One last update (because the Guardian brains trust never stops):
The Senate has just passed a motion, moved by Labor’s Malarndirri McCarthy, demanding the Indigenous affairs minister, Nigel Scullion, make public the advice he received from his department, as well as other documents relating to the grants he made to the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association (NTCA), the Amateur Fisherman’s Association of the Northern Territory (AFANT) and the Northern Territory Seafood Council (NTSC) as well as copies of their grant applications, by Thursday morning.
Scullion copped a fair bit of heat, as we reported last week, for allocating grants worth almost $500,000 to these organisations, to help them argue their “detriment” cases in land rights claims, most of which have been held up for years by unresolved detriment issues. He told Senate estimates the money was for legal fees for the groups to argue how they might be negatively impacted by land rights claims but the groups have all since said that’s not quite the case.
Scullion used the IAS – the Indigenous advancement strategy – to fund the groups. One of them, the NT Seafood Council, he used to chair. The IAS is meant to address Indigenous disadvantage.
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Alas, it is time for us to say goodbye
At least for today. Because there are two whole more days of this Senate-palooza ahead of us and, really, I don’t want to peak too early. Better to ration out such an inspired display of our democracy than gorge all at once.
The country is in the hands of Michael McCormack, as acting prime minister. So sleep well.
Massive thank yous to Mike Bowers, for the photos and also the food he supplies me with to keep me standing, and to the Guardian brains trust.
And, as always, thank you to you, for reading, and joining us on this never ending descent into madness. We’ll be back tomorrow morning but, in the meantime, take care of you.
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Angus Taylor, the minister for lowering electricity prices in this age of Pro-Mo government, welcomed the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards Act draft report thusly:
The GEMS Act regulates the energy efficiency of appliances and equipment by setting minimum energy performance standards and energy rating label requirements.
The draft report demonstrates that the GEMS Act has proven very effective at reducing costs for consumers and contains a number of recommendations to strengthen the operation of the act.
The current review is an important step in a process of continuous improvement to ensure the act remains appropriate and effective. The government encourages stakeholders to continue to participate in this independent review by making a submission on the draft report. The final report is expected to be delivered mid-2019.
The government remains committed to ensuring customers remain at the focus of its energy policy, and promoting efficient energy usage is an important part of this.
The GEMS legislation has driven significant improvements in energy efficiency and reduced energy consumption, energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions.
The GEMS regulations save Australian households between $140 and $220 on their electricity bill each year (about 10 to 15% of the average annual bill). In 2017, net savings to the Australian economy ranged between $862m to $1.64bn with greenhouse gas emissions savings between 4.6 million and 7.4 million tonnes.
Visit energy.gov.au/government-priorities/energy-productivity-and-energy-efficiency/gems-act-review to access the draft report.
Updated
From Mike Bowers’s lens to your eyeballs.
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*extreme Oprah voice*
You get a video!
And you get a video!
EVERYONE GETS A VIDEO!!!!!!
Coen School in Cape York is a school with 90% plus attendance, where the year five kids are at or above the national average. This is a remote Australia success story so good on you Coen, you’ve done a great job. pic.twitter.com/2xMekH4eLa
— Tony Abbott (@TonyAbbottMHR) November 13, 2018
Senate question time ends.
And with it, my will to keep going.
Onwards and upwards!
Murray Watt, with an assist from Penny Wong, tries to ask Michaelia Cash more about the issue, but she gives the same answer and a little more of my brain bleeds out of my ears.
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Murray Watt wants to know about this:
AWU served a subpoena to produce documents and give evidence to Michaelia Cash's former chief of staff yesterday, as part of its challenge of the police raids on its offices last year.
— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) November 13, 2018
The union hired private investigators to track him down last month.https://t.co/eECYjtVOR3
And when Michaelia Cash found out.
She said she just learned it from him, just now, that her former staffer is now a private citizen and “you can subpoena anybody”.
Updated
Kim Carr is back with more questions on Chris Crewther, asking if Matthew Canavan is aware that the company Crewther invested in received a particular government grant.
Canavan says the company received approval for a bridging grant, but that the company withdrew its application.
Carr asks why it wasn’t included in advice provided about the grants the biotech received. Basically, the answer is because the application was withdrawn.
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Fraser Anning is asking questions along the same lines as Pauline Hanson did yesterday – basically, will Australia stop accepting immigrants from Islamic countries.
