That’s it for tonight, thanks for reading. To recap:
- There’s a legal battle brewing over Christine Holgate having to ‘stand aside’ while a review is carried out into the watches the Australia Post boss authorised for her executive team.
- The NRL has backflipped on a decision not to play the national anthem during this year’s State of Origin series after a backlash from fans and reported intervention from Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
- Labor MP Chris Hayes collapsed in parliament and was taken to hospital, but is expected to be released tomorrow.
- Three new Covid-19 cases were recorded in Victoria, with NSW recording four cases of community transmission.
Here’s some more on the Supreme Court decision in Victoria today regarding the destruction of trees that are sacred to the Djab Wurrung
Officials won’t disclose when universities were first included in coverage of the Morrison government’s draft foreign veto bill, which began with a focus on state and territory agreements with overseas governments.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials said yesterday that universities were included from an early stage of the drafting process, but committed to check and give more clarity. The Dfat secretary, Frances Adamson, in an update to the estimates committee tonight said: “Drafting is an iterative process ... there is no single date I can provide.”
Labor’s Penny Wong was not impressed: “That is an answer that is designed to obfuscate ... If it was in there from the beginning you’d give me the date.”
Kevin Rudd has taken the idea of a pandemic hobby rather far ...
We just broke the record for biggest e-petition in the history of our national parliament. They hoped the people wouldn’t be interested. You proved them wrong.
— Kevin Rudd (@MrKRudd) October 29, 2020
We have 5 days left. Let’s push hard towards the half-million mark. #MurdochRoyalCommission https://t.co/FjfK7ij7YQ pic.twitter.com/Z0ah6Nmmpq
Updated
The New South Wales environment minister, Matt Kean, says he is disappointed his federal counterpart, Sussan Ley, approved the expansion of a rock quarry in koala habitat in Port Stephens, despite the state government previously recommending environmental approval for the project.
The Brandy Hill quarry expansion will clear 52 hectares of koala habitat after it was approved this week by Ley, despite a high-profile grassroots campaign.
In Victoria, the supreme court has issued an interim injunction preventing any construction work taking place on the Western Highway, where a tree that is sacred to the local Djab Wurrung people was felled this week.
The interim injunction is granted until 4.00pm on 19 November, with a hearing regarding a longer-term interlocutory injunction to be held earlier that day.
The court action against the state government has been brought by Marjorie Thorpe, the mother of Victoria’s first Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe.
Here’s some more about the dispute from earlier this week.
Updated
Kathryn Campbell, the secretary of the Department of Social Services, has said she was aware that the administrative appeals tribunal had overturned debts while the robodebt scheme was operating.
However, Campbell, who was head of Human Services at the time, said the tribunal had also upheld debts raised using “income averaging”, and in some cases directed Centrelink to use this method to calculate debts. The government has now conceded the method is not a lawful way of raising welfare debts and is facing a class action.
In a fiery exchange with Labor’s Deb O’Neill, officials were asked about 76 decisions where Gordon Legal alleges the AAT had “set aside” debts raised using the method central to the robodebt scheme.
The agency never appealed these decisions to a higher tier of the tribunal, meaning they were never made public. Gordon Legal alleges it is evidence the government knew the scheme was unlawful, which the Commonwealth denies.
Campbell said:
“When I was the secretary of the Department of Human Services and we would get a decision back from the AAT ... they are generally determined on the individual facts.
“I knew that some had been returned and overruled. And I knew that some had been returned and upheld.
“I wasn’t aware that there was a pattern [of debts being overruled]. A pattern would indicate everything was the same.”
Campbell added that there were cases that the AAT said to use income averaging.
O’Neill said: “So you had some that were more favourable to your methodology and others that were pointing out it was illegal.”
Updated
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed it has abolished its standalone innovation initiative, known as “innovationXchange”.
Guardian Australia reported last weekend the initiative appeared to have been given the chop, since it had been recently dumped from Dfat’s organisational chart and rebranded on the website.
The innovationXchange – established in 2015 to devise new ideas to deliver an increasingly tight foreign aid budget – attracted attention that same year when it was revealed Dfat had spent more than $1,700 on three beanbags to set up a “collaborative workspace” and encourage creativity and innovation.
The secretary, Frances Adamson, said she had decided to abolish the dedicated innovationXchange after conversations with colleagues and the minister, Marise Payne. She argued the initiative had been set up with a particular remit and funding but that funding was “by and large exhausted”. She said the move was designed to “mainstream innovation” across the department more generally, and the staff had been transferred to other areas. The space is currently being used by the vaccine taskforce.
This left one obvious question for Penny Wong to pursue: “What happened to the $1500 beanbags?”
A senior official, Jamie Isbister, informed the committee: “The assets from the innovationxchange are now in a range of collaborative spaces in the department for both training and planning.”
An unidentified person was heard on the parliament audio feed remarking, impressed, that Isbister “said that with a straight face”.
Wong noted the beanbags used by Dfat were green but her daughter had one that was white.
Adamson: “I think I recall in earlier evidence they were cheaper than a three-person couch.”
Payne pushed back at suggestions from Penny Wong that the government appeared to be unwinding Julie Bishop’s legacy, given that the soft power review had also been dumped and the Aid performance framework had been rewritten.
Payne said it was good that innovation was being embedded across the department. She said it would be wrong to stand still and say nothing could ever change.
For more background on innovationXchange see our recent story:
Updated
The estates of 3,000 deceased people are among those owed refunds under the botched Centrelink robodebt program, Senate estimates has heard.
Services Australia officials confirmed on Thursday night that the agency had now repaid $697m of the $721m it promised to repay after backing down on the scheme, which is now the subject of a class action.
About 402,000 have now received a refund or had their debt reduced to zero.
However, officials said they had still been unable to contact about 38,000-40,000 people who were also owed refunds.
Officials confirmed there were 3,300 deceased estates that were owed refunds.
They said they were still in the process of arranging the refunds.
Updated
Joel Fitzgibbon, Labor’s agriculture and resources spokesman, has weighed in on ANZ’s new climate policies, which will see the bank move away from lending to coal-generating businesses and demand clear carbon transition plans from its biggest customers.
Fitzgibbon told ABC’s Patricia Karvelas he had sought assurances that ANZ’s policy would not adversely affect farmers, and called the new policies “obviously a bit of a pitch to shareholder activism”.
Fitzgibbon, MP for the coal-producing Hunter electorate and whose position on coal is often at odds with more progressive elements of his party, criticised the harshness of the Nationals response to ANZ’s statement, and said he had instead “given them [ANZ] the benefit of the doubt”.
“I absolutely appreciate that banks have to measure and bank risk, I just hope that’s what they’re talking about here, and not some form of virtue signalling.”
You can read more about the ANZ climate commitment here.
Updated
Well, the parliament is starting to wind down – there are a few spillover hearings for estimates tomorrow, but that is about it.
We will be back, of course, to take you through all the events of tomorrow, including the last full day of the Queensland election campaign.
Nino Bucci will take you through the evening today. Thanks to everyone who joined today, I’ll be back tomorrow. Please – take care of you.
Updated
NSW Health has added a venue onto its Covid alert:
NSW Health is alerting the public that a confirmed case of COVID-19, who was included in today’s numbers, has attended a gym in Sydney’s south-west.
Anyone who attended the following venue at these times is considered a close contact and must get tested immediately and isolate for a full 14 days from exposure regardless of the result:
F45 gym, 1640 Camden Valley Way, Leppington, on these dates and times:
- Thursday 15 October, 5.15pm-6pm
- Saturday 17 October, 8.10am-9.10am
- Sunday 18 October, 8.55am-9.40am
- Monday 19 October, 5.50am-6.35am
- Tuesday 20 October, 5.50am-6.35am
- Wednesday 21 October, 5.15pm-6pm
- Thursday 22 October, 6.45am-7.30am
- Friday 23 October, 9.35am-10.20am
- Saturday 24 October, 7.10am-8.10am
- Sunday 25 October, 8.55am-9.40am
- Monday 26 October, 5.50am-6.35am
- Tuesday 27 October, 6.45am-7.30am
- Wednesday 28 October, 5.50am-6.35am
Anyone who attended a class that was scheduled to begin five minutes before or five minutes after one of the classes listed above, or a class immediately before or after the sessions, is considered a casual contact.
Additionally, anyone who attended Ali Baba Charcoal Chicken, 2 Civic Rd, Auburn on Sunday 18 October from 4-5pm is considered a casual contact.
Casual contacts must monitor for symptoms and get tested immediately if they develop. After testing, they must remain in isolation until a negative test result is received.
Updated
The federal government has “no plans” to move to an Apple-Google developed version of a contact tracing system to replace the Australian government’s Covidsafe app.
So far, 7.1m people have downloaded and registered to use the Covidsafe contact tracing app the federal government released in late April, but since then it has had limited success. It has only identified 17 contacts in New South Wales that were not previously found through manual contact tracing.
Victoria has used the app more than 1,850 times but hasn’t found any additional contacts.
The Digital Transformation Agency, which developed the app, has spent close to $5.2m on the development and operation of the app in the past six months, Senate estimates heard on Thursday.
The agency’s head, Randall Brugeaud, said the app “is working” but said questions on how it is working is best directed to the state health departments.
The Australian tech community has pleaded with the government to consider switching the app to the Apple/Google exposure notification framework (ENF) which would make it easier for close contacts to be identified, but Brugeaud said the government had “no plans” to change apps.
“Importantly, unlike decentralised approache,s Covidsafe allows health officials to be the central point of contact tracing with visibility of hotspots and clusters,” he said.
“We’re not looking for a fix from Apple or Google. We are continuing with the centralised model ... In countries who have implemented the Apple and Google solution that they have no visibility from a public health perspective.”
He also said there were no plans to include QR codes for venue check-ins in the app because while it would be technically simple to implement, it would be in breach of the privacy legislation controlling the app because it would record location.
NSW health minister Brad Hazzard said on Wednesday the app “has obviously not worked as well as we had hoped”.
Updated
The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet is spending nearly $16,000 on services provided by the National Institute of Dramatic Art, according to a contract notice published today.
The record on AusTender shows the good folks at Nida are helping PM&C with “training and development services” at a cost of $15,884 between October and December.
Given that NIDA is well known for training actors and performing artists, we asked PM&C to clarify the situation, including whether it was acting or media-management related and why it was done through a “limited tender” process. Alas, the department was very keen to point out the training was being delivered by Nida’s corporate section, which runs corporate training programs.
A spokesperson for the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet provided us with the following statement:
NIDA Corporate, as opposed to the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), is a professional training provider that offers practical skills-based training in communication and presentation skills to PM&C staff. It is not acting or media management training in any capacity.
The training has helped around 84 participants from PM&C with practical skills for workplace communication and professional presentation. This is the only program in our learning and development schedule that focuses on these types of communication and presentation skills. NIDA Corporate has demonstrated experience in delivering high-quality training to organisations and businesses at a comparative market rate. It is used by a wide number of organisations from both the public and private sectors across Australia.
Updated
The retail news keeps on coming.
Via AAP:
Myer’s struggle through the pandemic has continued after chair Garry Hounsell retired from the role and blamed the company’s two largest shareholders for a lack of support.
Mr Hounsell, who has overseen the department store chain’s struggle to keep pace with online shopping, chose not to seek re-election as chair or director at the company’s annual general meeting on Thursday.
He said:
It has become apparent that Myer’s two largest shareholders are not supporting my re-election and I will not allow my ongoing tenure as chairman to be a distraction to the hard work of the executive team.
Those shareholders are Premier Investments, chaired by Solomon Lew, and Wilson Asset Management, chaired by Geoff Wilson.
Mr Lew has been critical of management and has said suppliers are hesitant to do business with Myer, while Mr Wilson has called for fewer directors and reduced pay.
