue to use specific terms when it needs to call out specific threats.
Updated
Asio chief Mike Burgess tells Senate estimates on why charges were not laid against the so-called nest of spies uncovered by the agency last year:
We got them early, and so it was actually deemed to be more appropriate that we would ask those foreign agents to leave the country quietly, and they did.
Asked if there have been any espionage-related prosecutions since the Turnbull government’s espionage and foreign-interference laws passed the parliament, Burgess said there had not. He said the legislation primarily defined offences in preparation for foreign interference, and foreign interference itself. Burgess pointed to a foreign interference charge laid by the AFP in Victoria last year. He said the counter foreign interference taskforce had so far investigated well over 30 cases.
There are other investigations under foot so I wouldn’t comment further in this forum.
The independent senator Rex Patrick needles Burgess over the terminology “nest of spies”. Patrick observes that the term “nest of traitors” was used in relation to the Petrov affair. What does a nest mean? Patrick asks.
Burgess replies:
I think you have to allow me some poetic licence, senator.
Updated
Catherine King to Scott Morrison:
My question is to the prime minister and I refer to his previous answer. Can the prime minister [confirm] that he has never actually told this house whether he asked his staff if they sought to undermine Brittany Higgins’ loved ones. Prime minister , is it true your staff sought to undermine Ms Higgins’ loved ones and have you asked?
Peter Dutton:
This question can be dressed up in whatever way it likes, but the fact is that the question has been asked and fully answered and, Mr Speaker, the prime minister has provided the response to the answer and the question should be ruled out of order.
Tony Burke:
To the point the leader of the house raised, the question has not been fully answered. In fact, the question specifically asks the prime minister whether he has asked his staff whether or not this occurred. The parameters to continually refer back to a statement he made last week – that statement does not contain the answer to this question. This question has not been answered.
Tony Smith takes about two seconds to say the question is in order.
Morrison:
I have no information to suggest that that is the case.
“Have you asked?” is yelled from the Labor benches, but Morrison has concluded his answer.
Updated
Catherine King to Scott Morrison:
Since it has been one week since Brittany Higgins made her statement, has the prime minister asked his staff if it is true that his staff undermined her loved ones?
Morrison:
I have no knowledge on that and I refer her to the previous answer on the same question.
Those previous answers were “I refer her to the previous answer” every day, until we get to Monday last week, when he said:
I’ve no knowledge of that and I would never instruct that. I would never instruct such a thing. I would never do that. The apology that I offered in this place to Brittany Higgins was sincere and was genuine, and I’m happy to restate it.
Updated
Jacinda Ardern to announce travel bubble start date on 6 April
New Zealand media stuff.co reports Jacinda Ardern will announce when the trans-Tasman travel bubble will open on April 6.
Updated
Just to recap what happened a little earlier – Scott Morrison said he didn’t mislead parliament, and told Anthony Albanese to pursue claims he did through the other avenues available to him.
Albanese moved to suspend standing orders to do that.
Peter Dutton immediately shut that down.
Yup.
Updated
Labor’s Katy Gallagher has delivered a tirade in Senate Estimates about the fact Scott Morrison didn’t seek any advice from the department of prime minister and cabinet about the alleged sexual assault of Brittany Higgins’.
She said:
I feel like I’m in a parallel universe. The PM’s department doesn’t think there is any role for them to advise the prime minister about what happened that night? It’s extraordinary that nobody seems to want to take responsibility to what happened to this young woman in this building!”
Representing the PM, Simon Birmingham replied:
What allegedly happened is obviously a terrible and tragic event. The PM initiated a number of inquiry processes following the revelations. We made clear we’d cooperate with any AFP investigation into the criminal allegation themselves. We welcome that Ms Higgins has made that statement and AFP has indicated there is an investigation under way.”
Stephanie Foster clarified that she “specifically I’m saying we don’t have a role in any criminal investigation ... nor do we play a role in the management of staff in parliament house.”
Foster suggests Labor ask finance, and the questioning moves on.
Josh Frydenberg, who is still suffering from LinkedIn-itis (a tragic virus, which compels the minister to read out the resume of every backbencher asking the question their own office has written) comes out of the blocks with wayyy too much energy given the mood in the chamber today.
JOBS HUZZAH is not the vibe today
Mark Dreyfus to Scott Morrison:
Why did he tell the House on Tuesday he was briefed by the commission of the Federal Police on the contents of the dossier which contains allegations of sexual assault against the Attorney General when the Commissioner has told the Senate today, he did not read the Prime Minister on the details of the allegation? Why did the Prime Minister mislead the House?
Morrison:
I had people with me in my office including the secretary and deputy secretary of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, when I receive that briefing. I can only assume the member in raising the question in making this reference which I have not seen, I can only recall faithfully to the House what occurred on that night and I have done so.
The current deputy prime minister says you know things are bad when the Bom measures rainfall in feet, rather than the “old country way” of inches.
The Bom measures rainfall in mm.
But it turns out drips can talk, so who am I to judge?
There is a lot of justifiable rage in the estimates today.
The men running this place just don’t get it. #istandwithbrittanyhiggins pic.twitter.com/pMxwrl9PDE
— 💚🌏 Sarah Hanson-Young (@sarahinthesen8) March 22, 2021
In case anyone needs an update on that ‘paused’ the report - if it can’t be done until the police investigation/courts are finished, that could take years.
PM denies misleading parliament over Brittany Higgins inquiry
Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:
Can you confirm .... first telling the house those inquiries are being made by the secretary of my department, [and] in the next answer he said, quote: Tthis work has been done by the secretary of my department.” Can the prime minister confirm that, in fact, no inquiries were being made and no work was being done on the Phil Gaetjens inquiry? Can the prime minister [confirm] he had known this for nine full days [and] he misled the parliament?
Morrison:
Mr Speaker ... I completely reject the assertion put forward by the leader of the opposition. He has other forms of the house where he can pursue that and he should seek to do so, if that is what he wishes to do.
The inquiry is being taken at arm’s-length and I look forward to that inquiry being completed. You would have heard today in Senate estimates when I said the secretary would be in attendance and he was in a position to answer questions in relation to the inquiry he is conducting, and I look forward to that being completed so a report can be provided.
There was no deadline or timetable that was available to me when I reported to the house.
I have been very clear with this house ... I was being very clear about when I made those inquiries of my office.
Anthony Albanese moves to suspend standing orders, noting that he’ll take the prime minister up on his offer to pursue other avenues that he misled parliament.
Leave is not granted.
Colour me shocked.
Updated
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw has released a new statement:
I have examined Mr Gaetjens’ opening statement of evidence to Senate Estimates.
I confirm I informed Mr Gaetjens on 9 March it was strongly advisable to hold off finalising the records of interviews with staff until the AFP could clarify whether the criminal investigation into Ms Higgins’ sexual assault allegations may traverse any issues covered by the administrative process he was undertaking.
I support his decision to put on hold the process of finalising his inquiry. At this time, I support him not making any further comments on the process or content of his inquiry to avoid any risk of prejudicing the outcome of the criminal investigation.
When the AFP has clarity about whether there is no intersection between Mr Gaetjens’ administrative inquiry and the criminal investigation I will contact Mr Gaetjens so he can move to completion of his inquiry.”
The questions now begin
Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:
The prime minister told the house on Thursday about the inquiry and a quote, those inquiries are being made by the Secretary of my department, when the Prime Minister’s former Chief of Staff has given evidence to the Senate today that he told the Prime Minister on the 9 March, two weeks ago, that he was putting his inquiry on hold.
Why did the Prime Minister mislead the parliament last Thursday?
Morrison:
I did no such thing, Mr Speaker.
And he is conducting that inquiry at arms length with me and I informed the house...
when that report would be finalised and when the timeframe would be for that to be brought forward.
In case you missed it, this is what Reece Kershaw had to say about his briefing on the Christian Porter historical rape allegation (which he vigorously denies) to the prime minister during estimates.