Michaelia Cash repeats yesterday’s answer – that Australia has a non-discriminatory immigration policy, but adds that Australia’s security and intelligence agencies are constantly reviewing national security.
And she is cranky. Very, very cranky.
Penny Wong asks whether Scott Morrison has put Australia’s relationship with Indonesia at risk by raising the prospect of moving our Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and, then, whether Malcolm Turnbull was right to warn against the discussion.
The answers are all the same – Australia has a constructive relationship with Indonesia and will decide its foreign policy itself.
Penny Wong to Mathias Cormann – on the Indonesian free trade deal.
She points to the AFR story which says Scott Morrison has confirmed that the deal, which was expected to be signed between the two countries this week, has been delayed.
Wong asks why.
“Don’t always believe everything that is written in a newspaper,” Mathias Cormann said.
Except – the prime minister said it. On television.
https://twitter.com/SkyNewsAust/status/1061778300870131713
Honestly. Make it stop.
I feel like Josh Frydenberg looks in this video
If you own your own property - under Labor’s plan, it will be worth less.
— Josh Frydenberg (@JoshFrydenberg) November 13, 2018
If you rent your own home - under Labor’s policy, you will pay more.
Only the Coalition can be trusted to keep your taxes low & keep the economy strong. pic.twitter.com/hxw93M5tqu
The only thing worse than a Dorothy Dixer is a supplementary Dorothy Dixer #fact
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But Marise Payne won’t say if it will be raised on Friday, when Scott Morrison meets with Shinzo Abe.
“It is a matter for them,” she says, but again says it is regularly raised by Australia to Japan.
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Peter Whish-Wilson is now asking Marise Payne about this statement from Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS):
“The Japanese whaling fleet has left port and is on its way to the Southern Ocean to again kill whales in the name of “science”. With the Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe due to visit Australia this week, we call on prime minister Scott Morrison to urgently step up action against Japan.
“In previous years it has taken the whaling fleet 3–4 weeks to reach the Southern Ocean where 333 minke whales are in the harpoon firing line, including pregnant females, as part of a 12-year program of “research” that will kill almost 4,000 Antarctic minke whales.
“It is unconscionable that the Japanese whalers are once again planning to kill hundreds of whales in the name of ‘science’,” said AMCS CEO Darren Kindleysides.
“In September, the International Whaling Commission rejected Japan’s outrageous attempt to end the global ban on commercial whaling.
... In 2014, in a case brought by the Australian government, the International Court of Justice ruled that Japan’s ‘JARPA II’ Antarctic whaling program was illegal and must stop. However, in 2015, the Japanese Government introduced a new Antarctic whaling program and continues to send its whaling fleet to the Southern Ocean for an annual whale hunt.”
***end statement***
Payne says Australia is disappointed in the decision to resume whaling and has continued to make approaches to Japan on the issue.
Whish-Wilson asks why Australia is “rolling out the red carpet” for Abe in light of Japan’s decision. Payne says there is a lot to Australia’s relationship with Japan, including defence, but will continue to discuss the “strong opposition” Australia has to whaling.
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Right, after five questions on this, we still have no idea why.
Why was Scott Morrison let go from Tourism Australia after just 18 months?
Basically, Mathias Cormann said he has no answers for decisions made by the John Howard government.
So, no answer, then. Because Cormann says he was an “outstanding” managing director of Tourism Australia.
And obviously this country has a habit of letting “outstanding” people leave their positions early.
Sick of Brisbane traffic? Move to the regions, says deputy PM
Michael McCormack had a chat to ABC Brisbane this morning, where he was asked if Brisbane was getting its fair share of infrastructure funding from the federal government.
The federal government and the Queensland state government have been having funding fights over the funding for the M1 highway – the feds have offered 50/50, while the Queensland government wants 80/20.
Asked about Brisbane road infrastructure, and to speak to those in the audience stuck in traffic, or about to be stuck in traffic, McCormack suggested they leave Brisbane.
“What they can do is think about moving to a regional centre, because there are jobs in Mackay, there are jobs in Rockhampton, there are jobs in Cairns, there are some fabulous regional centres – Toowoomba.
“They are growing, there are jobs there, there’s friendly people. Their communities are small enough to care, but big enough to get a good cup of coffee.”
But will all those people in Brisbane stuck in traffic want to move to a regional centre?
“No, but we are getting on with the job, building better infrastructure. Look at the Beerburrum to Nambour rail that we are investing $390 million in, to make sure that those people can not only work in Brisbane, but can live on the Sunshine Coast. We are making those opportunities for people, cutting those rail times by 40 minutes one way, so that’s a saving of up to an hour, 80 minutes to spend more time with their families at the end of the day.”
