Australia politics live: Queensland introduces carbon target bill; Tasmanian premier calls election, saying he won’t ‘be held to ransom’ by crossbench

Queensland premier Steven Miles introduced a bill legislating a 75% carbon reduction target by 2035.

LIVE – Updated at 05:45

Follow live.

 

05:45

Here is a little more from the chamber, as seen (and captured) by Mike Bowers:

 

05:44

On that note, we are going to put Politics Live to bed for the evening. You can continue to follow all the news from estimates and everything else at the Australia Live blog, which is still running over here:

A very big thank you to Paul Karp, Josh Butler, Daniel Hurst and Sarah Basford Canales for keeping the show together – and, of course, to the incomparable Mike Bowers.

As always, the biggest thank you has to go to you, our readers. Thank you for checking in on your democracy and for caring so much. It is important.

Politics Live will be back with the last day of the house sitting early tomorrow morning. Until then, take care of you.

 

05:42Sarah Basford Canales

Fellow National says Joyce coverage is overblown

Keith Pitt has come to the aid of his Nationals colleague Barnaby Joyce, questioning why the “very minor” incident is under scrutiny.

The member for Hinkler told Sky News on Wednesday he thought the incident was overblown and indicative of the worsening pressure politicians face in the job.

Pitt said:

You are under pressure constantly. You’re under a lot of media scrutiny. That is part of the deal, but I think it’s getting worse. And the idea that we would chase after someone on something, which in my view is very minor, to be honest – you know, why?

This morning the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, revealed he’d asked Joyce to take personal leave after he was filmed last week lying down on a Canberra footpath and swearing profanities into his phone.

Littleproud said he’d “embarrassed himself and he’s embarrassed his family” but suggested the Nationals frontbencher’s behaviour was prompted by undisclosed personal issues.

The incident comes amid speculation Littleproud is considering a reshuffle of his frontbench, which could result in one Nationals member being dropped from the Coalition’s shadow ministry.

Joyce, a former deputy prime minister and twice Nationals leader, is also rumoured to be interested in retaking the party’s top job.

When asked about the speculation by Sky News, Pitt dismissed it.

Every single MP I know here and every senator, everyone wants more responsibility. Anyone says they don’t, well they’re not telling the truth … [but] that’s not a decision that’s on the table. We’re in the midst of opposition. We’re in the midst of a byelection.

 

05:17

Mike Bowers spent some time in the chamber.

Here is Scott Morrison in his one-man performance of “looking at the clock after you’ve been sitting there for an hour and realise only five minutes has passed”.

Morrison should cheer up – he has just a little over one week left until he’s outty.

 

05:11

The former chief of staff to Barnaby Joyce while he was deputy prime minister and senior public servant Diana Hallam has been named as the new, permanent CEO of the Australian Forest Products Association.

Ms Hallam will leave her current role as a first assistant secretary in the Australian government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry to commence as AFPA CEO on 12 March 2024. Diana served as chief of staff to deputy prime minister and minister for agriculture, the Hon Barnaby Joyce MP, from 2014 to 2017 and prior to that occupied senior roles at both Toll Group and Singapore Airlines.

 

04:41

Back to federal politics and a depressing time warp:

 

04:39

Governing “alone or not at all” has not lasted very long in this press conference.

Jeremy Rockliff:

I am open to conversations, as I said. I have always respected the will of the election, the voters, and we need to respect the will of the people. With that respect and maturity. Yes, I am open to conversations. But on key principles I will not be trading away our 2030 plan for Tasmania. I will not be trading away Liberal policies. I will not be trading away ministries. We can govern in majority, that is my aim, that is what I am fighting for and that is what has put Tasmania in the very best of stead since 2014.

Tasmanian premier announces election date and says he won’t ‘be held to ransom’ by crossbench

04:27

Question time is still going, but we are going to hear from the Tasmanian Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff, about the early election.

Rockliff and Adrian Schrinner (Brisbane City council lord mayor) are the most senior Liberal leaders in the country at the moment. (The Queensland LNP leader, David Crisafulli, looks on track to take that crown, but that won’t happen until the Queensland election in October.)

So there is a lot of attention on Tasmania’s state election (for once).

Rockliff is calling an election because so many of his MPs have moved to the crossbench and he can’t get legislation through.

So Tasmania – you are off to an election on 23 March.

Rockliff:

I am not going to allow myself and my government to be held to ransom for the next 12 months, it is bad to Tasmania and is bad for Tasmanians. I’ve taken the decision to call an election so that Tasmanians can have their say.

 

04:26

Jeremy Rockliff becomes the latest political leader to pretend that he won’t do deals with independent or minor party MPs, which is ridiculous because the alternative in that situation is opposition and I am yet to see a political party voluntarily choose opposition.

Rockliff talks himself into a circle here:

We will govern alone or not at all and we will not do a deal with the Greens. I want to be very, very clear about that. There will be no deals with the Greens. We are poles apart. They are the job-destroying party, we create jobs. We create wealth. We fund those essential services and we have seen the results of Labor-Green deals, I will not be doing a deal with the Greens.

But I will respect the outcome of the election and the will of the voters and, of course, have the maturity, of course, to govern sensibly in the best interests of all Tasmanians.