Myer last month reported a full-year loss of $172.4m after sales fell more than 15% from store closures due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Updated
It has just been brought to my attention that in the federation chamber this morning, Andrew Wallace gave a very impassioned and serious speech on the violation of female passengers on board a Qatar airline flight who were subjected to a forced medical exam after an abandoned newborn was discovered in the airport.
Wallace wanted people listening to the speech to close their eyes and imagine they were on the plane.
Picture yourself, you are with your family, you are on an aircraft in the Middle East. You are not told the reason for the delay, but hours have gone by and your aircraft that is due to fly to Australia hasn’t left. No one is telling you why, but all of a sudden authorities come onto the aircraft and demand that your wife and your children, your female children, your daughters, leave the aircraft with them.
(Then he acknowledges the women who may be listening and says: “If you are a woman listening to this, you’re required to accompany them – no one explains why, nothing is said other than you are required to come with them.”)
He continues:
Women are subjected against their will ... to invasive searches of their genitalia. No explanation whatsoever is given to you as to why. If you are a woman [long pause] the invasion to your privacy is unspeakable. But imagine if you are a 14- or 15-year-old girl. No explanation given, you are taken to an ambulance, told to lay down, to take down your panties.
I mean this is in 2020, in Qatar, that these unspeakable actions have been taken against 13 Australian women and another five women as I understand it, from other countries.
This reprehensible behaviour – by someone we don’t know who yet, whether it was the Qatari authorities – but reprehensible behaviour, that happened on the 2nd of October, can not go unchallenged or unpunished. Australian women have been violated and we need to do more. We need to find out what happened and these women deserve apologies and so much more.
It is important and right that politicians are focused on this violation. I wish we lived in a world where we don’t have to relate a trauma inflicted upon women to women in a man’s life – you shouldn’t have to imagine it is your wife, daughter, mother, cousin, friend, boss, teacher, aunt, grandma, serene highness to have empathy and compassion for someone subjected to a terrible act. That really needs to change.
But please, for the love of Dolly, could we also ban the word “panties” coming out of the mouth of anyone over the aged of 10. It’s underwear. Women wear underwear. And if you have to ask why that is a cringe-inducing word, you have obviously never been in a situation where some gross comment is made about your underwear by someone who should know better, when you are much too young, or emotionally immature, to understand it.
-End rant-
Updated
Legal battle brewing over Christine Holgate 'stand aside' while review carried out
Australia Post boss Christine Holgate is fighting (through her legal team) standing aside while a review into bonuses (and other issues) is carried out (it’s all related to the Cartier watches).
Bryan Belling, of employment law firm Kingston Reid, said:
I act for Christine Holgate. Ms Holgate will fully support a fair investigation.
However, it is now exactly seven days since Ms Holgate was the subject of a humiliating answer during question time. In that time Ms Holgate has not had any proper notification that she has been stood down from her role, nor has she been informed as to why she should be stood down, nor has she had any communication regarding what the investigation into Australia Post from either the board or the government.
It is incumbent on the board to formally notify Ms Holgate that she has been stood down, and this notification must stipulate the grounds for this action. This is the case under general employment law, as well as the specifics of Australia Post’s own employment regulations. The board has failed to do so. Legally, in my opinion there are no grounds for Ms Holgate to be stood down, and “optics” is not a legally-valid defence.
I have taken the step of releasing this statement because within the past week I have written to the board and again, separately, to the chairman of Australia Post and have not received a response in terms.
I have been left with no choice but to publish this statement in the interests of my client.
And in response – from an Australia Post spokesperson:
Australia Post has been communicating frequently with Ms Holgate regarding the current situation and ensuring appropriate support has been provided.
The chair stands by his previously made statement on Thursday 22 October that Ms Holgate will stand aside and this was agreed to by both parties in a telephone conversation.
Updated
Mike Bowers was in the chamber for QT – here is some of what he saw:
All photos: Mike Bowers/The Guardian Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Updated
A postscript to the human rights concerns in the Philippines.
Dfat official Tom Connor has clarified that Australia was, in fact, involved in aspects of drafting the country’s new anti-terrorism law.
He said Australia had provided advice aimed at including human rights safeguards in the legislation.
Updated
Ha! If she thinks the hotels NZ and Australia are putting returned travellers in are bad, wait until she finds out how Australia treats refugees.
Or do they not count?
New Zealand sets up mandatory quarantine 'camps' for COVID patients.#IngrahamAngle || https://t.co/IyB7N1lfr1 pic.twitter.com/0KDsTyvcik
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) October 28, 2020
Tomorrow Daniel Andrews will hold his 120th consecutive press conference.
Most of them have gone for at least an hour - in the height of the second wave, they could approach two hours.
Which means, that in the last 120 days, Andrews has spent the equivalent of five full 24 hour days on his feet taking questions. At least.
Rounding out the extra hours, it’s probably close to a full week, in front of the media.
This is not a hero gram (politicians do not deserve cookies for doing their jobs) - just an interesting tidbit.
Over in estimates, Australian officials have used the appearance to sound the alarm over the human rights situation in the Philippines.
Under questioning about the issue, Tom Connor, the acting first assistant secretary of Dfat’s south-east Asia division, said:
“The government remains concerned about the state of human rights in the Philippines, including the ongoing war on drugs, the extrajudicial killings, the anti-drugs campaign. We are closely monitoring the situation. We continue to raise our concerns with the Philippine government on many occasions.”
Connor noted Australia had supported a resolution at the recent session of the UN human rights council, which called on the Philippine government to ensure accountability for human rights violations and abuses. He said Australia was also “very concerned” about the country’s new anti-terrorism legislation and was “paying very close attention to it”.
Human rights groups have argued the laws are too broadly worded and allow suspects to be detained without charges for up to 24 days.
The foreign minister, Marise Payne, said she had raised human rights previously with her counterpart but their conversations most recently have been about Covid.
Updated
Labor has asked the Speaker, Tony Smith, to look into whether Angus Taylor gave the wrong speech in reply to legislation being debated in the House.
The bill being debated was the Social Services and Other legislation amendment (coronavirus and other measures) bill, which is the one which will deliver the $250 payments for pensioners and carers.
The speech Taylor gave appeared to be in favour of the Social Services and Other Legislation Legislation amendment (omnibus bill) which deals with a bunch of non-Covid related measures.
Smith is reviewing the matter and will report back to the house.
Updated
Victoria Health has issued its official release:
Victoria has recorded three new cases of coronavirus since yesterday, with the total number of cases now at 20,344.
The overall total has increased by two due to one case being reclassified.
Of today’s three new cases, one is a child associated with Goodstart Early Learning in Plenty Road, Bundoora. The case is linked to the north metro outbreak and the child was in quarantine when they tested positive. The centre has been closed this week and contract tracing is under way.
One is a man who tested positive in August. An expert review panel is reviewing this case to determine whether this is a new infection or shedding of old non-infectious virus.
One is a man whose partner tested positive in August. Investigations are under way into whether this is a new infection or whether the man contracted coronavirus from his partner many weeks ago, and his positive test represents shedding of old non-infectious virus.
The new cases are in the local government areas of Boroondara, Casey and Darebin.
Updated
I can confirm that Scott Morrison spoke to Peter V’Landys.
Responding to the backdown on the anthem, Morrison said:
This is a welcome decision by the NRL. The NRL have done the right thing by listening to their fans and acting quickly to overturn their choice not to play the national anthem at the Origin Series.
We have all faced a year of struggle and heartbreak and it has never been more important to be coming together to celebrate Australia and to be able to sing together our national anthem at the game so many of us love.
Updated
Craig Kelly just had a pretty big tantrum in the chamber, claiming he had been misrepresented by Chris Bowen and Kristina Keneally in terms of his completely baseless assertions that hydroxychloroquine should be used as a treatment for Covid, despite it being unproven, and despite the expert medical health committee ruling it should not be used, as there are better treatments available and the Trump-endorsed treatment may actually cause more harm to people.
Kelly has no science or medical background. He worked for his family’s furniture business before coming into parliament. That is not a shade – my family is one of bar staff, cleaners and police. But it is to point out that he has no expertise in this matter, beyond what he has read, finding outlier reports to back up his claims, as an ongoing confirmation bias.
He tries to table more reports. Anthony Albanese puts a stop to it and leave is denied.
Updated
The SMH is reporting Australia Post boss Christine Holgate’s legal team don’t believe there are grounds for Holgate to be stood aside.
We are chasing the statement.
The Nationals senate team has released a joint statement against the ANZ move to have a carbon reduction plan as part of its lending requirements.
Banks are making it harder for family farmers to get finance with the ANZ Bank the latest to announce a climate change statement that goes further than other banks.
The Nationals Senate Team have been sounding the alarm bells about the impact of blanket climate lending policies since the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority announced its intention to develop a climate risk prudential practice guide in February.
Nationals Senate Leader, Bridget McKenzie said the APRA guide sent a signal to the banks who are now developing policies that make it harder for primary industries like agriculture and mining to get funding.
“This virtue signalling, while it may sound good in the board-room, is ultimately bad for Australia and will actually have a worse outcome, especially for our family farmers,” Senator McKenzie said.
“The crazy thing is, this week we had APRA tell our senators that agriculture has an important role to play in a lower carbon future, but that role will never be realised if the ag-sector can’t get finance.”
Queensland Senator Matthew Canavan said the policy will outsource the costs of virtue signalling from banks to farmers.
“Why should farmers be blackmailed into adopting the woke policies of a bank?” he said.
“Your politics should not determine whether you get access to an overdraft*. This policy discriminates against rural Australia and should be removed immediately” he said.
*And here is the nub, climate change is not politics.
If you saw a few photos of MPs wearing red ribbons, it is in honour of the Daniel Morcombe Foundation. Tomorrow is the Day for Daniel.
Updated
Question time has been extended for a few more minutes (at least longer than usual) so Scott Morrison can deliver another dixer of how the “comeback” in the Australian economy has begun.
He repeats his “families come around the Christmas table” we have heard a few times this week.
And then question time, thankfully, ends.
Updated
Most of the dixers have been about how well Australia has handled the Covid crisis, compared to the rest of the world.
You may remember Josh Frydenberg’s verbal explosion at that – when he said the comparison was not with the UK, or anywhere else – but with other states in Australia.
Today though: totally cool to compare us to the rest of the world.
Slightly weird. Earlier in the week, the govt rejected a comparison of infections in Victoria v the UK, but for much of this #qt it's been fine to showcase Australia's success with Covid-19 suppression v the rest of the world #auspol
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) October 29, 2020
Updated
I’ve just been told that Anne Aly has returned to Perth – so it can’t be her who yelled out “WHAT?!” in answer to Christian Porter’s “we don’t answer money questions before costs have been awarded in court cases”, so apologies.
But well done to the voice who managed to get that heckle out across the chamber to the microphone.
Updated
Last year, the new assistant minister responsible for homelessness, Luke Howarth, caused quite a stir when he suggested there needed to be a “positive spin” on the issue.
Among his initial priorities, Howarth told the ABC in July last year, was the fact that there were one million vacant homes around Australia, according to the census.
Pressed on the need for affordable housing, Howarth says “there are 10 million houses in Australia, apparently there are a million sitting vacant.” He then chuckled...? Wants to look at that as a “first priority.” #auspol
— Luke Henriques-Gomes (@lukehgomes) July 8, 2019
As it turns out, Department of Social Services officials were tasked with looking into these one million homes.
They found, according to SGS Economics, of those homes:
- 453,000 were residents who were “just away from their house” on census night
- 237,000 were holiday homes
- 110,000 were short or long term rental
- 55,000 were newly completed
- 52,000 were for sale
- 47,000 were under repair
- 16,000 were awaiting demolition
A further 69,000 were vacant, but could not be placed in the categories above.
First priority or not, it sounded very much like the department was not overly convinced by Howarth’s theory of the problem.
Updated
Asked about the debt, the projects and programs which have not started, and some of the controversies we have seen from estimates by Anthony Albanese, Scott Morrison turns it into a “why we spent the money”.
He is still cranky. Very cranky. Seemingly has been all week.