So, Brisbanites. Now you know. Just move.
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Jeremy Buckingham declines to resign
NSW MLC Jeremy Buckingham has responded to calls for his resignation from two Greens colleagues – Jenny Leong in NSW parliament and Mehreen Faruqi in Canberra.
The pair put out a statement earlier today, and Leong has also used parliamentary privilege in state parliament to say Buckingham’s treatment of some women had a “real and lasting consequence”.
She told the parliament she knew there were “active volunteers who have stepped aside or resigned as members as a result of Jeremy’s behaviour”. Leong did not detail new allegations but she accused Buckingham of acting in an “aggressive and intimidating manner” towards her twice this year.
“Jeremy, you have had countless opportunities to take responsibility for this, to apologise to those impacted, and to seek to address them. Instead you have followed with further aggressive tactics,” she said. “I know you feel like you are the victim of internal party attacks, but you must acknowledge your role in this and stand aside before more damage can be done.”
Buckingham has responded by referring to one allegation, which he says he was cleared of after it was investigated by the Greens. He is refusing to quit.
Holy moley. Jeremy Buckingham says he's staying put, cites a review from earlier this year that said the greens shouldn't punish him due to a lack of evidence pic.twitter.com/MApTyn57ts
— Alex Druce (@AlexDruuuce) November 13, 2018
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Senate question time begins
Labor’s Doug Cameron launches straight into it – why was Scott Morrison sacked by Tourism Australia?
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It is almost Senate question time time.
Yay.
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Just a note on the legal advice – all the candidates who were sent to the high court, including Labor’s three, had legal advice they were fine. All of them. From Barnaby Joyce to Susan Lamb.
The only power to decide how the constitution should be interpreted lies with the high court.
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Meanwhile, this is still happening:
Chris Crewther arms himself with legal advice from former solicitor-general David Bennett QC but won't release it publicly https://t.co/i2fMmNgcOm #auspol @australian
— Rosie Lewis (@rosieslewis) November 13, 2018
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Look, everyone has their strengths and should play to them.
And for those things that aren’t our strengths?
Well, I guess practise? Or leave it to the professionals?
If you own your own property - under Labor’s plan, it will be worth less.
— Josh Frydenberg (@JoshFrydenberg) November 13, 2018
If you rent your own home - under Labor’s policy, you will pay more.
Only the Coalition can be trusted to keep your taxes low & keep the economy strong. pic.twitter.com/hxw93M5tqu
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Greens senator calls on state Greens MP to stand aside
The federal Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi and the New South Wales Greens MP Jenny Leong have released a statement calling for the NSW Greens MLC Jeremy Buckingham to stand aside and not contest the next election.
“We have made this decision as independent women and we have not taken it lightly,” the statement says.
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Stepping into the NSW parliament for a moment;
I will be making a speech about Jeremy Buckingham in the NSW Parliament at approx. 12:30pm today and issuing a joint statement with @MehreenFaruqi at this time also #NSW #nswpol #greens
— Jenny Leong MP (@jennyleong) November 13, 2018
The PM’s message in a condolences book for Sisto in Melbourne today:
— The PMO (@thepmo) November 13, 2018
“Dear Sisto,
Thank you for your wonderful gift to our nation and the people of Melbourne. You will always be loved and always missed.” [1/2] pic.twitter.com/42yj0Gp3B8
Labor won’t be supporting the motion to suspend standing orders to bring on the Greens schools anti-discrimination bill (the one which aims to stop religious schools from discriminating against staff, as well as teachers).
So the motion has no chance of getting up.
After this motion, it is all government business, with the GST legislation David Leyonhjelm is so worked up about next on the agenda.
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Scott Morrison has released a statement on his upcoming Asean trip:
I will travel to Singapore over 13–15 November to participate in the East Asia Summit and bilateral meetings with some of Australia’s key partners.
The East Asia Summit is the region’s premier forum for strategic dialogue and helps to ensure the Indo-Pacific remains peaceful, open and prosperous.
The Australian government’s international agenda advances our domestic priorities – keeping our economy strong, keeping Australians safe and keeping Australians together.
Our focus is on progressing practical initiatives in areas including counter-terrorism, infrastructure and maritime cooperation.