.@ScottMorrisonMP says he didn't read the dossier of a rape allegation against the Attorney General but was briefed on the contents by the AFP Commissioner. The AFP now say that they didn't brief the PM on the details. So exactly how did the PM "raise the matter" with @CPorterWA? pic.twitter.com/vFPgZ3oYkK
— Kristina Keneally (@KKeneally) March 22, 2021
Here is what he said on Tuesday:
As I said to the House yesterday, I was very familiar with the contents of those documents. I was briefed on them by none less than the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, before they were even received in my office. I asked the commissioner of the police whether it would be appropriate for me to raise those matters directly with the Attorney-General. He said yes, and I did so immediately. These are, ultimately, matters that have to be determined by police and prosecutors at the end of the day.
Anthony Albanese is now giving his statement on indulgence on the floods.
The Sonnenkrieg Division - the first right-wing extremist organisation to be listed as a terrorist organisation under Australia’s Criminal Code - “does have reach here”, the Asio chief says.
Mike Burgess, the director general of security, is up at Senate estimates now. Despite last week unveiling new umbrella terms for violent extremism, the Asio chief has made clear that he will still be prepared to call out specific underlying threats when necessary.
“This is an extreme right-wing group,” Burgess says.
The government first flagged the plans to proscribe the UK-based rightwing extremist group Sonnenkrieg Division as a terrorist organisation at the beginning of this month.
Burgess points to the reach Sonnenkrieg Division has in Australia via the internet. “It’s not highly active but it does have residents here … as in there’s not a large group of individuals of Sonnenkrieg Division in Australia.”
Burgess also confirms that “there are other groups that are listed overseas that do have reach here”.
He says one of the issues when government decides on proscribing terrorist organisations is whether the group meets the legal threshold for a listing. Asked about groups listed in other Five Eyes countries, Burgess says: “Other countries have different legislations for their listing.”
There are so many babies in the chamber.
And also some infants.
"I call the Member for Lilley, and extras."
— Australian House of Representatives (@AboutTheHouse) March 22, 2021
While standing orders prohibit Members from bringing visitors into the chamber, standing order 257(d) clarifies that a visitor does not include an infant being cared for by a Member. Or in @AnikaWells' case, two infants! pic.twitter.com/yH9TFTe38b
Officials from the department of the prime minister and cabinet have revealed they had a media inquiry about Brittany Higgins’ partner on 17 February - which is about the time that journalist Peter Van Onselen claims the prime minister’s office was briefing/backgrounding against him.
The proposed response was sent to the prime minster’s office shortly before a response was provided to the journalist, which Stephanie Foster says is a standard practice so they are not taken by surprise if a story is published after the response is given.
Foster said the answer simply stated the department doesn’t comment on circumstances of staffer, whether current or former.
Asked about the alleged backgrounding against Higgins’ partner, Foster said they had “seen media reporting about that”but they have no knowledge about whether they are true.
Changing topic, Labor’s Katy Gallagher asks if the man who allegedly raped Brittany Higgins - a fellow Liberal staffer - was sacked. Foster declines to answer, citing the fact the finance department is responsible for parliamentary staff.
Foster said there was no brief prepared for Scott Morrison about what allegedly happened in Linda Reynolds office and the sacking of the alleged rapist - because PMC doesn’t have a role in staffing. She noted PMC is not the “sole source of his advice” because he can get advice from ministers and other departments.
The finance minister, Simon Birmingham, said “if it is appropriate” to provide details about termination of his employment - the questions should be directed to the finance department (not PMC).
Updated
Question time begins
It starts with a statement on indulgence from the prime minister on the floods.
“Australia is being tested once again,” he begins
The Tveeder transcription service keeps changing ‘prime minister’ to ‘polyester’ and that has really mattered to tickle my funny bone today, so there is that
Jenny McAllister was asked the same question:
It is quite difficult to explain because he’s the prime minister, asked directly about the inquiry with multiple opportunities to present relevant information to the parliament, and choosing not to do so.
I think it goes to the issue that women are so angry about – these are serious issues, they deserve a serious response, they ought not be treated as a new political problem to be smoothed away.
I think the list that Australian women could accept from the prime minister on this question in this week, in particular, is transparency.
I do not think he has met that test. So what happens now? It is really up to the prime minister to explain his decision to withhold this information, from the parliament, but more importantly to withhold it from the Australian people and from Australian women.
If he knew that the investigation had been paused, why did he not explain that. Why not just be upfront about it? It is consistent with an overall pattern of not dealing with the issues that have been put before him seriously, dealing with the substance of them.
This is not a political game, this is a serious issue and people are looking for answers and transparency.
Updated
Liberal senator Andrew Bragg was a guest on the ABC, where he was asked about whether or not the prime minister had misled the house by not saying he knew the Gaetjens’ inquiry into what PMO staff knew of Brittany Higgins’s allegations had been paused.
Bragg:
He has made the point that the inquiry is ongoing, the inquiry will be concluded at some point, after the police matter is concluded, my understanding is that the police are looking at this as a criminal matter, so they have taken statements from Ms Higgins and the like, so it is difficult for me to make any further comments about that particular process.
OK, we are very close to QT now.
Expect as many answers there, as we have heard in estimates today - none.
Changes to the Archives and Other Legislation Act, which were made to ensure that submissions to the Kate Jenkins inquiry into the culture at Parliament House remained confidential and could not be FOI’d, also included this amendment:
Insert:
(2DA) A minister and an agency are exempt from the operation of this act in relation to the following documents (regardless of when the documents were brought into existence):
(a) a document given to, or received by, the independent review, or a person performing functions in relation to the review, for the purposes of the review;
(b) a document brought into existence by the independent review or a person performing functions in relation to the review.
Essentially, it means that MPs and ministers could submit documents to the inquiry and they too will be exempt from FOI laws.
Zali Steggall has also warned that the changes could make it harder for people to access their own information.
The legislation was rushed through on Thursday.
Updated
I just realised question time is in half an hour.
Time flies when you’re filled with rage
Nicole Rose, the chief executive of Austrac, has rebutted allegations the organisation failed to share information, in response to some pointed questions about its past review of Crown casino junkets.
The recently released Bergin report investigated the suitability of Crown Resorts to hold a licence for Sydney’s Barangaroo casino.
The Bergin report noted that throughout 2016 and 2017, Austrac looked into how Crown junkets operated in Australia. Austrac produced an “Information Report – Casino Junkets Campaign” dated 14 July 2017.
The Begin report observed:
Ironically, notwithstanding this last mentioned opportunity of greater collaboration with casino operators, the 2017 report was not provided to them. Indeed, it was only after the Senate intervened that an unredacted version of the 2017 report was made public.
Appearing at Senate estimates today, Rose said she had to “strongly refute any assertion that we’re not sharing information”.
She said the 2017 report wasn’t released publicly because she felt the summary didn’t reflect the substance of the report. She said the report was “in some places clumsily written”, so Austrac decided it would be better to wait for an updated, more thorough risk assessment.
Asked about the suggestion of a lack of cooperation with the Bergin inquiry, Rose said:
We obviously didn’t explain it as well as we could have to the commissioner.
Updated
Nicole Rose, the chief executive of financial watchdog Austrac, has described the correction to the volume of funds transferred from Vatican City to Australia as “an incredibly disappointing error”.
The miscalculation related to a review into whether alleged bribes were paid relating to the pursuit of allegations against Cardinal George Pell.
Austrac told a Senate committee last year that $2.3bn had been transferred to Australia between 2014 and 2020 across almost 48,000 different transactions. But it conceded in January that the actual figure was $9.5m, blaming a coding problem for the error.
Addressing the legal and constitutional affairs committee today, Rose was asked by Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells whether Austrac’s reputation had been damaged due to the discrepancy.
Rose replied:
I don’t disagree it was an incredibly disappointing error that occurred. In my view, the only time Austrac has tripped up in three-and-a-half years I’ve been there was incredibly disappointing. It was disappointing more for the fact it was a simple human error.
Rose said Austrac had answered a Senate question on notice without sufficient rigour.
Chris Collett, a deputy chief, said the organisation had engaged with the Vatican City state financial intelligence unit on a number of dates in early January, prior to the letter Austrac sent to the committee on 13 January, to correct the record.