He ends with this:
If those opposite had been elected at the last election, then we would not be seeing that [recovery signs], Mr Speaker, this country would have been crippled by taxes and fiscal mismanagement before the crisis even hit.
There are many people around the country, I have no doubt, are very pleased that when the crisis hit, it was a Liberal National government that were there to support Australians.
Updated
Scott Morrison gets annoyed at another question about a government program announced but not fully carried out, and ends his answer with:
Those opposite will come in here and they will seek to slack off against jobkeeper and jobtrainer, slack off against the support for the aviation sector, all measures they came in here and pretended to support, what the Australian people know, is that in this year ‘s crisis ... The Australian government has stood by them while those opposite have sneered and jeered, made snarly interjections, seeking to undercut the work of the government to stand by Australians this year.
I would encourage the opposition to leave the snarls at home and get on with the job of supporting the recovery of Australians from the Covid-19 recession.
Updated
Siiiiggghhhh
Josh Burns to Paul Fletcher:
Why did the minister tell the ABC that money from the $250m arts package announced with Guy Sebastian was already flowing when senior department officials have confirmed “no cash has flowed”. Has the government told Guy Sebastian why it has completely failed to deliver on its announcement?
That is related to this story:
Fletcher:
The facts are we have committed $250m under our jobmaker program for the arts and entertainment sector and this builds on the over $300m, $336m which has been provided to jobkeeper to people who are working in what is called the creative and performing arts subsector of the cultural and creative sector. And in fact we’ve announced almost $800m in additional arts and entertainment funding on top of $750m in core funding. And let me explain to the member exactly how the temporary interruption fund – a $50m component of the $250m jobmaker plan – works.
What it does is provides support for screen productions, which in the absence of the fund were not able to proceed because insurers would not provide coverage against key person risk due to Covid-19.
That meant no screen finance being released, no TV and film productions able to proceed.
That is why we committed $50m under the temporary interruption fund and that money has been deployed and there are now committed to over 20 productions and eight of those already under way, people employed and at work in film and television production.
That adds to a substantial expenditure on the location incentive program – $400m – because we are seizing the opportunity that our nation has because of our response to Covid-19, that we are seen as a place that has good protocols in place and that is why we have had extensive interest from international productions to come to Australia and start commencing filming in Australia. And we saw NBC universal announced a commitment to programs like Young Rock … featuring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, an actor I’m familiar with having an 11-year-old son and he is very popular, popular production and most importantly. Most importantly, most importantly, it would generate 1,000 jobs plus 2,000 opportunities for extras in Queensland and more opportunities around Australia. I completely reject the proposition that the funding we have committed has not already been put to work. It has and Australians are in jobs as a result.
Updated
Josh Wilson to Scott Morrison:
Q: During the election the government announced a $100m recycling investment fund. The government recycled the announcement on world environment day in June 2019 and December 2019.
As of last week, not a single dollar has been advanced and would it be better to deliver on announcements rather than recycle old ones?
Scott Morrison:
Mr Speaker, we brought legislation into this place to stop once and for all the export of plastics waste, glass waste and paper waste and car tyres that, Mr Speaker, previously would have gone to other places, polluted waterways and other parts of this beautiful globe* Mr Speaker.
And what we’ve also done is that we’ve come to an agreement with states and territories through Coag firstly and the national cabinet to ensure we, together with states and territories, have the responsibility for recycling on the ground through the country.
That was made possible through government because we understand how important actual projects are to make them happen in the country and that is our commitment and that is what we are actually doing and allows the minister of environment to add further to the answer.
*We changed the rules, because the countries we were sending our waste to, stopped taking it, and in some cases, began sending it back.
Sussan Ley:
Thank you and I’m happy to add to the prime minister’s remarks and underscore our important national waste agenda, with particular remarks in response to the question of the member.
The $100m is an investment fund administered by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the mandate was signed on December 17, 2019.
There are transactions in the forward investment pipeline and we were advised to continue to assess and screen expressions of interest received since the fund was established and are being held as commercial-in-confidence and understandably there have been many inquiries.
The timing of any commercial transaction depends on a number of factors from both project proponents and the CEFC itself. As with all CEFC investments project seeking finance through the Australian finance investment fund must be commercial and reflect our requirements that we put into the mandate must deliver a positive return for taxpayers.
What I’m saying to the member for Fremantle is that we are taking the time to get it right to make sure the investments bring the returns that every taxpayer would expect and they are being made, understood, studied and we are on track to achieve them.
Most importantly and good to mention the $100m because recently we leveraged $1bn additional investment in recycling with the modernisation fund. So $200m leverages $6m with states and generates $1bn of investment, which is more than 10,000 jobs particularly in regional Australia over the next 10 years. Genuine microeconomic reform that would transform regional and economic industries and the waste and recycling sector.
Updated
This is from left field:
#BREAKING A judge has ruled that former Pinochet agent Adriana Rivas is extraditable to Chile, where she’s accused of being involved in the disappearance of seven people during the 1970s. https://t.co/mgHjqzDSHf
— SBS News (@SBSNews) October 29, 2020
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MPs turn down Qatari ambassador dinner invitation
Members of the Australian parliament’s security and intelligence committee say they have turned down an invitation to attend a formal dinner at the Qatari ambassador’s residence in protest at the invasive treatment of women at Doha airport.
Andrew Hastie and Anthony Byrne issued a joint statement saying an invitation had been given to the chair and committee members to attend a dinner on 9 November.
“Due to the mistreatment of Australian women at Doha airport, we decline this invitation.”
It’s understood their statement is on behalf of the whole committee.
Hastie, the chair, had met with the ambassador at Parliament House on Monday 19 October (prior to the incident being publicly reported).
The invitation followed that.
Michael McCormack finishes his latest non-answer with this, directed at Labor:
We are getting on with it, you just talk about it.
Can someone tell him Labor is the opposition, not in charge of government policy, and therefore, can’t “get on with it”.
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Terri Butler to Michael McCormack:
The government has announced and renounced the failed national water infrastructure loan facility in 50 press releases, spanning four years. In this year’s budget, the facility was abolished without having written a single loan. Why is the Morrison government always about the photo op and never about the follow-up?
McCormack. Sigh.
The budget, which is a plan for the future, a blueprint, a vision for what we laid out, for the future, for Covid-19 recovery included $2bn for water infrastructure.
So it’s a plan, for a plan, for a vision.
Anyways, he is for water.
And I swear to God, if I hear “we are getting on with the job” one more time out of that MP’s mouth, I may actually pull off my own ears.
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Luke Gosling has a question for Keith Pitt on the No Actual Infrastructure Fund.
You know, the one that was meant to reinvigorate northern Australia and turn it into an economic powerhouse?
It hasn’t.
But Pitt, who is the latest minister to pick up the reins of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund, does his best to defend it.
I can confirm to the member the Naif has made investment decisions of $2.4bn of the $5bn allocated, but it’s not just about the Naif, this is about delivering to people of the north and providing jobs, once again those opposite don’t understand business, as the member suggesting a project proponent should draw down alone at a time they don’t need it, pay extra costs at a time they don’t need it and interest rates.
He lists the projects which have been greenlit, including money for the North Queensland Cowboys.
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NRL backflips on Origin anthem decision after Scott Morrison reportedly intervenes
The NRL has backflipped on a decision not to play the national anthem during this year’s State of Origin series after a backlash from fans, with Peter V’landys saying the initial decision “was never about politics”.
The decision to scrap Advance Australia Fair ahead of next week’s 2020 series opener was made by an independent commission on Wednesday following consultation with the chairmen of the NSW and Queensland rugby leagues.
But by Thursday afternoon, the Australian Rugby League Commission had made a U-turn after the prime minister, Scott Morrison, reportedly got involved.
“Our decision not to play the anthem was never about politics,” said ARLC chairman V’landys.
“We have always been committed to the anthem as shown at the grand final last weekend.
“The original decision not to play the anthem at Origin was about the rivalry and tribalism associated with the Origin series.
“However, having listened to the public response and given the strong national unity in fighting the Covid pandemic together, the commission has decided it is important to ensure that unity continues.
“We have always been a commission that listens to our fans. We have heard the message and acted accordingly.”
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Josh Frydenberg gets a dixer – which cheers up the Labor backbench considerably, particularly those who sit around Ed Husic.
That’s because the treasurer has a fairly obvious formula to his dixer answers:
Thank the MP for the question, acknowledge their previous career, and then point out who they beat to take the seat. He then moves on to the government being the best government either, throws in a statistic, adds in a personal story – about going to a cafe, speaking to a friend, reading a news article – and usually includes a quote.
It has become so obvious, you could almost hold up signs – where did they work? Who did they beat? What did they do? How much? The reality is?
But props aren’t allowed, so instead, Husic and co call out the questions - and then the whole section cheers when Frydenberg inevitably answers it. Even Morrison has been known to crack a smile at the antics (depending on the day).
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Zali Steggall has asked why Australia hasn’t taken up the NZ offer to resettle refugees.
Peter Dutton runs through the history – and says he hasn’t ruled out accepting the offer, but it is a work in progress:
On my watch, nobody has drowned at sea and I have not sent a single person to Manus Island or Nauru. I got all the children out of detention and we have not ruled out an arrangement with New Zealand and I said that and being clear that we will work with New Zealand as we have on many, many issues.
We worked very closely with the United States. The President Trump arrangement resulted in 1,200 people potentially going from Manus Island and Nauru to the United States and that is now up to 850 to 900, which has been a remarkable outcome and will get people off as quickly as possible. But we do know that there are people who are still attempting to put syndicates together and they are very sophisticated messaging out through social media. Every word I say and the prime minister says and those opposite say. And they would take money from those innocent men, women and children tomorrow, not caring whether or not they would get to Australia.
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Madeleine King to Michael McCormack:
How much of taxpayers money did the Morrison government spend on its high court intervention in support of Clive Palmer’s challenge to Western Australia’s border measures?
Christian Porter:
The usual practice there is, as the member would realise from estimates, that no side of these houses has ever given over with respect to cost where it may prejudice an eventual cost.
Someone, I think Anne Aly, yells out “what!” but the questions move on.
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Michael McCormack also gets the next dixer, and thanks the member for Cowper for being a “real” member of parliament.
I am not sure who the imaginary members of parliament are, but there are doctors for that.
He goes on to say it was a well asked question, which is “about to be well answered”.
I will just point out that it is an offence to mislead parliament.
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Milton Dick gets his fourth question this week!
That’s big for the Queensland backbencher – he doesn’t usually get tapped for this many questions – but there is an election on in Queensland, so it’s the Milton Dick show this week.
It is to Michael McCormack:
I refer to the government’s $715m Australian airline financial relief package. Has any taxpayer money subsidised Clive Palmer’s electioneering in Queensland, including his visits to Townsville?
Christian Porter is saying it is “impossible” for the minister to know how Palmer spent his money.
Tony Smith says it is not for the speaker to say what a minister knows or not.
Tony Burke says it is about taxpayer funds.
Smith rules the question in order, and then Porter tries again, so Smith officially rules it as in order, and says McCormack can take it on notice, if he needs to.
McCormack does not take it on notice, because he is Michael McCormack and carries the reputation for being so dense, light bends around him.
McCormack:
This is a good program. It is helping operators right around the country, to have planes in the air. It means jobs on the ground.
We do not discriminate and how could I possibly know, Member for Oxley, what Clive Palmer spends his money on? And these are rebates, there are 1,360 operators, including those who are donors to the Australian Labor party, and I don’t ask them to refund the money, I don’t ask them to forgo any favours, nor do I ask any of the operators out of Ballarat airport to forgo the waivers or rebates. Many donors to the Labor party, one in particular, I won’t ask for a refund from them, and I don’t know what Mr Palmer, spends his money on.
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Question time begins
Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:
My question is addressed to the prime minister, in March he said the government had been working on PPE for months, last week the aged care royal commission said the shortage of PPE he was quite deplorable. Can the prime minister confirm from March and August this year his government provided 2,000 requests from aged care providers but rejected over half of them, leaving residents and frontline workers more vulnerable as a result?