In addition to the East Asia Summit, I will join leaders to review progress towards the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, an important agreement that will help to promote closer regional economic integration and create trade and investment opportunities for Australian businesses.
I will also participate in a meeting with my ASEAN counterparts, building on the momentum of the historic ASEAN-Australia Special Summit held in Sydney earlier this year.
Frank dialogue and mutual respect and cooperation underpin the East Asia Summit, and I look forward to the opportunities it presents.
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Speaking of the Greens, they are trying to suspend standing orders in the Senate to bring debate for its discrimination free schools bill forward.
They have also just been asked to remove badges, which had “$75” on them (which is in relation to wanting to raise Newstart by $75 a week), because they are too big.
Scott Ryan says when it comes to size, it should be in proportion to lapel size. Peter Whish-Wilson says in that case, the 70s safari suits might be making a comeback.
Richard Di Natale, who has a much smaller badge, is allowed to keep his on.
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Having watched last night’s Four Corner’s episode on Michelle Guthrie and Justin Milne, Sarah Hanson-Young is calling for the entire ABC board to be sacked;
“After hearing the allegations put forward by Michelle Guthrie and a number of concerning statements made by Justin Milne on Four Corners, it is clear the board must be sacked. What’s also clear is the board is plagued with political interference from the communications minister and the Liberal government,” Greens media spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said in her statement.
“The board may have refused to speak to Four Corners, but each individual member will be called before the upcoming Senate inquiry.
“The Senate inquiry into the mismanagement and political interference at the ABC comes at a good time. It is clear that board members themselves have questions to answer and need to be held accountable for their decisions.
“It’s time to put a broom through the board and replace it with people who are there for the interest of the public broadcaster and the Australian people.”
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Oh, the Senate is about to start.
Watch today's live broadcast https://t.co/9Lgw5iXAcZ or keep track of proceedings with the Dynamic Red https://t.co/Wi8bN9E81O
— Australian Senate (@AuSenate) November 13, 2018
Honestly, it is a bit easy to forget these days.
Bill Shorten has also spoken on Bourke Street at his morning press conference;
Well, first of all, what happened on Friday was just an evil tragedy. As my colleague said earlier on television, Sisto, the man who got killed, was committing an act of kindness and was met with an act of evil.
I understand people are upset. My own kids catch the tram through the city. We’ve all ... I’ve lived in Melbourne for most of my life.
We’ve all walked past that old Commonwealth Bank building there. So it is shocking. I would like to think that what we saw on Friday doesn’t happen in Australia, but it does.
Now, I can understand why people want to lash out, want to blame different groups or want to blame politicians or want to blame Mr Morrison.
I actually think we’ve got to take a step back. Someone died. Two people died. And the coroner will have an investigation. That’s a pretty good process. In terms of the debate about the Muslim community, there are a few radicalised troublemakers, no question, and pretending that isn’t the case doesn’t make it go away.
But by the same token, absolutely the vast bulk of Muslim Australians, the vast, vast bulk, love their country and I don’t want to tag a whole group of Australians just by the actions of a very few.
I get that some people want to blame the government and authorities, I think the authorities are trying to do the best they can. We need calmness and coolness.
Our Australian way of life tolerates a range of views as long as you adhere to the laws. The police are doing a great job and I want to congratulate them again.
As a parent whose kids walk up and down Bourke Street and whose wife has shopped there and walked up and down there, I am pleased that Vic Pol were so responsive so quickly and I think I speak for a lot of people.
To the family of the deceased and to Sisto and the other two people who were wounded, this is shocking and nothing can make sense of that, but I just say to people, I understand if anyone wants to perhaps lash out.
It’s a disturbing event. I get that, but I think now is the time to work out what can we all do better. It’s not about one group or one politician.
What can we all do better to keep Australians safe?”
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An exclusive investigation by the Guardian today reveals a company owned by the Papua New Guinean prime minister Peter O’Neill received a US$32m government contract to build bridges in the country, in a process with “serious irregularities” that may have violated anticorruption guidelines.
The Guardian’s revelations reveal serious concerns about O’Neill’s business practices at a time when he is hoping to promote PNG as a site for investment and trade. World leaders, including Scott Morrison, Mike Pence, Xi Jinping, Jacinda Ardern and Justin Trudeau are set to arrive in Port Moresby later this week for the Apec summit.
An investigative criminologist said there has never been anything like these revelations before. “O’Neill is PNG’s Mr Teflon, while others around him have crashed against the rocks, he seems to escape unscathed.