Updated
Scott Morrison told about inquiry pause on 9 March
Just as a reminder (you’ll find the whole post below) on Thursday Scott Morrison was asked where the Phil Gaetjens report was at.
It took two weeks for the sports rorts report to return (the one that found Bridget McKenzie did nothing wrong, but had a conflict of interest as she had received a membership to a shooting club which won a grant, hence why she resigned as sports minister) but a month after the inquiry into who knew what, when about Brittany Higgins’s allegations, there was nothing.
As part of the answer, Morrison said:
Those inquiries are being made by the secretary of my department.
But they weren’t.
Because those inquiries stopped on 9 March.
Gaetjens:
On the 9th of March, the AFP commissioner informed me it would be strongly advisable to hold off finalising the records of interviews with staff until the AFP could clarify whether the criminal investigation into Ms Higgins’ sexual assault allegations might traverse any issues covered by the administrative process I was undertaking…
Gaetjens:
Senator on the ninth of March, because of the commissioner’s advice, I emailed the prime minister’s office staff to tell them that I would be not completing the documentation, as per the commissioner’s advice, and at that same time, I also told the prime minister of that, just in case his staff asked him any questions as to what was going on.
Gallagher:
So you did tell the prime minister on the ninth of March directly?
Gaejtens:
That we had been asked by the federal police commissioner, basically to make sure that there was no intersection, and therefore I was putting the inquiry on hold.
Gallagher:
Okay, so the prime minister knew on the ninth of March that your inquiry was going or is going to be put on hold.
Updated
The Senate estimates hearing for the environment portfolio is still discussing recovery plans.
There is some slightly better news for the long overdue plan for the koala. Officials have told the hearing that publication of a recovery plan for the animal for public consultation is “imminent” and the plan should be finalised by November. It was first identified as requiring a plan in 2012 and it was due in 2017.
An assessment is under way at the moment examining whether the koala’s status needs to be upgraded from vulnerable to endangered for the populations along the east coast that were severely affected by the 2019-20 fire disaster. That is due to be completed in October.
We’ve also heard that the independent threatened species scientific committee that advises the government on these matters has suggested the government consider reducing the number of species covered by recovery plans.
The scientific committee’s chair, Helene Marsh, told senators this morning that conservation advices – which are an alternative document to a recovery plan – could be just as effective for planning the recovery of species and were easier to update if the circumstances for an endangered plant of animal changed (for instance, as a result of fires).
Marsh described them as a model that was more aligned with 21st-century approaches to conservation.
The department was not able to say whether the minister, Sussan Ley, intends to take up this advice.
If she does, there is one aspect of such a move that could prove controversial and that is that a conservation advice does not have the same legal force under national environmental laws that a recovery plan does.
A recovery plan is binding on environment ministers when making decisions about developments under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act and a minister must not make decisions that are inconsistent with a recovery plan.
A conservation advice is not and a minister is only required to demonstrate it has been considered before making their decision about a project.
Updated
So just recapping what we have learnt so far in estimates.
The presiding officers will not say what DPS staff did after being alerted to an “incident” in Linda Reynolds’ office, because it may prejudice the police investigation. Maybe. Scott Ryan doesn’t know, because he needs to take advice – including on whether or not he can answer whether he spoke to the Australian federal police.
The head of the prime minister’s department tasked with investigating who inside the prime minister’s office knew what and when about the rape allegation paused that investigation on 9 March, after advice from the AFP.
While the inquiry was still on-going, Brittany Higgins was not interviewed as to what she, as the person at the centre of the “incident”, and the one who had demanded answers, knew, as Phil Gaetjens wanted to ‘respect her privacy’.
The inquiry may never go ahead.
Scott Morrison has been asked numerous times about the inquiry since 9 March and did not once say it had been paused. So either he did not enquire as to its progress, despite being routinely asked about it in the parliament, or he just didn’t share the information.
Plausible deniability is king in leaders’s offices, so the answer will probably be he did not enquire. And his departmental secretary didn’t make it known.
But Morrison did offer up Gaetjens to the estimates hearings, which is not usual practice.
Transparency around this is as strong as my willpower at turning down Haigh’s - existent.
Updated
The deputy secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Stephanie Foster is setting out how it is trying to improve the experience of parliamentary staff – particularly in the “short term”.
That will include an education initiative to be announced in the next week and a better complaints mechanism a few weeks later.
The finance minister, Simon Birmingham, said these efforts don’t compromise the independence of Kate Jenkins’ inquiry, which can make whatever recommendations it wants.
Foster says a small but steady number of calls have been received by the hotline for parliamentary staff needing assistance, but declines to give numbers or specify the types of calls.
Greens senator Larissa Waters suggests senators and MPs could hold a joint sitting of parliament to begin the education process and send a message about the importance of cleaning up parliament’s culture.
Foster says she will take the suggestion on board but she has in mind “more personalised one-on-one training” with politicians and their staff.
Updated
The Victorian Greens senator Lidia Thorpe has been asking questions of Michael Phelan, director of the Australian Institute of Criminology, about Indigenous deaths in custody.
Thorpe contends that there is a need for more transparency and faster reporting of figures. She says more work needs to done, given the looming 30th anniversary of the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody:
Your updated numbers won’t happen until June and the 30th anniversary is in April, where we’re looking at major cities being shut down as a result of the increasing number of Aboriginal people being killed at the hands of this system.
Someone off-camera interjects about the word “killed”.
Thorpe adds:
Yeah, killed. Did you hear that right? Murdered. Genocided. Which one do you want?
She continues:
Given the real stats – and it’s taking you 12 months to count the numbers of Black deaths in custody who have been killed, murdered, genocided from a systemic racist system …
Phelan:
I don’t agree with that.
Thorpe:
Hang on, I’m still talking. Your stats won’t come out until June. The 30th anniversary of the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody is April, where you will see streets around this country being shut down because we haven’t seen any action in 30 years, so is it possible ...
Chair Sarah Henderson:
Senator Thorpe ... Just with respect, could you direct your question and just make sure you are asking a question?
Thorpe:
It’s relevant as a Black woman – this is a reality, and nothing’s happened in 30 years since the royal commission and people are still being murdered at the hands of the system. So I’d like to know whether people will get those accurate details of how many Black deaths in custody before the royal commission anniversary 30th anniversary in April?
Phelan:
Senator, I don’t want to get into a discussion with you around the narrative you put forward, but certainly in relation to …
Thorpe:
No one does.
Phelan:
If I stick to the statistics, Senator …. As you’re aware, Aboriginal deaths in custody are approximately 20% of all deaths in custody, which is reflective unfortunately of the prison population as well.
Phelan adds that Indigenous people are “overrepresented” in prison:
We all know that. And that’s a matter for government policy and others to determine.
Updated
A cuppa with a side of “thanks, we won’t be endorsing you”, I’d love a biscuit tho:
@SueHickeyTas said the Premier informed her she wouldn’t be endorsed, while she was making him a coffee. #politas https://t.co/f6NiLz1PXW
— Judy Augustine (@JudyAugustine) March 22, 2021
Updated
The House is now considering the Senate motion for a royal commission into veteran suicide – it will go through no problem, after the government decided not to oppose it, but it is NOT binding.
Updated
Phil Gaetjens, under questioning from Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, also confirms he has not spoken to Brittany Higgins during the course of his now-paused inquiry (which relates to contact between Scott Morrison’s staff and Higgins, the former staffer to Linda Reynolds).
[Narrator: Strange you wouldn’t want to talk to Higgins, who would have pertinent recollections on that point, I would imagine.]
Gaetjens says he wanted to protect Higgins’ privacy.
Updated
Labor’s Senate leader Penny Wong is traversing the differences, now, between what Phil Gaetjens said this morning and what Reece Kershaw said earlier about pausing his investigation. (I covered this a couple of posts ago.)
Wong points out that Kershaw’s evidence is contradictory to Gaetjens’.