Morrison sends the question to Greg Hunt:
I’m very happy to answer this on behalf of the government, the advice that I have, is that of course, the government, during the course of this year has required 500m masks, and what has been a global shortage, at a time of extreme global shortage and a spike in demand, we were able to maintain that and engage in domestic production, in particular, that has seen already, 78m masks dispatched from the National medical stockpile while according to the rules of the national medical stockpile.
With regard specifically to aged care, the national medical stockpile has provided aged care facilities with 18m masks, 5m gowns, 11m gloves, 1m goggles and face shields, 90,000 bottles of hand sanitiser, 150,000 clinical waste bags.
Between 18 February 2020 and 20 October 2020 the Department of Health received requests and responded to 1,769 requests for PPE, with dispatchers, and very significantly, all requests, all requests, from providers managing a Covid-19 outbreak were approved. In addition to that, all requests for assistance outside of outbreaks, aged care providers [that] could not find [stock] to meet an outbreak, were met.
100% of the complying requests were met.
According to the terms of the national medical stockpile, and there are no cases we are aware of where a complying request was not met and we did this on the basis of the medical advice, and we did this on the basis of the advice of the AHPCC, the medical expert panel which has guided Australia through this.
The provision of PPE has been one of the most significant and important achievements of this government. We have seen the outbreaks, we have seen the collapse across Italy and Spain, France, we have seen the shortages in New York and the United Kingdom, in relation to PPE. Against that background, these provisions have been consistent, they have been done on the basis of rules set by the medical experts, and we have met all of those requests which meet those requirements.
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Ahead of question time, Anthony Albanese makes a statement on Chris Hayes’ medical emergency.
He says he is a “much loved” member of the chamber and is in “good spirits”, but will remain in hospital overnight for some more tests.
Albanese:
Earlier today, the Member for Fowler and chief opposition whip, a much loved Member of this chamber, I think by all, had a sudden medical event in the Federation Chamber.
He recovered pretty quickly. I have spoken with Bernadette, who was with him in hospital, where he will stay overnight, for further testing.
Can I thank Doctor Freelander who happened to be in the chair. In the Federation Chamber at the time. Doctor Gillespie, who rushed up to the Federation Chamber to provide assistance and all those members on both sides, who acted with care and with compassion, can I thank the Prime Minister, for his call to me about Chris’s health.
He is in good spirits, and we all wish him a very speedy recovery and I say to the chief opposition whip, if you want leave he should just ask for it, there are easier ways to get it then what occurred this morning but I look forward to him being back in this chamber in good health.
Scott Morrison adds his words:
I thank the Leader of the Opposition for keeping us informed, I’m sure the House won’t mind indulging me and saying the health of Chris without using his member’s title here in this place, we may disagree on many things in this place but we all agree Chris Hayes is a very good bloke.
And many of us know Bernadette as well, she has been a welcome person here around this place for many years and is well known to many of our partners and spouses in this place is well and has played a … role in supporting and counselling, on so many other occasions, the spouses and partners of people in this place is well. Our prayers are with you Bernadette, Nicholas and Elizabeth and I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his update today, and I thank you Mr Speaker that the role you dealt with this very sensitively day and I’m sure that was appreciated by all.
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After the discussion about China, and the images portrayed in state media, the foreign minister, Marise Paye, said the government had observed the use of “disinformation or misinformation in the context of Covid 19 in particular”.
Payne said she wanted to “emphasise” that this disinformation was “not just from China, of course, [but] from a number of sources”.
“One thing we must be very clear about is that sunlight is the best antidote to disinformation, and we have applied that where we have needed to, in company with other countries.”
She pointed to Australia joining with many other countries to support a Latvian-led UN resolution against pandemic-related disinformation.
Labor’s Penny Wong summarised the earlier discussion: “As I understood the secretary’s point: is that we need to be aware of the ways some in the Chinese system seek to portray us goes to that issue of intolerance, racial intolerance, and that is utilised against us.”
Adamson: “That’s correct, Senator.”
Labor’s Tim Ayres said it had an implication for the way we were portrayed overseas. He stressed the need for leaders to promote social cohesion and be mindful of the impact of language. That’s when Abetz jumped in to ask his question about whether “all Chinese think alike”.
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Frances Adamson reaffirmed that examples of bipartisanship were important, because it could project a powerful message of unity. “To be very frank, what I think Beijing is looking for is division.”
She said she took note of what was said about Australia in Chinese state media every single day, and what it said was “not reflective of what I know to be the reality”. On the issue of social cohesion and diaspora communities, Adamson said:
“The reality is that no matter what their nationality, China sees people of Chinese origin as ultimately being Chinese, they have certain expectations of them, which aren’t necessarily shared at all or felt at all by Chinese Australians or people who live here. But we just need to be conscious about the way it’s portrayed in Beijing – given the overall challenge, the challenge of our age if you like, the way in which we project ourselves.”
Adamson said the Australian embassy in Beijing had a role to play in handling this challenge, but observed the space for embassies to project into China via social media or other means was “shrinking”.
“The only point I’d make is the reality is it’s damaging for us in China. The Chinese are increasingly resorting to project not only in their own country but potentially elsewhere images of Australia which do not, to my mind as a lifelong diplomat representing this country, represent who we are.”
Eric Abetz cut in to refer to the “CCP dictatorship”. Asked by Penny Wong to say what images Adamson was referring to, Adamson said “images that project us as being ideological”.
Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, another Liberal party hawk on China, said the CCP state media presented “appalling” representations of Australia as “the white trash of Asia and chewing gum on the shoes”.
Adamson said that wasn’t what she was going to say. The Dfat chief continued:
“They project an image of Australia that is intolerant, that is divided, that discriminates against various groups within our society. That’s not the way we want to be, that’s not the way we want to be portrayed. And that does create some challenges. There are no easy answers ... but it’s just something I think that over time we possibly need to consider.”
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The context for the latest Eric Abetz question (“do all Chinese think alike?”) was a renewed discussion in estimates about how Australia should conduct public debate to avoid playing into stereotypes that feature in Chinese propaganda.
There was a back-and-forth yesterday regarding Abetz’s recent demand at a Senate hearing for three Chinese-Australian witnesses to publicly and unconditionally condemn “the Chinese Communist party dictatorship”.
Abetz yesterday said ethnicity was not his motivation, and there were other Chinese-Australians at the hearing and he didn’t ask them for a pledge. Abetz said the Chinese diaspora faced interference by the Chinese Communist party and he thought it was “exceptionally patronising” to suggest Chinese Australians had a singular view.
The Dfat secretary, Frances Adamson, provided some further comments today, having reflected on the broader challenge of what Beijing might hear from the way we conduct public discussions in Australia.
It’s worth quoting at length the observations from Adamson, who is a former Australian ambassador to China:
It’s a very difficult issue because of the nature of our democracy and the freedoms that we value … It’s in our nature and it’s something that we celebrate that we are able to say whatever we like to each other, publicly, privately - we value it.
As I see - if I may be so bold as to say it - at times robust conversation even in this committee across party lines and then the cameras move on and I see you dealing with each other very respectfully, respectful of the fact that you’ve all been elected by the constituents of your state. The cameras, if you like, in Beijing are never here to see that part of it, or to understand really in any depth how we do all of this, and why it matters so much for us, and why it’s something we value.
Adamson said thanks to the images portrayed by state media, people in China would “form an opinion of us - Australia and Australians - that is very different I think from the way we would want ourselves to be portrayed”.
“And what we can do about that – it’s a very difficult question because I would never suggest as an official that we should censor ourselves, or that we should not say in public things that need to be said.”
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National anthem won't be played at State of Origin
The national anthem will not be played at one of the biggest sporting events of the year after the NRL opted to scrap Advance Australia Fair from the upcoming State of Origin series.
The decision was made by an independent commission following consultation with the chairmen of the NSW and Queensland rugby leagues on Wednesday night, ahead of next week’s 2020 series opener in Adelaide.
It will be the first time in 40 years the national anthem has not been played before an Origin game. It will, however, remain for the NRL grand final, international matches and the traditional Anzac Day clash.
NRL CEO Andrew Abdo told the Sydney Morning Herald the decision was made to make the game even more intense than usual by not having to break off for the anthem.
“State of Origin is about the tribalism of the two states, it’s Australia’s biggest sporting rivalry,” he said.
The move comes after Indigenous players Cody Walker, Josh Addo-Carr and Latrell Mitchell spoke out about their refusal to sing the anthem before last year’s series. Of the 34 players to take the field for Game One in June last year, 11 players appeared not to sing during the pre-match ceremony.
The issue prompted a national debate over the singing of the anthem and how Indigenous people feel about the song, particularly the lyrics declaring Australians are “young and free”.
As a result, the national anthem was not played before this year’s Indigenous All Stars match.
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The Nationals usual suspects are absolutely RAGING against ANZ following global trends, and the trend of the industry itself as well as the agricultural sector as a whole, by asking to see a carbon reduction plan as part of its lending requirements.
So can’t wait to see that play out in question time.
Can anyone remember the last time the Nationals stood up for farmers, rather than the mining sector?
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Labor MP Chris Hayes 'in good spirits', after collapse in parliament
I am hearing Labor MP Chris Hayes will be released from hospital following some tests* and is looking much better.
You may not have heard of him – he is one of the more quiet MPs – but as one of Labor’s whips, he deals with all the offices and everyone holds him in very high regard.
We are all very glad to hear he is OK.
*originally he was to be released today, but they have decided to keep him in overnight for more tests.
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It is the last question time of the sitting, the month and the 13th last one of the year in about 20 minutes or so.
Hold on to your loved ones.
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2020 has really brought the animal news.
Naaman Zhou reports on the latest Sydney animal escape:
A bull has escaped from an enclosure at a private all-boys school in Sydney and has been on the run for more than 24 hours.
The one-year-old steer – a castrated bull – was brought to St Ignatius College Riverview in Sydney’s Lane Cove as part of the school’s agricultural education program.
But the animal broke through a fence at the school on Tuesday night and escaped.
On Thursday, the school said the bull was still at large, and was concerned about it “roaming in a highly urbanised area”. It was last sighted in Lane Cove, a spokeswoman said.
More than a third of the National Disability Insurance Agency’s senior executives are employed through labour hire, Senate Estimates has heard.
Quizzed about freedom of information documents released by the agency this month, the agency’s chief, Martin Hoffman, confirmed 21 of the 56 senior executive service staff were contractors.
Hoffman said the figure had fallen in recent months, given there 34 contractors who were senior executives last year.
“I expect it will probably be less than 20 by Christmas,” he said.
The FOI documents show there are 236 agency staff above an “executive level 2” who are engaged through labour hire.
The agency has previously faced scrutiny for its use of labour hire contracts.
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Just in case you were wondering whether anyone forgot the “no one credible” critique of Georgie Dent’s comment on the budget not doing much for women, they haven’t.
Oh look! Another super credible woman @AusTaxProf setting out exactly how little the Federal Budget delivered for working women. #crediblewomen https://t.co/hOvuud7Tsx
— Georgie Dent (@georgiedent) October 29, 2020
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Just worth also reminding you of this, in the context of Eric Abetz’s latest round of estimates questioning.
Liberal senator Eric Abetz asks Dfat secretary 'do all Chinese think alike'
Eric Abetz has just asked the Dfat secretary, Frances Adamson:
“Do all Chinese think alike or do they have differing views? Are they like Australians where there are a diversity of views within the population, to your knowledge?”
It was in the context of discussion about how public debate should be conducted in Australia to avoid playing into the image Chinese state media presents of Australia.
Adamson responded to Abetz:
“There is a wide diversity of views across Chinese people from a wide range of countries from which they come.”
Abetz, the committee chair, said:
“Exactly.”
He then handed over to another senator to ask further questions.