This Asian Development Bank investigation is a bone-shaking exception to the rule. An international body has uncovered activity by a company he owns which appears to fit within the dictionary definition of fraud.”
In recent weeks, Morrison has signalled his intention to pivot toward the Pacific. Last week, he revealed $3bn in Pacific funding to counter Chinese influence in the region.
Peter O’Neill came to Sydney earlier this month where he signed off on a joint naval base to be located on Manus Island.
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With Scott Morrison in Melbourne to pay his respects to the memory of Sisto Malaspina, the politicking is continuing in Canberra.
Liberal Democratic senator David Leyonhjelm, from NSW, has issued a press release imbued with Libertarian wit criticising the government’s GST distribution plans.
Leyonhjelm says the Morrison government’s GST amendments – currently being debated in the Senate – will snatch $9bn from taxpayers over and above their GST payments to throw at state and territory governments “like confetti”.
He says the proposed system will continue to short-change “high-performing states” while propping up “beggar states” like South Australia and Tasmania.
South Australia and Tasmania “spend more time hugging trees and wind turbines than developing [themselves]” – whatever that means.
These parasitic states will continue to impede development and smother small businesses in red tape, while pouring millions of other states’ dollars into bloated local bureaucracies. In South Australia, almost 13% of the entire workforce is now sucking on the state government teat,” he said.
The South Australian and Tasmanian governments love making feel-good statements about cutting greenhouse gas emissions in their own backyard, while expecting extravagant handouts from the heavy-lifting states to compensate for their economic incompetency.
The government’s legislation, which is likely to pass the senate this week, will deliver an additional $9bn in extra untied funding to states and territories over 10 years and an extra $1bn in perpetuity once fully implemented.
It will prevent states such as Western Australia receiving just 30 cents in the dollar from their GST contribution by introducing a 70 cents floor for all states, rising to 75 cents in 2024–25.
It will also change the GST’s equalisation standard by basing it on the fiscal capacity of the stronger of New South Wales or Victoria – rather than the strongest state in the country in any given year.
The West Australian government has been fighting for these changes for years.
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Australian Council of Social Services head, Cass Goldie spoke to Sky News about some of the wider cuts to Australia’s social services budget this morning, in the wake of the decision to reverse the funding cut to Foodbank.
.@ACOSS Cass Goldie: Since the Coalition government has come into office, we've seen an overall cut of about $1.5 billion to a range of community service programs.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) November 12, 2018
MORE: https://t.co/12xTAfCBb0 pic.twitter.com/mD8iKzoXK1
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But Scott Morrison says this is not a migration issue, but a radicalisation issue, pointing out, again, that Hassan Khalif Shire Ali was radicalised in Australia.
He came here when he was five years old, for goodness’ sake and those who suggest it’s an issue of migration, he was five years old.
What happened here, happened here. And so we need to focus on what happened here and that is a man grew up in this country, and was radicalised with these hateful views and beliefs and he didn’t get it from the postman.
He didn’t get it from the police. He got it from the community he was living in and the people he was speaking to. And this is what we have to ensure does not take hold in this country.
We’re in a position where we can deal with this. So I’m urging positively to encourage all leaders, all those who take positions of responsibility in these communities to ensure that they work closely with authorities so that this does not take hold, because it’s your children, your cousins, your family members, your community, and I want to work with you to protect the integrity of these communities, so they are resilient to this sort of hate and violent extremist Islamic practices are not taking root in this city, or any part of Australia or any other part of the country.
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The prime minister said he believes his spiritual leaders would know what is happening within their congregation:
Communities need to ensure they weed this out. We can’t have the situation, frankly, where you have in religious communities, you know, police officers and others – these are places of faith.
These are prayer rooms. These are places of instruction. There are people who are seeking counselling and guidance on any number of issues as they should be able to do and that’s happening in their communities.
I’m a member of a religious community and my pastor knows what’s going on in our church community.
He would know if there was someone, or his wife would know if there was someone, leading a local Bible study group or something like that, who was teaching things that were not in accordance with what our faith believed.
They’d be pointing that out and they’d be dealing with it because that’s the responsibility of a religious leader, to actually protect the integrity of your faith community.
Now, this is an assault on those communities, I should stress. I’m standing up for the integrity of their communities and want to work closely with religious leaders and others in the community to ensure that they don’t allow these wolves in, because these wolves will take advantage of vulnerable people.