“I’ve been following that as well,” Morrison’s department head says. Gaetjens says he can only repeat “my earlier answer” (which is he was advised by the AFP on 9 March 9 would be unwise to continue with his inquiry).
Labor (and the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young) wonders whether there is some kind of cover-up in evidence.
“I don’t believe that’s correct,” Gaetjens says. Labor asks Morrison’s departmental head whether he will table the advice he got from Kershaw. Gaetjens took that on notice.
“This is a cover-up, this stinks,” Hanson-Young declares.
Updated
I’ve gone back and checked exactly what AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw told the estimates hearing earlier today on the Gaetjens inquiry into the prime minister’s office knowledge of Brittany Higgins’ allegations.
The top cop was careful to say he had raised some concerns about any intersection with police investigations, but any decision about how the Gaetjens inquiry proceeded was a matter for government.
Kershaw said he had written to the PM&C secretary on 22 February regarding the extent to which these inquiries may traverse the same subject matter.
He said he had been furnished with details about the scope of the inquiry:
I wrote back to then the secretary on 4 March and in my letter I talk about I appreciate the information assurance that he provided concerning the ongoing investigations.
Asked whether he had formed a view of any overlap, Kershaw said:
Our view – and I’ve consulted with the chief police officer of the ACT police who have carriage of that matter, was just to ensure we had that clean corridor, that that investigation was not disturbed, or is not – you didn’t want anything to intersect with that investigation. It’s just making sure that everyone understands that ... Our view was just making sure that that [intersection] didn’t occur.
Pressed on whether he had made any requests to Gaetjens about the nature of his report, Kershaw said:
No, I think we looked at the terms of reference and that’s a matter for the secretary not me to make that determination. We didn’t have access to that material.
Asked whether he had requested anything be done or not done so investigations were not intersected, Kershaw said:
We just made sure that there’s an understanding there of our concerns and that if they wanted to consult with me or the chief police officer – and that’s occurred at those levels within the department.
When asked whether he had asked Gaetjens to alter the terms of reference or go slow, Kershaw replied: “No, but that’s a decision he may wish to take but based on the conversations I’ve had in terms of any intersect with our criminal investigation.”
Updated
Here’s another one:
Anthony Albanese:
My question is to the prime minister. Thirty days ago, the prime minister told this House that he had asked his former chief of staff to verify what his office knew about the reported sexual assault of Brittany Higgins only metres from where he works. Mr Gaetjens reported his findings on the prime minister’s sports rorts within two weeks. Why is this report about the prime minister’s staff taking so long? Will the prime minister release this report when it is received?
Scott Morrison:
As I’ve indicated to the House before and I’ll indicate again today, this work is being done by the secretary of my department. It’s being done at arm’s length from me. I have no involvement in that process, and nor should I. That would be inappropriate. The secretary should conduct his inquiries as he sees fit and without any interference or any involvement from me as prime minister. That would be highly inappropriate. He has not provided me with a further update about when I might expect that report, but I have no doubt the opposition will be able to ask questions of him in Senate estimates next week, which is the appropriate place where those matters can be raised with the secretary of my department.
Yet again we see the rather personal, sledging way the leader of the opposition is asking this question. He wishes to get into this, whether it’s me or, indeed, by trying to undermine the credibility of the secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. He’s undertaken personal attacks, which is his form. On our side of the House, we will take a different approach. We will appoint people as secretaries of departments because of their credibility for those jobs, whether it’s Secretary Pezzullo or former Secretary Moraitis, who once sat opposite each other in opposition in Kim Beazley’s office. They are fine public servants and fine secretaries. Secretary Kennedy worked for the last Labor government and is a fine public servant doing a fine job. We will put people in those jobs because they have the credibility and the experience and the professional expertise to do those jobs.
Updated
Here is one of the questions Scott Morrison was asked on Thursday about the Gaetjens inquiry – which by this stage, had already been paused:
Tanya Plibersek:
Have the Prime Pinister’s chief of staff and principal private secretary been interviewed by his former chief of staff, Mr Gaetjens, about their knowledge of the reported sexual assault of Brittany Higgins?
Morrison:
I thank the member for her question. Those inquiries are being made by the secretary of my department, the secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Those matters are matters for the secretary. I don’t involve myself in the investigations or inquiries that the secretary is making independently of me or my office. Those are matters for him. In fact, if I were involved in that process, that would be highly inappropriate. But I note the way that the secretary to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet is referred to in this place, as if there is no secretary of a department who has never worked on any other side of politics. I invite the leader of the opposition and the members opposite to accord our department secretaries the respect to which they’re entitled.
Updated
Labor’s Katy Gallagher is also winding up. Phil Gaetjens says, having clarified the status of his process, he doesn’t intend to answer further questions about his administrative review. Gaetjens regards answering questions as prejudicial to the AFP’s inquiry.
Gallagher notes that Scott Morrison has sent Gaetjens to today’s hearing to answer questions, which he’s now declining to answer.
Labor’s Senate leader Penny Wong asks Gaetjens whether members of Morrison’s staff have “lawyered up” during this inquiry.
Gaetjens first appears to decline to answer, but then takes the question on notice. Wong says:
This is a blanket, nothing to see here.”
Updated
The AFP commissioner, Reece Kershaw, also addressed the fact that the AFP had not immediately forwarded the dossier relating to allegations against Christian Porter to NSW police.
Asked what information had been provided to NSW police, Kershaw said:
A detailed summary of that dossier and as an investigator myself I’ve read that – there’s quite an amount of detail, what the allegations are in succinct form.
Kershaw said the AFP had spoken with NSW police and had been told it was a “routine non-urgent matter”. The AFP did not initially provide the full dossier because the AFP put it through its own internal process “to understand whether there was a commonwealth nexus”.
He said it was not uncommon in policing to give other police counterparts a “heads up what’s in the pipeline”. If NSW police had requested that the AFP urgently send the document, that would have occurred, he added.
Porter strenuously denies the allegations.
Updated
Phil Gaetjens has told the finance committee he’s acting in the way he is acting (in terms of his administrative decisions) with the welfare of Brittany Higgins front of mind.
Green senator Sarah Hanson-Young and Labor senator Penny Wong explode in rebuttal. Hanson-Young shouts:
Do not use her as a shield.”
Updated
So on the basis of Phil Gaetjens’ suspending his inquiry into who knew what in the PMO about the Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations, we may never find out who in the prime minister’s office was aware of what had been alleged.
A reminder that the AFP commissioner said he did not ask for a pause or suspension, only that it was a decision for the secretary.
Scott Morrison has been asked about the progress of the review in QT and has demurred answering, saying it was independent from him. He did not say it had been suspended on 9 March – something you imagine he would have been made aware of.
Updated
As the Morrison government faces mounting pressure to hold a royal commission into veterans’ suicides, the Community and Public Sector Union says there is now a backlog of about 25,000 claims under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act, which provides support to injured veterans.
That would represent a further blowout from the estimated backlog of 14,381 “initial liability” claims at 30 September, according to figures provided to Senate estimates by the department.
The union said the average processing claims for MRCA initial liability claims was 178 days, or nearly six months, while the average wait for MRCA permanent impairment claims was 186 days.
The Department of Veterans’ Affairs acknowledged the “unfortunately long wait times” for some compensation claims.
Read more here:
Updated
So that post from Murph is what I was just about to point out – Reece Kershaw said he had not asked for the Gaetjens inquiry to be halted.
Updated
Labor senators are not amused (underlined) that we are only learning this information now. Katy Gallagher says Gaetjens appeared before the Covid committee and didn’t volunteer this information.
“I don’t think I was asked, senator,” Gaetjens says.
The secretary of DPMC then adds that the arrangements had not been finalised during that previous appearance.
Gaetjens is being asked why the prime minister didn’t answer direct questions in the House of Representatives about the progress of the inquiry last week. The prime minister got a series of questions about this last week and declined to reveal the central fact: that the investigation wasn’t proceeding at this time.
Simon Birmingham, the minister at the table, says it’s up to Gaetjens to account for his decision to pause the inquiry, not Morrison.
The point being Gaetjens is independent, and Morrison shouldn’t answer on his behalf.