More on the ASX from AAP:
Investors on the Australian share market have felt the fallout from US markets closing at lows previously recorded in July, as the Aussie indices plunged below 6000 points.
The S&P/ASX200 benchmark index was down 69.4 points, or 1.14 per cent, to 5988.3 at 1200 AEDT on Thursday.
The index fell as low as 5947.7 after about 90 minutes, and has recovered a little since.
The All Ordinaries was down 70.7 points, or 1.12 per cent, to 6191.1.
Information technology was hardest hit, down 2.15 per cent, while energy had a 2.09 per cent drop.
Materials, which includes the miners, lost 1.8 per cent while financials shed 0.93 per cent.
Wall Street’s big slide came as coronavirus cases soared globally and investors worried about the possibility of a contested US presidential election next week.
ANZ Bank reported a 42 per cent drop in full-year cash profit after loan losses increased, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The lender also declared a final dividend of 35 cents per share, down from last year’s payout of 80 cents per share.
ANZ’s move to declare a lower dividend was in line with a directive by regulators.
Shares were down 1.98 per cent to $18.78.
Westpac said it had settled two class actions in the US.
One was filed in 2016 over trading activity in the Australian bank bill swap reference rate market.
The bank had already set money aside for this.
The other, filed this year, was about disclosure notices connected to the bank’s financial crime obligations between 2015 and 2019.
This settlement was not material, the bank said.
Shares were lower by 1.58 per cent to $18.02.
The Commonwealth was up 0.05 per cent to $68.48 and NAB was down 0.9 per cent to $18.71.
Fortescue Metals has posted a five per cent rise in first-quarter iron ore shipments, with demand in China for the steelmaking ingredient remaining robust.
Shares were down 0.33 per cent to $16.42. BHP lost 1.84 per cent to $34.13, while Rio Tinto shed 1.44 per cent to $90.61.
Earlier in the US, rising infection rates and politicians’ failure to reach a deal on new fiscal stimulus before the November 3 election drove all three stock indexes to close more than 3.0 per cent lower.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 939.13 points, or 3.42 per cent, to 26,524.06, the S&P 500 lost 119.26 points, or 3.52 per cent, to 3,271.42 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 426.48 points, or 3.73 per cent, to 11,004.87.
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The retail company behind brands such as Rivers, Noni B and Katie’s has announced it will be shuttering 73 brick and mortar stores.
In a speech to the annual general meeting (conducted virtually) chair Richard Facioni said that “unrealistic rental requests” and a shift towards online had meant the change was inevitable.
Labor MP collapses in chamber
Labor MP Chris Hayes has collapsed while speaking in the Federation Chamber.
He was doing a speech a few minutes past midday where he seemed to say something about his heart (it is unclear what he said, but witnesses heard something about “heart”) and fell.
Dr Mike Freelander, was in the chamber and administered immediate first aid.
Hayes has been taken to hospital by an ambulance. We hope he is OK and will let you know as soon as we hear anything more.
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And then back in Victoria.
BREAKING: Melbourne's trains were not cleaned properly at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the cleaning contractor pocketing taxpayer's money for work that was not performed while secretly paying off a Metro Trains manager, an inquiry has heard. https://t.co/DQJR2knWtr
— Timna Jacks (@TimnaJacks) October 29, 2020
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Looking at the US for a moment, former foreign minister Bob Carr has something to say about its elections:
Former foreign minister Bob Carr suggests Australia should send officials from the AEC to help the US figure out how to run free & fair elections.
— Michael McGowan (@mmcgowan) October 29, 2020
"Comparable assistance by Australia was given at crucial times to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Timor-Leste." https://t.co/KnZHgAiRu4
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Mark Butler had the opportunity to respond to Angus Taylor’s attacks on him (which Taylor carried out during a ministerial statement).
In a speech to the parliament (which allows partisan attacks, as long as they aren’t in opposition to the standing orders) Butler called Taylor an “incompetent ideologue, weighed down by a seemingly endless litany of scandals, in this portfolio at a time of the biggest transformation in the global energy sector in living memory”.
...But, to be fair to this minister, he never claimed to have any ambition to achieve anything positive in this sector. This minister was elected on a platform of stopping stuff, and he spent all his time as a backbencher advocating the stopping of stuff.
This minister only believes in one thing in the energy portfolio, and that is to stop the expansion of renewable energy. This minister, before he was elected and as a backbencher, was, as we all know, the poster child of Alan Jones’s anti-windfarm rallies, and later on, along with Tony Abbott, the member for Hughes, the member for New England and a whole bunch of other fellow members of that clique within the coalition party room, he ambushed the then prime minister, the then treasurer – now prime minister – and the then energy minister – now treasurer – and killed off the National Energy Guarantee.
This was a policy that had been sought by this government, recommended to this government and supported by every single state government in the country, Labor and Liberal alike.
It was supported by every business group and described by the now prime minister as the policy which had the greatest level of consensus he had ever seen in his time in the parliament. It was a policy which the now prime minister and the now treasurer said would save households $550, but because it countenanced the expansion of some renewable energy it was ambushed and killed off by this minister when he was a junior.
But, like the dog that finally caught the car, this minister has had no idea what to do next. His first obligation, of course, was to report back to his mentor, Alan Jones. He did that within a couple of days of being appointed minister for energy, and he reiterated to Alan his absolute commitment to stopping more solar and wind.
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NSW Health has put out its official release:
There were 14,230 tests reported to 8pm last night, compared with 14,382 in the previous 24 hours.
Of the new cases to 8pm last night:
- One was acquired overseas and is now in hotel quarantine.
- One was locally acquired with their source still under investigation.
- Three were locally acquired and linked to the above known case whose source is still under investigation.
The first locally acquired case is from south-western Sydney, and the source of their infection is still under investigation. The other three contacts are household or close contacts of this case. One of these cases was first reported in a public health alert yesterday.
Two of these new cases were students who attend the Hoxton Park campus of the Malek Fahd Islamic School. The school will be cleaned and will be non-operational for 14 days. Contact tracing and investigations are underway.
NSW Health is treating 75 Covid-19 cases, with one patient in intensive care, who is being ventilated. Ninety-one per cent of cases being treated by NSW Health are in non-acute, out-of-hospital care.
Covid-19 virus fragments were identified in sewage at treatment plants in West Camden yesterday, prompting renewed calls for residents in this area to get tested. The virus fragments were detected through the state’s ongoing sewage surveillance program.
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Dfat estimates has spent a little time on correspondence tendered as evidence to the NSW Icac, which is investigating the conduct of the former state Liberal MP for Wagga Wagga, Daryl Maguire.
It includes an email in 2016 from a Dfat official to Maguire’s state electorate office, seeking to check whether he had sent an email to the PNG consul general, the Samoan consul general and the previous Solomon Islands consul general.
Evidence tendered to Icac (PDF link) indicates Maguire used his NSW parliamentary email address to send an email to those recipients that included the line: “I’m sure you agree this is the biggest opportunity to develop and build your countries and provide humanitarian assistance.”
Dfat had not been aware of this at first, but received an enquiry from the Samoan High Commission to verify the provenance of the email.
Other evidence tendered to Icac indicates Maguire visited Shenzhen in China to discuss “the formation of the Shenzhen Asia Pacific Commercial Development Association” with Pacific countries. Evidence tendered to Icac also indicates Maguire had sought to meet someone from Dfat while he was in China.
The Dfat secretary, Frances Adamson, told the estimates committee this matter had not been brought to her attention before, but indicated she would look into it.
When asked by Labor’s Tim Ayres whether it’s fair to say “that there’s been some engagement … between the department and Mr Maguire over some period of time in relation to his international travel while he was a member of parliament”, Adamson replied:
“I would characterise that, with respect, as drawing a rather long bow.”
The foreign minister, Marise Payne, was asked whether she personally knew Maguire. She said Maguire was a member of the parliament for a state seat of the same political party, “so that is the manner in which I came to know Mr Maguire”. They “would have socialised in the context of the normal associations one has with state colleagues”, but Payne added:
“I’ve never stayed in his home, he’s never stayed in mine.”
Asked whether she ever had discussions with Maguire about property interests around the western Sydney airport, she said had not.
Updated
Just rounding off Paul’s post.
House of Representatives has passed Electoral Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2020 without amendment #auspol
— Political Alert (@political_alert) October 29, 2020
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Some Dfat estimates faces from Mike Bowers.
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The foreign minister, Marise Payne, has resisted spelling out whether Australia is considering committing to net zero emissions by 2050, and has also declined to mirror Boris Johnson’s language that acting on climate change is consistent with driving economic growth.Payne simply said the government would set out its long-term strategy before the next climate conference, due to be held in Glasgow late next year.
The government will make its long-term strategy public “when the government is ready to do so”.In estimates earlier today, Payne declined to welcome 2050 net-zero commitments by Japan and South Korea, simply saying she acknowledged those announcements.
Labor’s Penny Wong has returned to this topic, prompting Payne to say: “I’m very happy to acknowledge the decisions made by the governments of Japan and Korea but they’re decisions for them.”
Asked whether her position was the Australian government hasn’t decided yet whether to outline long-term targets, Payne said: “That’ll be determined by government in due course ... The government will set out its plans at an appropriate time in advance of Cop26.”
During estimates today, officials again confirmed that no other country (apart from Australia) had yet indicated its intention to use Kyoto carry over credits in order to meet its pledges under the Paris agreement.
Officials were also aware of the European Union’s talk about carbon border adjustment mechanism – but were still seeking clarity on “what it means and how it complies with WTO principles”.
Wong argued Australia was becoming increasingly isolated on climate, and she wanted to know whether Payne agreed with Johnson that acting on climate change was consistent with creating jobs?
She expressed it in the negative, saying Johnson and the Australian government agreed “that achieving emission reductions must not be at the expense of jobs anywhere, whether it’s here or in the UK, and that’s why we’re taking the approach we take”.
Pressed by Wong again whether she agreed with Johnson that acting on climate change was consistent with protecting and creating jobs, Payne said:
I’m not sure if I would put it that way. I would put it in fact how I answered you before, which is we believe our commitment here through the Paris agreement … the work we’ve done on future technologies, our technology investment roadmap, are about reducing emissions, protecting Australian jobs and the Australian economy.
Updated
There are lots of bells ringing in parliament because the Coalition’s political donations bill is in the lower house and the crossbench is attempting to disrupt its passage.
The electoral legislation (miscellaneous measures) bill provides immunity from state law where donations are made for federal purposes.
Despite crossbench complaints it will provide a backdoor to prohibited donations, Labor helped the government pass it in the Senate because it agrees with the principle that federal law should govern federal elections.
Today in the house, Labor unsuccessfully attempted a second reading amendment to the bill calling to lower the donation disclosure threshold to $1,000.
The crossbench MPs are trying to frustrate the bill by repeated quorum calls, requiring bells to be rung and MPs to return to the chamber.
House shenanigans on political donations pic.twitter.com/2aEEfWk65g
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) October 29, 2020
Given Labor’s support, it will pass today and come into force after the Queensland election.
Just on the QR codes – the ACT has had a QR code system in place for about a month – but I have been to several venues where they are still using pen and paper.
It doesn’t seem to be universal, at least not here.
Updated
What about QR codes? Is every state adopting its own?
Daniel Andrews:
I think it is important that we get this right and there are a number of different issues here.
There is privacy, the security of the data did and also making sure that we have perfect compatibility between the front door to the system, that QR code system, and the database that we have held, the new product we have built.
That is the product that has been the subject of much hard work and some favourable commentary from Professor Finkel in recent days.
If you look at other states, they did not necessarily go to a universal QR code platform on day one of opening and it will become more and more important as numbers get and we will have more to say about this including all those issues around privacy and making sure that that data is for the per that make purposes of public health and nothing else. People have every right to be... not concerned but to be mindful of those things and to make sure that we get them right.
Over in Queensland.
The Electoral Commission of Queensland has advised that polling booths will open only in St George, Thallon, and Bollon on Election Day, Saturday 31st October.