And I want to protect those people and I am looking to work together with religious communities, particularly Islamic communities, where we know that radical extremist Islam can take seed and we’ve seen it here again and we have seen it on other occasions and let’s not forget about the attack in Parramatta.
That radicalisation took place at lightning speed with a young boy so this can happen fast. It can happen over a longer period of time and I’m not going to look the other way and I’m not going to allow others to make executions for people who want to look the other way.
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'I won't cop the excuses'
On his calls that Islamic community, particularly it’s spiritual leaders, need to do more to root out extremist terrorism, Scott Morrison said:
I will say simply what I said on the weekend, that the violent extremist Islamic terrorist who did this on this street was radicalised in this country.
He wasn’t radicalised in a suburban mall he wasn’t radicalised in a schoolroom. He was radicalised in a community here in Melbourne.
Now, we all have jobs to do to keep Australians safe. It’s my job to ensure that our intelligence agencies and our law enforcement agencies both have the resources and the powers to enable them to do their jobs.
It’s the job of communities to protect themselves and to keep the wolves from coming in amongst the sheep in their own religious communities.
We want a country where people can have freedom of expression and freedom of belief.
Of course we do. I’m a passionate supporter of this. But with that comes great responsibility.
In religious communities, we need to ensure that people who would seek to infiltrate, people who would seek to take advantage of vulnerable people and spread hateful doctrines and idealologies that can inspire people to the most evil of acts, religious communities have a responsibility.
So I won’t cop the excuses. There are responsibilities for all of us and, importantly, in religious communities, there are Imams and Muslim communities that are absolutely doing this and they are protecting the integrity of their religious communities. And I applaud them.
And I know people and I’ve worked with people who are doing exactly that and they are brave and they are courageous.
But for those who want to stick their head in the sand, for those who want to make executions for those who stick their head in the sand, for those who want to walk post those comments and make excuses, are you not making Australia safer. You are giving people an excuse to look the other way and not deal with things right in front of you.
If there are people in a religious communities, an Islamic community, that are bringing in hateful, violent, extremist ideologies into your community, you’ve got to call it out, because it will take root and it will take root with your sons and daughters, with your friends, with your uncles, with your cousins, and it will infest and it will lead to the sorts of things that we have seen here on Bourke Street and I don’t want to so see that happen ever again.
Scott Morrison:
But there are so many Sistos here in Melbourne. The Sistos of Melbourne built this city, particularly after the Second World War. They created the businesses, they raised their families, they worked hard. They were honest people. They looked after each other. They were caring. They were compassionate. And this is the great city it is today because of people just like Sisto.
And so to come here and be able to pay respects to him today – as others have, and rightly have, and more will – you know, the best way we respond to these and radicalist, extremist, Islamist attacks, is to do the very thing that they would have us stop doing, and that would be to stop smiling, like Sisto would every day, to stop living a life full of joy and full of compassion and full of freedom, like Sisto did every single day.
I mean, he came here for the life that he was able to live here, and he lived it. He lived it. And he touched so many other lives.
And they would have that taken away and for us to live a different way in this country and so to wear that Sisto smile, to follow his example, to embrace that.
I think this is the greatest tribute we can pay to him, but it also says to those who want to have none of this, and would have us live very differently, that we won’t cop that and we will always live the way that we have the freedom to live in this country and you will never take that from us, you will never wipe that smile from our face, because we will always know that this is the greatest country on earth in which to live and the values and beliefs that enable it to be that great country, and the sacrifices that have been made from people to make it this great country are things that will always put a smile on our face and on those of our children.
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As the end of the year draws closer to us, so do all those end of year events – which include the annual cabinet document release.
This year, we are up to 1996 and 1997. Which is John Howard’s first year of government – and when Australia’s gun laws were introduced and passed, following the Port Arthur massacre.
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Scott Morrison says he has been very touched by the stories he has been hearing about Sisto Malaspina, as the cafe, well, Melbourne institution he co-owned, re-opened following his death on Friday, in the Bourke Street terror attack.
One day when the lady inside came in and she was feeling a bit blue, and he came over and he smiled at her, and he sung to her. How good is that? That is the heart of Melbourne ... The families who run these businesses, it is not a job, it is a passion.
They are celebrating a life well lived.
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The ACCC has released its latest report on NBN speeds:
Almost 4.5 million residents now have an NBN broadband connection at home, and nearly half of them are on fast plans with speeds of 50mbps or more, the latest ACCC quarterly Wholesale Market Indicators Report shows.