Just a quick cross reference with evidence from the AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw earlier today.
When asked whether he had asked Gaetjens to alter the terms of reference or go slow, Kershaw replied:
No, but that’s a decision he may wish to take but based on the conversations I’ve had in terms of any intersect with our criminal investigation.
Gaetjens, meanwhile, says his “strong recollection” is that Kershaw advised him to put his activities on hold on 9 March. Morrison’s department head said he had become “increasingly concerned” and stopped the inquiry. Gaetjens says he has provided no material to Kershaw related to the investigation he’d part undertaken.
Updated
The AFP commissioner, Reece Kershaw, has defended the appropriateness of the briefing he gave Scott Morrison on 24 February regarding the allegations against Christian Porter.
The phone call took place about 5pm that day – some two hours after the AFP received a dossier outlining the allegations.
Kershaw said the briefing touched on “the existence of a dossier that had been sent to us and the fact NSW police had carriage of a criminal investigation and also the SA coroner” had jurisdiction over investigating the circumstances of the woman’s death.
He said he had taken the view that the briefing was appropriate.
Asked why he had formed that view, he said:
Because at that stage you have an active criminal investigation in the jurisdiction of NSW, the seriousness of the allegations and I made my judgment based on those matters and the fact you’re dealing with a senior member of parliament.
Asked whether he had briefed Morrison on the details of the dossier, Kershaw said his recollection was that it related to general details, including matters of justification and the process.
Was Morrison briefed on the nature of the allegation?
From memory, yes.
Kershaw added:
“My recollection it was not on the detail but again referring to NSW police, the jurisdiction issue and the fact the AFP had been referred the matter from the Celia Hammond inquiry.
Updated
Gaetjens inquiry on hold
Phil Gaetjens, the secretary of Scott Morrison’s department is appearing before estimates this morning.
This is pretty unusual. Normally the prime minister’s department is represented at estimates by deputy secretaries. Gaetjens opens today with a statement.
He says he’s there because Morrison indicated he would be last week. (Gaetjens has been asked by Morrison to check communication between the staff in his office and Brittany Higgins before 12 February 2021).
Gaetjens has just told the committee that on 9 March the AFP advised him to hold off finalising his inquiry. Gaetjens says he’s complying with that request.
Updated
Far-right Sonnenkrieg Division added to list of terrorist organisations
Australia has added a far-right group to its list of terrorist organisations. From Peter Dutton’s office:
The Morrison Government has made regulations to list the Sonnenkrieg Division (SKD) for the first time as a terrorist organisation under the Criminal Code.
Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton said the decision to list the Sonnenkrieg Division reflected the Government’s commitment to stamping out violence and extremism of all kinds, regardless of ideology or motivation.
“SKD adheres to an abhorrent, violent ideology that encourages lone-wolf terrorist actors who would seek to cause significant harm to our way of life and our country,” Mr Dutton said.
“Members of SKD have already been convicted of terrorist offences in the United Kingdom, including encouraging terrorism, preparing for a terrorist attack and possession and dissemination of terrorist material.
“SKD’s active promotion and encouragement of terrorism has the potential to inspire extremists across the world, and the availability of SKD propaganda online throughout the pandemic has provided fertile ground for radicalisation.”
The listing of the SKD enables all available terrorist offences and penalties to apply to this organisation.
Offences relating to terrorist organisations attract penalties of up to 25 years’ imprisonment.
The Government currently lists 26 terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code.
The Morrison Government has made regulations to list the Sonnenkrieg Division (SKD) for the first time as a terrorist organisation under the Criminal Code.
Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton said the decision to list the Sonnenkrieg Division reflected the Government’s commitment to stamping out violence and extremism of all kinds, regardless of ideology or motivation.
“SKD adheres to an abhorrent, violent ideology that encourages lone-wolf terrorist actors who would seek to cause significant harm to our way of life and our country,” Mr Dutton said.
“Members of SKD have already been convicted of terrorist offences in the United Kingdom, including encouraging terrorism, preparing for a terrorist attack and possession and dissemination of terrorist material.
“SKD’s active promotion and encouragement of terrorism has the potential to inspire extremists across the world, and the availability of SKD propaganda online throughout the pandemic has provided fertile ground for radicalisation.”
The listing of the SKD enables all available terrorist offences and penalties to apply to this organisation.
Offences relating to terrorist organisations attract penalties of up to 25 years’ imprisonment.
The Government currently lists 26 terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code.
Updated
Philip Gaetjens is appearing in estimates.
He doesn’t usually – but the prime minister essentially offered him up in question time last week, so here he is.
Updated
Looks like we have a new strain:
no no no no pic.twitter.com/sJzJAk1R1w
— Alexei Toliopoulos 📀 (@ThisisAlexei) March 22, 2021
Updated
AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw has told estimates he had a group phone call with Scott Morrison and the secretary and deputy secretary of the prime minister’s department on 24 February regarding the allegations against Christian Porter. The phone call took place about 5pm that day – some two hours after the AFP received a dossier outlining the allegations.
Kershaw said he had subsequently sent a letter to Morrison outlining the complaints handling procedures after those calls:
After those phone calls, yes. It was a late night.
Updated
The government has come under pressure again in Senate estimates over its failure to develop recovery plans for endangered species that have been identified as requiring a plan to secure their survival.
This has been an ongoing issue across multiple Senate estimates and each time the answers are the same: they are overdue and remain in development, often with no completion date in sight.
Late last year we heard that more than 170 were outstanding and most of those were overdue.
In a hearing this morning, the Greens senator Janet Rice asked the environment department about recovery plans for two threatened species – the endangered greater glider and the critically endangered Leadbeater’s possum – that have been in development for years.
There was a confrontation between Rice and officials after the department was unable to say when the recovery plan for the greater glider would be completed. Rice said:
In the absence of a recovery plan we have greater gliders’ whose habitat ... is being logged as we speak and the federal government is doing nothing.
Rice asked the department if it was “embarrassed” after officials were also unable to say when the recovery plan for the Leadbeater’s possum – which has been in draft form since 2016 – would be ready.
The current plan for the Leadbeater’s possum dates back to 1997. Rice said:
Every estimates that I have been in the Senate I have asked questions about the recovery plan for the Leadbeater’s possum. Seven years on that I have been pursuing this in estimates we still don’t have a recovery plan. Are you embarrassed by the fact that we do not have a recovery plan?
The government senator Jane Hume responded by saying “work continues” and that “99.9% of threatened species and communities that are listed have a conservation advice or a recovery plan”.
A conservation advice does not have the same legal force as a recovery plan.
Updated
In the finance committee, the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young breaks in during a back and forth about duty of care. “Why didn’t anyone call an ambulance?” Hanson-Young asks. (She means on the night of the alleged assault, when Higgins was discovered in the minister’s office.)
Hanson-Young points out this is a question Brittany Higgins has asked since going public with her story. Why didn’t anyone call an ambulance?
Senate president Scott Ryan says they won’t answer because there’s a live police investigation.
Updated
Labor wants to land the point about a morning shouting into the void in Senate estimates committees.
Katy Gallagher tells Senate president Scott Ryan that the blanket refusal to answer questions about the alleged assault of Brittany Higgins and its aftermath doesn’t look great.
Scott Ryan:
I’m very aware of that, Senator Gallagher.
Ryan invokes his own record of being constructive and accountable during his period of being a presiding officer to make the point he isn’t refusing to answer questions frivolously.
Updated
The legal and constitutional affairs committee has resumed after a break to discuss Labor’s complaints about not having enough time to ask questions. Chair Sarah Henderson said it had been agreed the AFP would continue to give further evidence for about 20 more minutes. Kristina Keneally is asking questions.
Back in the finance committee, we’ve rolled over into the Department of Parliamentary Services.
The theme of the morning (let’s call it tight-lipped) is being sustained.
Secretary of the department Rob Stefanic opens his appearance by saying:
I would be very cautious about answering any detail.
Stefanic says he’s been liaising with the AFP about the matters pertaining to Brittany Higgins.