— Balonne Shire Council (@BalonneSc) October 29, 2020
Due to staff shortages, the ECQ says it cannot open polling places at Dirrranbandi and Mungindi on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/3kmIZ4cVi8
Updated
Q: [Gladys Berejiklian] has had a swipe at Victoria saying it is easy to have zero cases when there is such a big lockdown.
Daniel Andrews:
With the greatest of respect to Gladys, there is nothing easy about lockdown and what Victorians have been through. I’m not interested in having a debate with them or anybody else on this to be frank.
I’m grateful from the support of New South Wales, whether it is during bushfires or pandemics, we are always at our best when we work together.
Q: You mentioned you would be having a chat to the NSW premier on Wednesday, did you speak to our?
Andrews:
No because she said she wanted to wait and I’ve had a bit on. We’ve been asked a lot of time about border arrangements and I have been pretty consistent that the best thing we can do to get borders open is to get numbers low and keep them low.
Every Victorian has a part to play on that. Given that she has made, the perfectly logical point that she wants to see how things unfold, I haven’t made calling her a priority in the last couple of days but we will probably speak in the next few days about how things are panning out.
If they don’t believe they have line of sight of something they want or need. But I would have thought Alan Finkel, who is one of the most preeminent scientific leaders in our country and the chief scientist no less, who has literally been to every state and territory and has got a very detailed understanding of what is going on in every state and territory from a testing and contact tracing point of view, he has made some favourable comments.
Those improvements in apposition are hard won and he has made those favourable comments and I’m pleased about them because he’s the ones who knows and understands about everything going on else.
Updated
Has Daniel Andrews heard anything more about what NSW wants to see before it reopens the border?
Andrews:
I have seen some commentary from them. I haven’t had a conversation with Gladys.
They made it abundantly clear, both Gladys and her government, that they want to see how things unfold in the next little while.
I don’t think that is an unreasonable thing. I wasn’t surprised to hear that. I will probably have a conversation with her over the next few days to see how we think things are going.
The other thing is, the chief scientist Alan Finkel has been moving around the country.
He has visited every single state and territory has a really close and detailed knowledge of the contact tracing and testing regimes in every state.
He has made some positive, positive comments about our testing framework and I’m pleased about that.
That should be a reassurance in a comfort to everybody and we will work through these issues.
I get along very well with Gladys and we have got a very important partnership and we will get the border open when it is safe to do so.
I can’t give people a day today, and I know it is very frustrating, particularly for auto communities. I know that’s dynamic pretty well having grown up not far from the border myself.
Updated
Has Victoria Health handed over everything requested of them?
Daniel Andrews:
I’m not certain, you would need to speak to the board about that. I don’t want to be a commentator or a spokesman from them. I know there was some supplementary material requested. I’m of the deadline for the production of that material has passed.
They could delivered early but but I don’t think they are beyond time. But I think it’s fair, I can’t be a spokesperson for the board.
They might be able to speak to you about what they have asked of whom and what the timeline is but I don’t think they are behind time. But it may not be until next week that they have to produce things.
What are some of the documents the commission says it is still waiting on?
Daniel Andrews:
I can only speak to the request made of me. There was an affidavit for completeness sake, questions put to me where if we complied with the timeline, which was last Thursday or Friday, but we certainly delivered all of my material back when it was there.
If they need further information from me, I don’t for a moment think they do, but if they do then we would comply.
I can’t speak for whoever else has been asked and whether they have been asked what they have been.
The Board of inquiry might be able to do that for you but certainly from my part, we have complied and handed out all the different answers they needed to be questions they posed.
Daniel Andrews says he doesn’t see the delay in the commission of inquiry’s report into the hotel quarantine program impacting the plan to open Victoria back up to visitors by Christmas – and that includes more flight:
I think there will already be discussions happening already or over the course of next week with Melbourne Airport and others to make sure we are ready to stand up with the new model.
This is subject to whatever the board gives us and we need to know what the recommendations are, they might be options and all sorts of things they go to.
But what they have announced and what they have requested and I’ve agreed to and they said this morning, shouldn’t impact us having those flights back to Melbourne as soon as we possibly can.
Updated
We move on to questions in the Daniel Andrews press conference:
Q: On returned travellers, a couple of weeks ago, national cabinet decided to expand the numbers of returned travellers it would be expecting. Given the changing circumstances from around the globe, will you be revealing that or accepting even fewer travellers?
Andrews:
I think it is one of those things that is demand driven. We made estimates as a nation, all of us made estimates of the best of advice earlier in the year, and I think it is fair to say that we ended up receiving more people coming home than we had thought.
It’s a bit difficult to be absolutely certain of how many people want to come home but I think logic tells you as conditions deteriorate in literally every other country in the world, barring a handful, they met with more and more Australians who want to come home and be with their family.
That does present some significant challenges and I am more than happy to look into that issue around New South Wales but I certain they have made some comments in recent days about the [number] of Covid positive passengers.
It would be fair to assume we would potentially have more of them and they will be wanting to come home to be with their family, and also wanting to come home to be a part of the best, not just the public health response but the best personal health response from an acute care point of view as well.
Updated
Labor has been asking the national skills commissioner, Adam Boyton, about whether he was consulted before Coalition measures in the higher education sector including 12,000 extra university places in the 2020 budget, expansion of short courses, and the jobs ready graduate package.
The answers are: no, no and no.
Boyton and skills minister, Michaelia Cash, explain that the reason is his work is more focused on vocational education and training.
Labor’s Deborah O’Neill is enraged by this answer. She notes that students hoping to study courses like humanities and law will pay up to 113% more due to the jobs ready graduate package – but Boyton’s didn’t provide advice about whether graduates weren’t needed in these disciplines.
Michele Bruniges, the employment department secretary, mops up by noting that university and vocational education overlap, so Boyton’s advice to the department about likely skills shortages and surpluses was considered before the package.
Updated
Australia does not plan to suspend its existing free trade agreement with Hong Kong, Dfat officials have told an estimates hearing.
Australia did, however, move to suspend the extradition treaty with Hong Kong after the imposition of the new national security law there, which Scott Morrison argued represented a fundamental change in circumstances.
Independent senator Rex Patrick suggested there was a “paradox or in some sense duplicity” in the different approach to the two agreements.
Dfat official Elly Lawson said Australia did not plan to suspend the free trade agreement, because it provided certainty and transparency to business “including in an even more uncertain environment”.
She said they were two very different agreements with different provisions.
The free trade agreement, said Lawson, “continues to support the interests of our Australian business operating in Hong Kong; of course we have 100,000 expatriates there, we want to continue to support their interests and we believe the FTA does support their interests”.
On the commission of inquiry asking (and being granted) an extension to hand down its final report, Daniel Andrews says:
It’s an independent board of inquiry entrusted with a very important task and there was no sense in my mind that we wouldn’t agree to the request they made.
This is entirely a matter for them. They needed more time and we have given them more time and I’m confident they will use that time well to provide us with a report that sit squarely against the terms of reference we have given them.
There is a new mystery case in Melbourne’s numbers – Daniel Andrews says that will be explained in the chief health officer’s release later today, as they are still looking at it.
Updated
Daniel Andrews press conference
It is 119 consecutive press conferences today.
And we start with the numbers – there were just over 24,000 Covid tests yesterday. Victoria – you are doing us all proud.
Andrews:
Today’s cases, one is linked to the northern Metro outbreak. They are a close contact and were already in quarantine.
The two other cases are under investigation and work is under way to determine if they are new cases or examples of persistent shadings of the virus from historic infections.
As was the case with an earlier case one was a previous positive and was likely this close contact.
Whether they were generally new cases or whether it is about shedding the virus over a prolonged period.
They will be determined by an expert review panel that is meeting to examine those issues today.
We will provide you with an update as soon as they have come to a clinical conclusion on that matter.
Updated
To be clear, there are plenty of opportunities for partisan attacks in the parliament – question time, 90-second statements, speeches in the federal chamber – the list goes on.
What Tony Smith was referring to, was the use of a ‘ministerial statement’ for that purpose, not the partisan attack itself.
Updated
Speaker rebukes Angus Taylor
This is a very interesting story from AAP (who are always watching the chamber, and for that, I and hundreds of other journalists thank them)
Angus Taylor has earned the Speaker’s wrath – his Liberal colleague Tony Smith – for misusing a ministerial statement.
Via AAP:
Energy minister Angus Taylor has been taken to task for straying into partisan politics during a ministerial statement in parliament.
Taylor on Thursday delivered a statement in the lower house on “Australia’s energy future”.
It is standard practice when special leave is given for ministers to make such statements for them to specifically relate to government policy and not be used for political attacks.
However, Taylor used the speech to attack Labor over its climate and energy policies and singled out the opposition climate and energy spokesman Mark Butler and opposition leader Anthony Albanese for criticism.
When he completed his speech, manager of opposition business Tony Burke asked Speaker Tony Smith to explain the “expectations for ministerial statements”.
Smith said he was “loathe to interrupt the minister” during the speech but needed to point out “how and why ministerial statements occur”.
“There is no flexibility, tolerance or capacity to talk about anything other than that,” he told parliament.
“You can’t talk about the opposition or anything else. It is a ministerial statement – it is not a political statement.
“It is outlined very clearly in practice, very concisely.”
Taylor was particularly scathing of Labor’s approach to coal.
“Coal – derided by many of those opposite - has provided generations of Australian workers with a good income and a comfortable home,” he said.
“To this day, it is the lifeblood of towns throughout rural and regional Australia. It has powered our industries, lifting millions of men, women and children out of absolute poverty.”
Butler told parliament the statement confirmed “how utterly bare this government is on energy policy”.
Updated
For once, it is not the Queensland border under the spotlight.
Human Rights Watch has looked at the impact of the WA hard border closure – and interviewed 17 Australians who have had their request to enter the state denied by police – and determined there is no reason to deny people who agree to quarantine, entry.
Strict restrictions imposed by the Western Australian government since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic on people entering the state are causing undue hardship for families, Human Rights Watch said today.
The government should make more exceptions for compassionate cases, prioritise family reunions, provide greater transparency about the approval process, and provide clearer explanations to people who have been refused permission to return to their home state.
“Governments can restrict people’s movement for compelling public health purposes, but any restrictions on these rights should be strictly necessary and proportionate,” said Sophie McNeill, Australia researcher for Human Rights Watch.
“The process in Western Australia is opaque, confusing, and arbitrary. Western Australians who want to return home for compassionate family reasons and who are willing to abide by quarantine restrictions should not be blocked from doing so.”
Updated
The plight of stranded Australians has been a focus of much of the Dfat hearings.
Officials say Dfat has received 1,943 applications for financial assistance, of which 1,070 have been approved.
The breakdown is:
- 177 applications for subsistence, to support the cost of staying in the country while awaiting a return flight.
- 162 were just for the costs of repatriation.
- 731 for both subsidence and repatriation.
(A number of applications have been withdrawn or rejected, while about 600 are still pending a decision.)
Dfat official Fiona Webster says just 24 applicants were rejected – “that’s very few”.
Total financial assistance committed on subsistence loans: $1,072,500.
Total financial assistance committed on repatriation loans: $681,945.
Officials have promised to take a question on notice about how many of the loans have been repaid to date, but don’t think it’d be many. That’s because people have six months either to repay loan in full or to agree a plan for repayment.
Updated
It is 11.30am for Daniel Andrews today.
Updated
The foreign affairs committee has turned its focus to New Zealand, and progress on the two-way travel bubble.
There’s no set timeframe for two-way travel to be in place, Dfat officials say. Officials have been working on arrangements with NZ for two-way travel since June, planning how to manage issues such as health, border, transit arrangements. Those arrangements are not yet finalised. But the recent opening of one-way travel from New Zealand to Australia has helped officials to test that planning.
Jenny Da Rin, deputy head of the Covid coordination unit, says as at 27 October there had been 20 flights over 11 days carrying 1,895 passengers on “green flights”.