The ACCC’s report for the September quarter shows the number of NBN residential broadband connections rose from about 4.1 million last quarter (up almost 8.6%).
More than 2.2 million consumers are now on these high-speed plans, an increase of 20% on the previous quarter. Of these, there are now 1.8 million services on the 50mbps speed tier, a more than a tenfold increase compared to about 159,000 residential customers on 50mbps plans in December 2017.
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Scott Morrison is in Melbourne, ahead of jetting off to Singapore.
He’s signing the condolence book for Sisto Malaspina, who was killed in Friday’s attack, outside the cafe he co-owned.
Matthew Guy is right behind him.
Anne Aly was also on ABC radio this morning, expanding on what she meant when she criticised Scott Morrison’s first comments following the Bourke Street terror attack.
Can I just first of all, just take a pause to express unequivocally my condemnation of the terrorist attack last Friday and also send my condolences to the family and friends of those affected. Emma, my frustration is that in the wake of terrorist attacks we are presented with a very familiar refrain from our political leaders that calls on Muslim communities to do more, that calls on Muslim leaders to condemn terrorism again and again and again, even more louder, and I think that we need to move beyond words of condemnation. I think we need to move beyond these calls for the Muslim community which every law enforcement agency that I’ve ever spoken to recognises is a very important ally in security. And move towards working towards an effective prevention and intervention – early intervention mechanism.
And what would that look like?
Years ago when I was a professor in counter-terrorism, there was a radical preacher by the name of Junaid Thorne operating in Perth’s outer suburbs where he was trying to recruit young men. I spoke out against him, did a lot of media interviews against him, confronted him and confronted those young men who were being radicalised by him. The Muslim community here in Perth: teachers, imams, sheikhs, parents all banded together. They closed their doors to him, they prevented their sons from mingling with him, they reported his activities to the police. And together, working together, they effectively removed him from the streets of Perth. These are the kinds of things that we need to be doing. We need to be looking at how we can best generate community expertise, community intelligence, communities working together to eradicate terrorism from within our midst.
So no problem in calling out extremist behaviour, Aly says, and she believes that to be important. Her main issue with the comments:
I do take issue with calling out that behaviour by wholly and solely blaming an entire community and putting the responsibility of terrorism on an entire community.
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Kelly O’Dwyer has been chatting about the gender pay gap. Spoiler – it still exists.
You can’t actually pay somebody more if you’re doing exactly the same job, but there is certainly a national gender pay gap. Happily it’s the lowest level it’s been in 20 years at 14.5% but it’s still too high. It’s come down from 17.2% under the previous Labor government, but we certainly know that there is a gap between men and women and it’s based on the fact that men and women can be paid different amounts in different industries in different jobs, and we know that it can often be because women are working part-time, not full-time, and they’ve got caring responsibilities and don’t necessarily get paid overtime because they don’t have the capacity to take on that work. There are many reasons for it – and we are very fortunate to have the Workplace Gender Equality Agency that measures this.
That’s from her interview with ABC radio this morning.
And it’s because the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s latest report is out. You can read more about that, here.
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And those citizenship changes that are bubbling away, which we alerted you to yesterday?
Well, they are still on the boil.
There is not a lot of time for the government to actually do anything – there are two sitting weeks left and it no longer has its majority in the House, meaning it is highly unlikely any changes will be made in the short term.
But it sounds to me as if the government is preparing an election policy;
.@MichaelSukkarMP on Bourke Street: We should expand the grounds by which people have their visas cancelled, we should be finding ways of revoking citizenship for people who clearly hate the society we live in.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) November 12, 2018
MORE: https://t.co/AeXIK8mgAX #amagenda pic.twitter.com/3FK9ii1Vzv
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Senior Liberal minister Mathias Cormann was interviewed on ABC TV this morning, and was asked about Tim Fischer’s criticism of ideologues in the Coalition who constantly criticise the ABC.
Just to recap, former Nationals leader Tim Fischer on Monday said regional Australia “would be Siberia without the ABC” and “perhaps the ideological warriors should tone it down a bit”.
“[They] should listen to all that the ABC, for its dynamic professionalism, is offering. I salute the ABC,” he said.
“I could not live in and around Albury-Wodonga, Yackandandah, but for the ABC.”
Cormann was asked about Fischer’s comments on Tuesday, and he said he had never criticised the ABC.
“I agree with him that the ABC has got a very important role and a very important responsibility in the public interest,” he said.