The Labor senators ask him whether the police have advised him to not answer questions.
The official says no to that question. The senators press on. Stefanic says less than a dozen people in DPS have detailed knowledge of the alleged incident in March 2019 and its aftermath.
The secretary says DPS has not contacted Higgins. Labor senator Katy Gallagher asks whether DPS failed Higgins. Senate president Scott Ryan heads that one off. Gallagher wants to know whether Higgins will be permitted to view the CCTV footage (evidence she has sought unsuccessfully since the alleged assault).
The official says that it is a matter of “legal process”.
He confirms that footage (from inside the building on the night of the alleged assault) has been viewed by the police and a small number of parliamentary officials, including himself.
Gallagher is now reeling off a list of questions that Stefanic is declining to answer on the basis these are live issues related to the police investigation.
Updated
Not a cent of a $100m government fund announced to support regional economic recovery after bushfires and Covid-19 has been spent since it was announced in last year’s budget.
In evidence to a Senate estimates committee in Canberra on Monday, officials from the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development said the program was under way but no money had yet been spent.
“We haven’t had expenditure so far under this particular program,” deputy secretary Dr Rachel Bacon said.
“The reason being is that the recovery partnerships are an exercise between three levels of government, as well as engagement with various community members, so those discussions are ongoing.”
Bacon said she anticipated that the vast majority of the $100m fund would be spent by the end of the financial year.
Labor senator Murray Watt questioned the timing of the spending, saying he was not interested in the department’s “actions” but “how much has been delivered”.
“So the government created a $100m fund to help regions recover from bushfire and Covid, and even though we are well over 12 months since those events occurred, not a dollar has been spent so far,” Watt said.
When announcing the fund last September, Nationals leader Michael McCormack said the fund would “support recovery and growth”.
The fund allocated $100m to 10 regions but came under fire from both sides of politics for excluding the NSW south coast – one of the areas hardest hit by bushfires.
Updated
MPs speak up for Julian Assange in visit to US embassy
A delegation of Australian MPs has met with a senior official at the US embassy in Canberra to press for the US to drop its push to extradite WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange from the UK.
The delegation included the co-chairs of the Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group, George Christensen and Andrew Wilkie, along with a fellow member of the group, Julian Hill.
They met this morning with Michael Goldman, the chargé d’affaires at the US embassy.
A statement issued by the parliamentary group said the delegation had “raised numerous issues with Mr Goldman, including the increasing cross-party and public support for the US extradition of Mr Assange from the UK to be dropped, and for him to be allowed to return to Australia”.
The MPs said they had also raised “the risk of reputational damage to the US over this matter and the inconsistency that WikiLeaks source, Chelsea Manning, had her sentence commuted while WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, is still being pursued”.
Goldman “gave the delegation a good hearing and promised to convey its concerns to Washington”, according to the MPs. Wilkie said it was “heartening that Mr Goldman agreed to the meeting and gave us a fair hearing”.
Wilkie said he hoped the representations “impressed upon him the broad concern in Australia, and indeed right around the world, at the shocking injustice being meted out to Julian Assange”.
Hill said:
You don’t have to like or agree with Julian Assange, but he deserves fair treatment, like any other Australian.
The case against Assange relates to WikiLeaks’s publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, as well as diplomatic cables, in 2010 and 2011.
Updated
The secretary of the Department of Prime minister and Cabinet, Phil Gaetjens will appear in the public finance and administration estimates in about 20 minutes.
Updated
The Coalition’s Kevin Andrews and Labor’s Chris Hayes are putting forward a joint motion critical of China for its treatment of Uighur communities.
It’s supported by:
- Australian Uyghur Tangritagh
- Australian Uyghur Association
- Women’s Association Uyghur Association of Victoria
- Uyghur Academy of Australia
Updated
Now, just a note about the motion for a royal commission into veteran’s suicides – it is non-binding. The government won’t be opposing the motion – meaning it will wave it through – but it is not under any obligation to set one up, either.
Updated
In the NT, vaccinations are happening:
Chief Minister Michael Gunner has received his first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, on day 1 of Phase 1b. Next up, NT CHO Dr Hugh Heggie. @TheNTNews #COVID19Aus @fanniebay pic.twitter.com/U866CHPuJs
— Madura McCormack (@MaduraMcCormack) March 21, 2021
Updated
Gaejtens inquiry 'may' hamper AFP investigation
The investigation by Scott Morrison’s departmental secretary Philip Gaetjens into whether and when the prime minister’s staff had knowledge of the alleged sexual assault of Brittany Higgins “may” hamper the police investigation into the matter, the AFP commissioner has told estimates.
Reece Kershaw was asked, from a policing perspective, whether those inquiries would hamper the police investigation. He replied:
It may. It may. And that’s where I used the language around intersect with our investigations. Whilst I have the terms of reference [for the Gaetjens review], we’re not embedded in that inquiry – but it may.
When asked whether he had asked Gaetjens to alter the terms of reference or go slow, he replied:
No, but that’s a decision he may wish to take but based on the conversations I’ve had in terms of any intersect with our criminal investigation.
Updated
The independent MP Andrew Wilkie is introducing a private member’s bill for the establishment of a national environment protection authority.
Wilkie says successive governments have failed to enforce laws meant to protect the country’s environment.
Under his proposal, an independent EPA would take responsibility for all decisions made under national environmental laws, removing the power to approve or reject developments from the environment minister.
It would also act as an “independent cop” that would enforce the law and monitor for breaches of the law.
“Time and time again governments have failed to ensure effective enforcement of our environmental laws,” Wilkie said.
He said this had been exposed by multiple reviews, including last year’s review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, and a review by the Australian National Audit Office. Wilkie said:
This EPA will be a completely independent body that depoliticises, streamlines and strengthens environmental regulation.
The final report of a review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act last year found Australia’s unique wildlife was in unsustainable decline and among its 38 recommendations called for the establishment of new independent bodies that would be responsible for monitoring the environment and enforcing compliance with the law.
Wilkie’s proposal goes further in calling for an EPA to take responsibility for all decisions under the act. This was not proposed by the review, which recommended decision-making powers under national laws be transferred to state governments, provided new national environmental standards were established and strong independent enforcement was in place.
The government has been trying to pass a bill that would clear the way for the transfer of powers to the states, but it has ignored Samuel’s recommended standards and instead drafted its own weaker version.
Environment groups have also expressed concern about the government’s proposed model for a new environmental assurance commissioner because it would not have the power to investigate individual decisions about projects.
The chief executive of WWF-Australia, Dermot O’Gorman, has welcomed Wilkie’s bill as the first put to the parliament that would legislate for an EPA:
We hope this bill gets the attention it deserves and is considered by a parliamentary committee.”
Updated
Kristina Keneally:
I do note that estimate has been going for an hour and 20 minutes and excluding interjections Labor’s had 17 minutes of that time which is about 20% of it.
The committee is now going to a private meeting to see if Sarah Henderson, as the chair, has the power to bring an item (of discussion) to an end. Henderson says she does, the non-government senators say she doesn’t. So it’s time for a “clarification” meeting.
Updated
Reece Kershaw now says the Gaetjens inquiry “may” hamper the AFP investigation into Brittany Higgins’ allegations.
So Kershaw says that Gaetjens may wish to discontinue, delay or pause his departmental review.
It might, and that’s where I use the language around intersect with the investigation – so whilst I have the terms of reference, we’re not embedded in that inquiry nor would we want.
But the AFP has not asked Gaetjens to stop investigating, or change the terms of reference, as yet.
Phil Gaetjens will be making a short appearance at Senate estimates a little later.
Updated
Sarah Henderson is now denying Kristina Keneally the four minutes she lost during her blocks (two 10-minute blocks) because of interjections.
Henderson is the chair, taking over from Amanda Stoker (who is now taking up duties for Christian Porter and can’t chair the committee) and is being reminded of the precedent set by Stoker.
After an interjection from deputy chair Kim Carr, who says (quite loudly): “If you want to blow up a committee keep going,” Henderson says Keneally can have a few more questions.