“They’re flights where people are able to enter quarantine-free. We’re calling them green and red.”
Another 10 such flights are planned between 28 October and 10 November.
The foreign minister, Marise Payne, adds that those 1,895 passengers not having to take up a quarantine place helps with the other matter of issues with returning Australians.
The South Australian senator Rex Patrick wants to know whether they’re expecting flights between Adelaide and Auckland. Da Rin notes the first two jurisdictions to agree to accept people from NZ were NSW and NT, but only NSW has actually been receiving international flights from Auckland to date. Subsequent to that, she says, the ACT has expressed interest, as has South Australia.
The committee chair, Tasmanian senator Eric Abetz, intervenes to suggest, parochially: “Can you forget South Australia and push Tasmania up the list?”
The official responds with a diplomatic formulation: “That’s a matter for Tasmania.”
Updated
NSW records four new mystery transmissions of Covid
NSW Health has released its figures for the day – there have been four new locally acquired cases of Covid diagnosed in the last 24 hours.
How the first person got it is still under investigation, but three people, linked as close contacts of the first person, have also been diagnosed.
Of the new cases to 8pm last night:
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) October 29, 2020
•One was acquired overseas and is now in hotel quarantine.
•One was locally acquired with their source still under investigation.
•Three were locally acquired and linked to the above known case whose source is still under investigation.
Updated
English language migrant program legislation introduced into parliament
Alan Tudge has introduced the legislation which will expand the English language program - as the government works on expanding the requirements for Australian migrants*
Just a reminder, once again, that Australia does not have an official language.
We are overhauling the Adult Migrant English Program so more migrants can learn English and have the best possible chance to succeed in Australia. More details 👉 https://t.co/ar8bsOHIZu
— Alan Tudge (@AlanTudgeMP) October 28, 2020
*I originally linked this to the new partner visa English requirements the government has stated it will be bringing in. This isn’t that. That is coming next year, and will most likely be done as regulation changes (which means no legislation will be necessary)
Updated
Banks are not 'moral compass' argues Nationals deputy
Further to our earlier post on this, the response to David Littleproud’s latest corporate boycott call has been...interesting.
ANZ has announced it wants to see carbon reduction targets as one of its conditions for lending. It has said that it won’t bring further financial pressure on farmers – it just wants to know there is a plan. Most farmers are working on that anyway – the National Farmers’ Federation has called for a net zero target by 2050 and the red meat industry is working on becoming carbon neutral by 2030. So in terms of the industry and the sector, more widely, it is not actually a huge deal – they are already headed that way, themselves, despite stalled government policy.
So Littleproud’s intervention here doesn’t make a lot of sense.
MEDIA RELEASE: Banks are not our moral compass #auspol #ausag @ANZ_AU @CommBank @Westpac @NAB pic.twitter.com/TMW9ep2Ysn
— David Littleproud (@D_LittleproudMP) October 28, 2020
Updated
Net zero by 2050 'acknowledged' by Australia
Labor’s Penny Wong has asked foreign minister Marise Payne whether the Australian government welcomes the fact Japan, South Korea, Canada, the UK and EU have committed to net zero emissions by 2050.
Payne replied:
The prime minister made some comments on these matters yesterday. In those, he referred to his conversation with prime minister [Boris] Johnson. He made it very clear, Australia will make our own policies, our policies will be set here.
It’s not a question of whether we welcome the decisions. It’s a question of what Australia’s priorities are.
Wong then asked a series of follow ups: do we welcome the commitments to net zero?
Payne:
Those announcements are made by other countries, we acknowledge [them]. We’re focused on meeting our Paris commitments.
What does acknowledge mean? Does it mean welcome?
Payne:
It means acknowledge, it’s not for us to welcome or not welcome [the commitments]. It’s a matter for those countries.
Payne then slipped up by saying Australia “indeed” welcomes the fact major partners are committed to the Paris climate agreement. Wong summarised that Australia “welcomes some targets but not others” which is “illogical”. So there you have it: Paris commitments, welcomed; net zero by 2050, acknowledged.
Updated
The Greens senator Jordon Steele-John has lashed the NDIS watchdog for pledging to hire only five or six new dedicated investigators with the $93m it received in the budget, including none in South Australia.
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission has been under fire in recent months, particularly over the case of Adelaide NDIS participant Ann Marie Smith, who police say was found dead in horrific circumstances. Her carer has been charged with manslaughter.
The commissioner, Graeme Head, told Senate estimates the commission would also hire about 27 complaints officers and 40 staff who would be dedicated to “reportable incidents”.
“You’ve just told me that not one of the additional investigator positions will be based in South Australia,” Steele-John said.
“That seems to be a cataclysmic oversight in the context one of the largest trust based issues you’ve got on your plate at the moment ... which is your failure in relation to the Ann Marie Smith case.”
The commission registrar, Samantha Taylor, said the commission had already “uplifted” its investigation team in South Australia.
Estimates heard earlier that the commission has 211 investigations on its books, with a median investigation period of 126 days. It currently has 21 dedicated investigators nationally.
The commission is currently facing scrutiny amid a dedicated Senate inquiry. It has issued just one fine in the two years to June 2018.
Updated
We haven’t heard when Daniel Andrews will hold his press conference today, yet, but it will be coming soon.
If you need to wile away some time from the real world, this from the NY Times is insanely addictive – can you guess a Trump supporter or Biden supporter from their fridges?
It’s a lot harder than it seems.
Updated
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials have told Senate estimates they did not facilitate Tony Abbott’s travel to or return from the UK, although Abbott did have morning tea with the high commissioner in London and embassy staff while there.
They’ve taken on notice a string of questions about whether negotiations for an Australia UK free trade agreement was discussed.
When Labor probed Abbott’s appointment to the UK board of trade, Dfat secretary Frances Adamson said the job is to promote UK exports but has “no direct role” in negotiating trade deals.
Foreign minister, Marise Payne, bristled at suggestions Abbott is not acting in Australia’s best interests – challenging Labor’s Tim Ayres.
Are you making an assertion that he is providing advice that is contrary to Australia’s interests?
She said:
The [question of the] role he’s taken up is one for him. I’m confident he’ll act in the best interests of Australia in everything he does, as he always does ...
The board doesn’t have a role in free trade agreement negotiations. It’s not the case.
The minister and Dfat officials refused to field questions about whether Abbott can continue to claim a pension and his entitlement to support staff – noting those matters are overseen by the finance department.
Updated
Labor’s Penny Wong has asked for a formal special advisor to the ambassador to the US, Joe Hockey, to correct his job description.
After Hockey and his special advisor Alex Tureman concluded their roles in January, they founded an advisory called Bondi Partners.
On its website Tureman describes himself as Hockey’s “thought partner on all ambassadorial initiatives”.
Labor is probing Joe Hockey hiring Alex Tureman as a senior advisor, asking what a "thought partner" is.#auspol #estimates pic.twitter.com/5el6IWoSmC
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) October 28, 2020
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary, Frances Adamson, conceded she did not know what a ‘thought partner’ is.
It is an “unfamiliar term” to Dfat, another official replied.
Tureman was a locally engaged staff member in a political liaison role.
Wong said if people serve Australia they should not “inaccurately” leverage a description of that role for profit.
“They can rely on their past performance, but if it’s not accurate it should be corrected.”
Updated
Then we head back to Canberra.
Can anybody explain why acting in accordance with science and heeding repeat warnings from the RBA and financial regulators about carbon risk is being a moral compass? Happy to wait 👇 pic.twitter.com/u26s0TsOBn
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) October 28, 2020
South Australia’s Liberal deputy premier and attorney general, Vickie Chapman, and human services minister Michelle Lensink have sent a very stark reminder to a South Australian Liberal federal senator about what the Liberal party is supposed to be about.
It’s about abortion (because of course it is).
The South Australian government has introduced a bill to de-criminalise abortion. It’s the last Australian jurisdiction to do so.
But SA senator Alex Antic apparently has a problem with women having control over their bodies and health, which apparently is a ‘radical left’ position.
Ours is the Party which stands for the proposition that the interests of all men, women and children must be protected
We are not the party of the radical left.
Chapman and Lensink were having none of it, reminding Antic that he would never need a termination and that if any woman he knows was forced into having to make one of the most difficult decisions of her life, he would offer support rather than “moralising at her, and assuming you, for whatever reason, knows best”.
The letter from Chapman and Lensink is one for the ages. 👏🏻 https://t.co/WCGpaehIEF pic.twitter.com/b6dkFirUI1
— Conrad Liveris (@ConradLiveris) October 28, 2020
The MPs wrote:
You state that we are not a party of the radical left. Nor are we a party of the extreme right that is beholden to sectional interests.
In Menzies’ words, we march down the middle of the road.
...Finally, [we] congratulate you on receiving press attention. I concede it must be difficult as a junior member of the federal team. Next time, just for something different, perhaps it can be for something other than baselessly attacking Liberal party women in the state parliament.
Updated
Full Victorian hotel quarantine inquiry report delayed
The commission looking into the failures of the Victorian hotel quarantine program has announced it will have to delay its final report after requiring more information earlier this month. It will now hand down an interim report – with a final report coming just before Christmas.
From its statement:
The Board of Inquiry will deliver an interim report on Friday 6 November 2020, containing recommendations for a proposed quarantine program, based on evidence and information currently available to the Board.
The Board will deliver a final report containing the examination and findings on the decisions and actions of, and communications between, relevant agencies in establishing the initial Hotel Quarantine Program in Victoria, and any further recommendations, by Monday 21 December 2020.
This unfortunate delay is due to the provision of additional material which occurred after the conclusion of closing submissions on 28 September 2020, as detailed at the extraordinary sitting on 20 October 2020.
As a result of this additional material, the Board has issued several further notices to produce and requests for affidavits. Several documents and affidavits are presently outstanding and may lead to further enquiries.
Inquiry Chair the Hon. Jennifer Coate AO wrote to Premier Daniel Andrews on 28 October 2020 to advise that the Board would not be able to deliver a final report by 6 November 2020, and to propose this alternative way forward.
The Premier responded on 29 October 2020 advising that he agreed that the Board’s final reporting date should be extended.
Updated
David Littleproud urges regional Australians to boycott ANZ
David Littleproud is making quite the name for himself when it comes to calling for boycotts.
He called for a boycott of Coles and Aldi over their $1 milk (and later defended owning a small amount of shares in Woolworths, and having office staff who had previously worked for the supermarket chain) and then earlier this year, slammed Woolworths for what he called a “tokenistic” gesture to the dairy industry, when it imposed a 10c “retail levy” on its milk.
Then he called for a boycott of Target after it announced a restructure which included the closure of 75 stores, many in regional Australia.
Now Littleproud is calling for a boycott of banks like ANZ for having carbon targets as a condition of lending.
From his statement:
While ANZ has confirmed with me this morning that this will not impact family farms this policy is disgraceful.
Banks are not and should not try to become society’s moral compass and arbiter – the Australian people decide that by who they elect.
We can’t let unelected, profit-driven financiers from Pitt Street dictate to society how to produce food and fibre or how we run our economy.
Banks have been given a privileged position in our society and our economy and they shouldn’t interfere in markets but simply facilitate them with capital. That is their role and they should stick to it.
When so much of our nation’s wealth is generated in the regions, penalising these industries and destroying livelihoods just to get the warm and fuzzies is pure insanity.
It shows just how out of touch ANZ is about how our regional communities live and work.
The Nationals will review every policy lever at the federal government’s disposal – including the availability of deposit guarantees – to protect Australian farmers from these sorts of arbitrary boardroom ideological agendas.
It’s almost as though he doesn’t actually believe in a free market, or that corporations can make their decisions independent of government policy – and that people can choose themselves whether they support that corporate decision or not. *thinking face emoji*
Updated
The top US health adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci, was the guest of a University of Melbourne-hosted conversation, Conversations on Covid-19: The Global View.