“You will find that personally I’ve never ever criticised the ABC. I love the ABC. I appear on ABC outlets on regular occasions and I respect the job that you have as journalists. Go your hardest.
“From time to time, whether it is the ABC or any other media outlet, there can be questions raised in relation to accuracy of certain reports. Personally, I do not believe I’ve queried an ABC story directly myself. I have certainly queried stories with other journalists in private sector outlets.
“So there’s nothing wrong with having a conversation about whether a particular report was accurate or not. In the broad, the ABC is a very important organisation and we recognise it as such.”
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When Michael McCormack says “this is really going to help” he means it is going to help Foodbank do the job they were already doing before the government, through the department, made the decision to cut the key staples program funding.
Three years ago, Foodbank was running this program with about $1.5m in funding. The $323,000 cut would have been the third cut it had been asked to absorb and reduced its funding, for this program, to just under $500,000. The decision to reverse the latest cut means it’s back to $750,000 a year, for 4.5 years.
.@M_McCormackMP on Foodbank Funding: I certainly think the right decision has been taken.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) November 12, 2018
MORE: https://t.co/12xTAfCBb0 #amagenda pic.twitter.com/cKp9Gl0bgX
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That “big stick” the government has been talking about when it comes to energy companies?
Turns out it might be the high court which decides whether or not the government can use it.
As Katharine Murphy reports:
Australia’s major electricity companies have raised questions about whether the Morrison government has the legal authority to proceed with its so-called “big stick” threat to break up companies for price gouging, and to impose the regulation of power prices.
The commercial law firm Ashurst has provided advice to the Australian Energy Council, which represents 22 major electricity and gas firms, saying there are concerns about the “framing and constitutionality” of the Morrison government’s measures intended to force price relief for consumers and business.
The legal advice revealed on Tuesday says if the government intends to proceed with what amounts to “quasi-judicial” interventions, such as imposing price regulation, requiring generators to contract with third parties, and forcing divestment, then the power should be exercised independently of ministers “so that the decision-making process is not influenced by the potential for political interference, or the appearance of political interference”.
You can read the rest of that report, here.
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Paul Fletcher ended yesterday by promising to look into “transitional” funding for Foodbank, as well as why the organisation was given just six weeks’ notice of the decision to cut $323,000 from its funding.
This morning he has announced an increase to the amount of money allocated for food relief funding.
From his statement:
The Liberal National Government will increase funding for food relief by $1.485 million over the next 4.5 years, to $5.985 million.
This decision means that Foodbank’s funding will be maintained at $750,000 per year over the next 4.5 years, with Second Bite and OzHarvest to be funded as announced last week.
The extra funding will enable a stronger focus on drought relief, while continuing existing service levels around Australia.
I will be inviting the CEOs of Foodbank, Second Bite and OzHarvest to meet with me in a roundtable discussion in coming days to allow us to finalise the arrangements and co-ordinate a continuing collaborative approach to food relief.
This additional funding will be sourced within existing resources of the Department of Social Services.
The Government looks forward to working closely with Foodbank, Second Bite and OzHarvest to maximise the benefit of the vital food relief services they provide for vulnerable and homeless Australians.
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Good morning
Well, after 24 hours of criticism from everyone from the National Farmers’ Federation, to Jimmy Barnes, Labor and Kochie, the government has decided to reverse its funding cut to Foodbank’s Key Staples program.
Just before leaving for Singapore, Scott Morrison intervened to ask for the issue to be fixed. Paul Fletcher has responded by boosting the funding for food relief by $1.485m over the next four and a half years, bringing the total budget to $5.985m.
That means no one gets cut and a third provider is funded.
It’s a problem which didn’t need to be created. While there was a tender process, and while OzHarvest, the third provider chosen, does do excellent work, it does a different job to the one Foodbank provides, so cutting one to pay for the other was a pretty shortsighted decision, especially when we are talking about the small amounts of money (for a national budget) we are seeing here.
So good to see common sense won out.
Elsewhere, the Senate is still sitting, as it continues its solo week, but it will most likely be action outside the chamber that captures attention.
Summit season has officially began, which I think makes Michael McCormack our acting prime minister. Morrison has Singapore, then PNG, then Argentina, as well as two more parliament sessions, but the domestic issues keep ticking over as well.
We’ll keep you abreast of all of them. You’ve got Mike Bowers behind the lens and the Guardian brain’s trust on the job. I’ve got my second coffee. So we are all good.
Ready?
Let’s get into it.
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