Updated
That 1 April date is confusing for a number of reasons – and this is one of them:
Bit confused by this April 1 date the AFP has given for first contact. Higgins says she gave an informal statement to police at Parliament House on 27 March. Am I missing something because I'm watching two committees at once? https://t.co/r3RiZpQjXf #auspol
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) March 21, 2021
Updated
Kristina Keneally asks Reece Kershaw whether the AFP had been engaged for a “security breach” in Linda Reynolds’ office.
Kershaw claims public interest immunity (he won’t answer).
He confirms that the AFP was first made aware of an incident in Reynolds’ office on 1 April 2019.
Updated
Over in legal affairs estimates, AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw is asked whether or not there is any reason why the secretary of prime minister and cabinet cannot complete (“stalled, or altered”) his investigation into who knew what about the allegation Brittany Higgins was raped in Parliament House, from a police point of view:
I don’t have access to that material so that that is a matter for the secretary.
But the short answer is no. There’s no police reason to discontinue, stall or delay the departmental investigation.
Updated
So far, Scott Ryan is taking advice on whether he can say he spoke to the Speaker, the prime minister, Linda Reynolds, and even the AFP, before he answers anything.
It’s been a very long hour.
We’re at an impasse with Scott Ryan’s testimony.
He’s not answering anything, including whether or not he spoke to Tony Smith, until he takes advice.
Updated
There are now suggestions that AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw may attend the public affairs and finance committee, to work out what can be answered.
Updated
Penny Wong: “You can’t refuse to answer on the basis of a prejudice, you can’t identify.”
Scott Ryan tells an exasperated Wong he will take advice and answer on notice, or make a public interest immunity claim.
In short, it is a mess.
Scott Ryan is going to take on notice any questions related to the Brittany Higgins investigation, including the date he knew, or when the Department of Parliamentary Services became engaged.
“I am not in a position to determine what is relevant to the police investigation,” he says.
Penny Wong is getting information that the AFP is answering questions on the timeline “post the event”.
“So if the AFP is answering questions post the incident, why can’t you?” she asks.
Wong says it is “completely without precedent” that Ryan won’t take questions about what the DPS did.
Ryan says he does not want to “inadvertently overstep the mark” so he’s taking it all on notice, so he can take advice.
Updated
Scott Ryan is back in front of his committee – he is reading out part of Reece Kershaw’s statement from the legal affairs committee.
Basically, Ryan doesn’t want to talk about the incident, anything about it, surrounding it, or near it. At all.
Updated
Legal affairs estimates is dealing with the same issue.
As AAP reports:
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw on Monday revealed he had contacted Department of Prime Minster and Cabinet secretary Phil Gaetjens about the Brittany Higgins matter.
Scott Morrison has tasked Mr Gaetjens with investigating who in the prime minister’s office knew about the allegation and when.
Mr Kershaw said he had spoken to all people involved in inquiries linked to the alleged sexual assault about the importance of letting the criminal investigation run its course.
“I also spoke with Mr Gaetjens, secretary of the department of prime minister and cabinet, that I’m particularly concerned about the intersection of his inquiry with our investigation,” he told a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra.
Ms Higgins says she was raped by a former colleague inside Parliament House in March 2019.
Mr Kershaw said the allegation was serious and being pursued by the AFP through its ACT policing arm.
“I will be limited in what I can say to ensure the active criminal investigation is not compromised,” he said.
“It is being treated with due care and attention including with oversight by our sensitive investigations oversight board.”
Updated
A five-minute suspension in the public administration estimates hearing is creeping up on the 15-minute mark.
Updated
Just be patient with all reception and admin staff:
Today marks a milestone in general practice’s role in the fight against the #COVIDー19 pandemic. More than 1,000 general practices will begin administering vaccines to patients as part of phase 1b. I am one of many GPs participating in this phase of the roll-out, let's do this!
— RACGP President (@RACGPPresident) March 21, 2021
Updated
Anthony Albanese has been asked about Scott Morrison’s line this morning that the government would not oppose the motion calling for a royal commission into veteran’s suicide (he was asked if the government would support it – and said twice that the government wouldn’t oppose it):
This should be above politics. But we get more spin. He won’t oppose the motion. How about he supports the motion and support what the parliament is asking for? We live in a democracy. Parliament matters. We don’t live in a system whereby the prime minister just gets to make decisions by himself. And the prime minister needs to respect the parliament. We know he shuts down parliamentary debate. No prime minister has ever shown so much contempt for the parliament as Scott Morrison. On this issue, he needs to listen to the national parliament.
Updated
AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw acknowledges the new umbrella terms unveiled last week by Asio chief Mike Burgess: ideologically motivated violent extremism and religiously motivated violent extremism.
Kershaw tells estimates the AFP will adopt the new terminology, together with subsets that fit within them.
Updated
So the first 20 minutes of the public administration estimates hearing - where Scott Ryan is appearing on behalf of the presiding officers - has been spent working out whether he is able to answer questions about the Brittany Higgins allegations.
Ryan is also saying he can’t speak on how the Senate staff reacted, including whether it is under investigation, or who knew what, when.
Non-government senators are saying they don’t want to know about the legal issues, surrounding the allegations itself - but what happened after.
Penny Wong is now in the room - she thinks Ryan is going above the Senate precedent. There will now be a five minute break to work out the boundaries of what Ryan can talk about.
Scott Ryan says he and Tony Smith have had “more than one discussion with the AFP this year” (about the Brittany Higgins investigation).
He says given the gravity of the investigation under way, he cannot answer questions which would prejudice the investigation.
I think, senator, we all understand that this is a matter of active police activity.
I am very conscious, as I’m sure all senators are, that not jeopardise any legal action that may follow.
He is not claiming public interest immunity but has not ruled it out.
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Scott Ryan says he is reluctant to answer questions about the allegations raised by Brittany Higgins, because of the police investigation.
Ryan won’t confirm what he has previously said in public statements, about what he knew, when, other than to say he stands by his previous statements.
He won’t say whether there is an investigation into his department.
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Scott Ryan is giving a statement in public administration estimates about safety in the workplace.
We’ve got comments open for the moment – but please remember there are matters which are before the courts, or potentially before the courts.
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Senate estimates are about to begin.
They’ll roll on all week. Because the limit of questions that will not be answered does not exist in this place.
After fires, a pandemic and now floods, David Littleproud is asked about the impact on some communities who have gone through all three. He tells the ABC:
Yeah, we are a tough bunch. We keep get it thrown at us, but you would like a reprieve for a little while.
I’ve got to say that some of the trauma from the black summer hasn’t abated and we’ve got to respect that and bring them with us.
Unfortunately that has to add to that sort of trauma. We’ve had to wrap our arms around them as a country and we will be doing that and state and local governments will be doing that on the ground and fellow Australians will be there.
We are damn lucky to live in this country. Yes, it throws a few upper cuts, but I tell you what, we still keep on getting back and we should be proud of the men and will on the frontline keeping us safe. We live in the best country the world and we should never forget that.
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It’s almost been a week since the #March4Justice protests and I wanted to acknowledge all the women and men who took time out from their busy lives to advocate for a safer, more equitable Australia. Truly, from the bottom of my heart thank-you.
— Brittany Higgins (@BrittHiggins_) March 21, 2021
📷: @mpbowers & @DomLorrimer pic.twitter.com/zVariIWYdh
The Greens are getting in early – Adam Bandt’s office has just posted this media release:
Australia is only 828 votes away from a minority parliament, new analysis reveals, as the Greens announced their goal for the next election was to secure balance of power in both houses of Parliament.
Revealing a shortlist of nine Lower House seats from which the Greens will choose their priority seats at the election the party considers likely to be held in November this year, Leader Adam Bandt said the Greens were on the verge of making history by electing the largest Greens Party Room ever and being in either sole or shared balance of power in both houses.
This approach has recently been endorsed by the party’s National Council.
Greens target seats
The Greens are aiming to gain an additional 3 Senate seats (NSW, Qld and SA), which would grow the party to 12 Senators, making it the largest third party ever in the Senate. This could deliver the Greens Senate balance of power in their own right, depending on how well Labor performs.