On the posted conversation, Fauci speaks about the Australian response, saying Australia had done “quite well” in dealing with the pandemic and that he would like to be able to say that about the US, but “the numbers speak for themselves”.
There have been predictions that America’s death toll is headed to 500,000.
Fauci said part of the issue for the States has been not everyone being on the same page:
Although there’s many positives of independent states, when you’re dealing with a pandemic and you say, ‘We need everyone to be doing A, B and C,’ and all of a sudden state 43 does this and state 27 does that – it becomes very difficult.
But he also had praise for how Australians, and in this instance, he was speaking particularly about Victorians in dealing with the second wave, handled wearing masks –in that for the most part we accepted them as a necessary part of the health response:
I really wish that we could transplant that kind of mentality here, because masks in the United States have almost become a political statement.
Updated
The social services minister, Anne Ruston, would not commit last night to release an evaluation of the cashless debit card before parliament votes on a bill to make it permanent.
The government has introduced legislation that would make the card permanent in the current trial sites and move about 25,000 people in the NT on to the program. Those people are now on the Basics Card.
Ruston said she was yet to read the evaluation report by University of Adelaide but a final draft has been handed to the department, which is checking the paper for errors and typos.
The Greens senator Rachel Siewert urged Ruston to release the report before the legislation was debated in parliament in December.
But Ruston claimed the program’s continuation did not hinge on the results of the evaluation.
Siewert replied:
You are joking. This is absolutely flabbergasting. This is a recasting of history.
Labor’s Malarndirri McCarthy accused the government of ignoring the new Closing the Gap agreement. She noted that the Coalition of Peaks was opposed to the card.
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Labor is continuing to pursue why it has taken the government so long to speak to counterparts in Qatar after Australian women were among those taken off a plane and forced to have a medical examination, following the discovery of an abandoned newborn at the Doha airport.
This happened on 2 October. It was only after a Seven News reporter, Jen Bechwati, broke the story on Sunday that it was addressed.
Since then, we have heard that Australia has registered its displeasure but that any action needs to wait until local authorities complete a report.
Penny Wong was on ABC radio this morning, saying the issue needed leadership:
To rely on bureaucrats, to rely on officials, as efficient as they may be, really demonstrates an absence of leadership from both the foreign minister and the prime minister. I think these women deserve the people to be held accountable, they deserve transparency, but they also deserve a government that’s going to go into bat for them. I don’t believe that minister Payne has spoken to the foreign minister, unless she’s done it overnight.
The prime minister hasn’t spoken to his counterpart. That should happen.
And expectations should be set about not just the report but what will occur as a consequence of the report.
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At Senate estimates last night, Department of Social Services officials revealed there have 10 reportable privacy breaches within the national redress scheme.
Under questioning from the Labor senator Malarndirri McCarthy, officials said the 10 breaches included:
- Redress applications being sent to other applicants by mail
- Acceptance letters and applications being “lost” by Services Australia
- Applicant’s impact statements being shared with institution without consent
Officials stressed that the 10 breaches among thousands of applications but they also conceded that this was not good enough. They have apologised to the applicants affected.
All 10 breaches were all caused by human error.
The department has offered additional training and changed some processes in response.
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We don’t know the numbers for NSW as yet but a student at the Hoxton Park campus of Malek Fahd Islamic school, in Sydney’s west, has tested positive for the virus.
The school has been closed for deep cleaning, and staff and students have been told to self-isolate.
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And there it is.
Yesterday there were 3 new cases reported and no lives lost. The 14 day rolling average is down in Melbourne and remains zero in regional Vic. There are 4 cases with unknown source. More info: https://t.co/pcll7ySEgz #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/bngvpPCCsU
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) October 28, 2020
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Victoria reports three new confirmed Covid cases
The DHHS website lists three confirmed cases for Victoria in the last 24 hours.
We are just waiting on the tweet.
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There are plenty of predictions about the Queensland election result but, as I have said before, the only safe prediction is that it is unpredictable.
Labor isn’t feeling confident. Nor is the LNP. Both parties will tell you that their tracking is all over the place.
The three Townsville seats are in play, as are Keppel and Cook. South Brisbane (Labor) looks like going Green. McConnell in inner Brisbane, also held by Labor, is also in danger of going Green. The LNP thinks it will lose Pumicestone to Labor.
Queensland has been open long enough for normal business that Covid isn’t such a big deal. Labor’s campaign has mostly centred around the Covid response, which isn’t penetrating. The LNP have focused on cost of living, which is getting some traction.
Votes for One Nation have absolutely tanked, which has given the LNP a boost – those voters are heading to Deb Frecklington’s party. Clive Palmer has spent almost $5m campaigning against Labor, making up a death tax. But Annastacia Palaszczuk remains the more popular leader – by quite some margin.
And early voters turned out in droves, skewing the polls and making it hard to gauge what the mood is. If Labor gets enough seats to make a minority government, I would expect they would turn to the Katter’s Australian party and independents before the Greens.
There is a lot of talk about how, in Queensland, a Labor-Greens coalition would be “unworkable”. For the south-east, it would make sense, but for central and north Queensland, it would be a complete mess. “Tasmania on steroids” is how one Labor strategist described it to me.
There are also the federal implications – a Queensland Labor-Greens government is considered electoral poison for Anthony Albanese.
I am not saying this is my opinion – it’s just what people are telling me. The LNP needs to win nine seats (net) to win government, but there is a chance it could a) pull it off (let’s not forget Labor went from holding seven seats to winning minority government in just three years) or b) strike a minority government deal itself.
Labor now has a six-seat majority. You would think it would have the bigger chance, if it loses seats, of putting together a minority government but, again, it depends on with who.
All in all, no one has a handle on what is going on.
Ahhhhh, Queensland. I miss it.
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The Courier-Mail and Sky News People’s debate was held late yesterday afternoon for the Queensland election.
At the conclusion, the audience, which was made up of undecided voters, gave the debate to Annastacia Palaszczuk, with 53% saying they believed she was the winner. The LNP leader, Deb Frecklington, scored 30% of the vote, while 17% of the audience remained undecided.
But of course there was a small bit of controversy – one of the “undecided voters” who was allowed to ask a question was a LNP women’s executive member, Marilyn Wilson. After she was identified by people watching, she was disqualified from voting on the winner.
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NSW police are yet to say if they’ll investigate Gladys Berejiklian’s office over the shredding of documents relating to a controversial grants program.
The Labor opposition has asked the police and the Information and Privacy Commission NSW to investigate the destruction of documents in the premier’s office detailing $252m in grants allocated to councils before the 2019 state election. A police spokesperson told Guardian Australia on Wednesday night: “The commissioner has not yet received the letter. When it is received, it will be assessed appropriately.”
Sarah Lau, a senior policy adviser to Berejiklian, last week told a NSW parliamentary committee she had shredded records suggesting the premier had “approved” $141.8m of the council grant funding. Lau also deleted electronic copies, saying it was “normal record management practice”.
The opposition leader, Jodi McKay, referred the matter to the police commissioner for a potential breach of the State Records Act and the information commissioner for a potential breach of the Government Information (Public Access) Act.
The former NSW auditor general Tony Harris has told Nine newspapers he believes the premier’s office breached the State Records Act.
Berejiklian has rejected Labor’s claims, saying she had no involvement in the shredding.
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(Continued from last post)
US election: Adamson sidestepped being drawn into commentary on the Donald Trump/Joe Biden showdown next week but said: “We are ready for any eventuality.”
Hekmatullah: The former Afghan soldier convicted of murdering three Australian soldiers in 2012 was transferred from Afghanistan to Qatar on 10 September and remains in detention. “That was a compromise organised by the US government with the government of Qatar to enable the commencement of the Afghanistan peace negotiations,” said a Dfat official, Ian Biggs. He said since Hekmatullah’s transfer there had been “a continuing series of interventions” by Scott Morrison, Marise Payne, Linda Reynolds and officials to the governments of Qatar, the US and Afghanistan to ensure they understood the strength of feeling in Australia that Hekmatullah should never be released.
Syrian camps: Payne did not give any indication the Australian government would attempt to extract more than 67 Australian women and children – the family of Isis fighters – from Syrian camps. She said the issue had been raised with her in the US in July but the government did not want to put Australian officials at risk to extract or effect the repatriation of people, and also “the protection of Australia and the Australians community”. Human rights groups have previously called on the government to repatriate the Australian citizens for rehabilitation and reintegration, with Human Rights Watch saying: “Children who lived under Isis and any women trafficked by Isis should be treated first and foremost as victims.”
Updated
A few takeouts from the evidence given by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials in estimates hearings overnight:
Kylie Moore-Gilbert: The detained British-Australian academic was “well” when she was last visited by the Australian ambassador to Iran on 19 October, officials said. But they did not provide any further details – following reports she has been moved from Iran’s Qarchak prison, which her supporters hope is a good sign – saying the best hope of securing her release is through diplomatic channels (ie, quietly).
Soft power review junked: The secretary, Frances Adamson, said Dfat had decided to discontinue work on the soft power review launched more than two years ago, when Julie Bishop said it was needed “to ensure Australia remains a persuasive voice in our region”. The review took submissions in 2018 and a draft report was sent to the minister’s office. But Adamson said it had been prepared in a pre-Covid time, with a lot of emphasis on tourism and international education – but then “the world changed around us very drastically”.
Foreign veto laws: Dfat first learned on 10 June of the government’s intention to prepare laws to review international agreements struck by states and territories, and the Attorney General’s Department first issued drafting instructions on 19 June. Officials couldn’t say precisely when universities were added to the bill but insisted it was “at an early stage”. At the estimates hearing, Marise Payne explained away the lack of consultation with universities before the plan was announced in late August by saying “the government determined this was our preferred way of putting together this bill” and it believed it was “relatively unremarkable that public universities should provide the commonwealth visibility where they enter into foreign arrangements”. Labor has signalled it’s likely to seek amendments.
Updated
Sydney Covid alert issued
NSW Health has issued a new alert after someone who had Covid-19 visited a number of venues across Sydney.
Among them is Jasmins Lebanese Restaurant in Liverpool in the south-west (on Sunday), the Flip Out Prestons Indoor Trampoline Park in Sydney’s west (on Sunday), the Westfield at Bondi Junction (on Saturday) and Eatsup Brothers kebab shop in Condell Park (on Saturday).
They also went to Ali Baba Charcoal Chicken in Auburn on Monday and Carnes Hill Marketplace on Tuesday.
But it’s the trampoline venue and the Lebanese resturant which are the main concern –anyone who attended those venues for at least one hour on Sunday is being asked to self-isolate and get tested.
Updated
Good morning
Happy Thursday!
The worst day of the week is also the last day of parliament for a couple of weeks, and the last (full) day of estimates hearings, so it will most likely get a little feisty today, with a lovely dollop of fatigue just to keep it interesting.
For the first time in a while, it’s news from outside Australia capturing attention. As AAP reports:
US financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein donated $US650,000 ($A920,500) to the International Peace Institute between 2011 to 2019, a revelation the think-tank’s chair Kevin Rudd says is “deeply disturbing”.
The former Australian prime minister, who became vice-chair of the UN-affiliated organisation in 2014 and chair in 2018, has convened an extraordinary board meeting after reports IPI president Terje Rod-Larsen borrowed $US130,000 from convicted pedophile Epstein in 2013.
“I first learned of contributions from Epstein’s foundations to the IPI in November 2019 through reporting by the Norwegian press. I was blindsided by this,” Rudd said in a statement to Norwegian business newspaper DN on Wednesday.
“These revelations were deeply disturbing to me and to other members of the board. IPI’s work includes combating human trafficking and sexual violence”
Rudd has asked for a report to be given to the board He said he has no recollection of meeting Epstein, but was on a conference call that Epstein was also on, in 2014.
Expect to hear more on that today.
We’ll also bring you parliament, a bit of the last hours of the Queensland election campaign and of course, the Covid situation across Australia.
You have Amy Remeikis with you.
Ready? Let’s get into it.
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