In the lower house, the nine seats on the Greens’ shortlist are Richmond, Griffith, Ryan, Brisbane, Higgins, Kooyong, Macnamara, Wills and Canberra. Five are held by Labor and four held by the Liberals. Two of the Labor seats (Macnamara, Richmond) are three-cornered contests where the Coalition may also win. Further details about these seats are set out below.
The seats require as little as 2.91% swing to the Greens for the Greens to win. Historically, by focusing on a small number of federal lower house seats, the Greens have been able to achieve swings of 7% or more in a single seat every campaign since 2010.
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Will climate change make these weather events even more common?
David Littleproud:
That is all about a pattern of weather events and we are seeing that and we need to make sure we are prepared and we are working with the states.
We planned for this disaster season meticulously, particularly with the overlay of Covid with it, and to think we have pivoted from bushfires to floods and still not out of the cyclone season yet, we are ready to move, and the fact that we have been able to bring emergency personnel from other states in a Covid-safe way, just goes to show the world-leading service we have in this country.
We work together between states and we are continuing planning … We will plan for whatever is to come and look for the threats that will come next season and be ready to pivot towards making things safe.
Yes, but given climate change, aren’t we going to see more of these events, more regularly?
Littleproud:
We have to make sure we have a nationally coordinated approach to this. This is what is keeping Australians safe and saved many lives during the black summer. We sadly lost 34 souls during the black summer but it would have been a lot worse if it hadn’t been for those men and women working on the front line.
Someone’s been practising how to avoid answering that question.
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How bad could the flood situation get, David Littleproud is asked, on ABC News Breakfast:
Very bad. This potentially is a very dangerous situation that everyone needs to understand the magnitude and gravity of what could become over the coming 24 to 48 hours …
And to put into perspective some of the gravity of this, the Hawkesbury-Nepean system, if we get rainfall potentially in the wrong areas, there are over 54 ,000 residents that could be impacted, so this is a very large event that we have to understand a lot is going to have to happen over the coming 24 to 48 hours.
We are working closely with New South Wales around making sure they have any appropriate resources that may be required from a federal perspective, but I’ve got to say that both Queensland and South Australia, and Queensland in particular, despite fighting floods in south-east Queensland themselves have provided resources to New South Wales which I this is testimony to our emergency service system here in Australia.
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GPs can start rolling out the 1b vaccination program from today – but there are already reports of delays in getting the vaccinations to the clinics because of the floods. Gladys Berejiklian has said the NSW timetable will be delayed because of the disaster and, with south-east Queensland now facing significant flooding threats, you can bet it will be the same story there as well.
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Government 'won't oppose' veterans royal commission
At the end of the interview with 2GB, Scott Morrison is asked about the motion for a royal commission into veteran suicides. He says the government “won’t be opposing it”, which is not the same as supporting it, but essentially, facing defeat, Morrison will now not stand in its way:
We won’t be opposing that motion at all. I mean, we’ve always thought you need something better than and more than a royal commission.
I mean, what we need is a permanent arrangement, and that’s what we’ve put into the parliament. We’ve put in legislation to provide for a permanent set of arrangements that have the powers of a royal commission to address veteran suicide and I’m sure that these two things can come together and we can come to some agreement over the course of this week.
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“It’s important to stand together to and focus on what needs to be done,” Scott Morrison says of the one-in-50-year floods (one in 100 years in some areas). He says the state agencies are doing what needs to done.
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There have been no requests for the defence force at this point, Scott Morrison says, but he expects calls for help with the clean-up.
Well, we have not had no requests at this point, but we expect later today we will be started getting requests for the recovery operations on the other side.
And so we’re readying ourselves that. We’ve had standby helicopters and others to support with search and rescue and that’s been happening for the last few days.
I’ve been taking briefings on this for several days now, working closely together with the New South Wales government.
The New South Wales government has very, very significant resources and capable agencies to deal with the floods, and they’ve got that in hand and should they need anything further than I have no doubt they will request and we’ll move very quickly.
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Scott Morrison has started his media morning with a call to Sydney radio 2GB.
He says the federal government is waiting for the requests for help – Queensland is also experiencing flooding today:
It’s another testing time for our country – there have been a lot of them.
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The crossbench is on board with Jacqui Lambie’s royal commission call:
Tomorrow morning I’ll be voting to establish a Royal Commission into Veterans’ Suicide. @JacquiLambie has prosecuted this issue from the crossbench & deserves congratulations. Also on my agenda this week: a Bill on regional investment, and real action after the #March4Justice. pic.twitter.com/Be7sujGMiV
— Helen Haines MP (@helenhainesindi) March 21, 2021
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The Morrison government plans to redraft part of the Family Law Act to “minimise confusion” about controversial changes made by the Howard government, such as the presumption of “equal shared parental responsibility”.
But the government says it “remains committed to ensuring that, in circumstances where it is appropriate, there be consideration by the courts of children spending equal time, or substantial and significant time, with each parent”.
Amanda Stoker, the assistant minister to attorney general Christian Porter, released the government’s long-awaited response to the Australian Law Reform Commission’s review of the family law system. That review was first commissioned by the Turnbull government in 2017 and the report with 60 recommendations came out in 2019.
The ALRC’s report said the 2006 amendments to Family Law Act had introduced the presumption of “equal shared parental responsibility”, which were interpreted by many to be a presumption of “equal shared care”. The ALRC argued that the “widespread nature of that misunderstanding has a number of effects, including leading unrepresented parties to believe they have no choice but to agree to equal time and to enter into informal agreements based on a misapprehension of the law”.
According to the detailed response released yesterday, the government “agreed in part” with the recommended repeal of section 60B of the Family Law Act – which outlines principles for parenting orders – amid concerns that many of the principles overlap with the child’s best interests factors outlined elsewhere.
The government also “agreed in part” with the recommendation to amend Section 61DA to replace the presumption of “equal shared parental responsibility” with a presumption of “joint decision making about major long-term issues”.
But it did not agree with repealing Section 65DAA, which requires the courts to consider, in certain circumstances, the possibility of the child spending equal time, or substantial and significant time with each parent. The government stressed that this requirement “is only that courts consider making such an order”.
The government said it would consult on changes to the decision-making framework to ensure it “promotes the best interests of children, and recognises that ultimately parenting arrangements should be shaped around the circumstances of the particular child”.
It acknowledged “that there are reasons, including for safety, or relating to practicalities, why it will not always be in the best interests of a child that equal time or substantial and significant time be spent with each parent”.
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Good morning
I hope everyone is safe. The flood waters continue to rise, and I know that worry – our thoughts are with everyone nervously watching the water levels. For those who have had to evacuate, we’re sending extra thoughts your way. We have a blog covering the floods, and we will get you all the information as we get it. It can’t help take away the anxiety, but we’ll keep you as informed as possible.
It’s raining in Canberra but nothing unmanageable. The MPs are here for the last House sitting week before the budget is handed down in May, and the government is under pressure to pass the Senate’s call for a royal commission into veteran’s suicide.
That’s been something Jacqui Lambie has been calling for, for years. The government attempted to defuse the situation by appointing a national commissioner for defence and veteran suicide late last year but Lambie’s campaign has been growing and Coalition MPs are threatening to cross the floor to make the House pass the inquiry, if the government still says no. The Morrison government only has a two-seat majority in the House, so it wouldn’t take much to get it over the line. Other Coalition MPs are looking at abstaining from the vote, which would also help the motion get up.
There’s no legislation which can pass this week, with the Senate busy with estimates hearings. Prime minister and cabinet is probably the one to keep an eye on today, if you are of a mind for such things, but we’ll cover it all off in the politics live blog, so don’t worry too much if you don’t have hours of your life to dedicate to watching people avoiding questions.
Mike Bowers is covering the floods so you just have Amy Remeikis on the blog, but we’ll be checking in with him. Katharine Murphy, Paul Karp and Daniel Hurst are also on deck, with the Guardian brains trust at your disposal. It’s going to be another rough week – we’ll do our best to guide everyone through it.
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