When it comes to everyone else, and I’ve made my position very clear when it comes to the Greens, when it comes to everyone else, some key principles will apply. I will not agree to anything that constrains me or my government. I will not be trading ministerial positions or policies. And the 2030s strong plan is not negotiable. Those are the key principles.

As I say, I will treat the outcome of the election and the will of the voters with respect and maturity.

So we will govern alone or not at all, but we will respect the voters’ will and when it comes to other independents who are not the Greens, here are our principles for agreeing to minority government.

Totally clear there. Makes complete sense.

 

04:23

So, given that Jeremy Rockliff couldn’t work with two members of his former party, how could he work with a crossbench of independents or minor parties?

We have done our best over the course of the last 12 months or since the defection to govern in the best interests of Tasmanians. Clearly, with the comments by both the two independents who have made that uncertainty and, frankly, Tasmanians have had enough.

errrr:

… They [the deserters] were elected in majority government in 2021, I am seeking election in 2024 for majority government, we are the only party that can achieve majority government and we will deliver on all the promises and the plan, the 2030s strong plan for Tasmania.

So far the messaging is A+, no notes.

To be honest, I needed this. I think we all did.

 

04:17

This line from Jeremy Rockliff is pretty bold, considering he has called an early election because so many Liberals have left the party and moved to the crossbench which he can’t work with, despite them being former colleagues.

Labor’s infighting, disunity is so bad, they have had only been just given their training wheels back from Canberra.

It is simple – if Labor can’t govern themselves, they can’t govern Tasmania.

 

04:09

The independent MP Sophie Scamps asks Jim Chalmers:

Two of our nation’s most prominent economists have today put forward a bold plan to lower global emissions by 6%, deliver cheaper power bills and supercharge a new green export industry, which would set up Australia’s prosperity in the new global economy for decades. With the worst of the climate deniers all but wiped out, isn’t it due that a climate target was back on the table?

Jim Chalmers says no:

I say to the member, unfortunately still a few of them here because you guys can only knock them off one at a time. Mr Speaker, I agree that Prof Sims and Prof Garnaut are very distinguished economists and thinkers and they are well motivated and informed contributors to this debate as well as the member for Mackellar herself.

We share the objective of a future increasingly powered by cleaner and cheaper and increasingly renewable energy into the future because this side of the house believes in the vast industrial and economic opportunities of a net zero economy.

Where we differ from the distinguished thinkers at the press club today is that we are not up for the levy that Prof Sims and Prof Garnaut proposed at the press club today. Part of the reason for that is because we found a better way, Mr Speaker, or at least an alternative way, but we feel a better way, to implement what is already a comprehensive and ambitious agenda when it comes to clean energy, when it comes to climate change, and when it comes to those industrial opportunities for becoming a renewable energy superpower.

Sims and Garnaut both also said in that address that new ideas are not adopted overnight – but eventually they are, mostly because there are no other options. They seem to believe that this is what will happen here, with this idea.

 

04:02

Clare O’Neil then takes a dixer so she can perform her latest episode of “Peter Dutton was a terrible home affairs minister”.

It’s pretty much a repeat of yesterday’s performance.

 

04:02

Peter Dutton is now seeking leave to suspend standing orders to debate a motion about the indefinite detention issue.

Tony Burke will probably send this to after question time, but let’s see.

It might mark that they are finally out of questions for Andrew Giles? Let’s see on that too.

 

04:01

Zali Steggall, welcome to the QT resistance.

 

04:00

Tony Burke denies leave because “we want to talk about the cost of living”, which is a very lame line.

Peter Dutton manages to get out a “this weak minister has to go, this prime minister has to show leadership and get rid of this …”

Before Burke moves the suspension to after the matter of public importance.

 

03:57

Greens ask Plibersek if she will stop two new Queensland coalmines

The Greens MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown asks Tanya Plibersek:

New Queensland Labor premier Steven Miles has just approved two new coalmines in two weeks. Coalmines that would produce more greenhouse gas pollution than Australia’s entire annual emissions. Minister, will you stop these coalmines?

Plibersek:

I remind her that I cannot comment on any individual project and secondly that this government has done more to act on climate change during our short time in office than any previous Australian government including when we were last in government where the Greens political party teamed up with the Liberals and the Nationals to knock off action on climate change.

There are audible groans at this, because it seems no one is ever moving on from the CPRS.

 

03:55Daniel Hurst

Marles takes aim at Dutton as ‘the minister for defence politics’

During his response to a dixer, Richard Marles again took at the Coalition, including its record when Peter Dutton was defence minister. Marles said:

Recently we have seen them wandering around saying if they were in power they would send ships to the Red Sea, but when they were asked they said no.

Let’s bring you some context. It is understood the then commander of the Combined Maritime Forces wrote to the Australian defence force on 28 February 2022 requesting assistance to establish a new Combined Task Force (CTF) 153, focusing on maritime security operations inside the Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb strait and Gulf of Aden.

This letter said:

I encourage you to participate in and support CTF 153, whether that be in the form of provision of CTF staff, force elements at sea or in the air or, assuming Command at some point. I would be grateful if you would also consider allocating any units you may have transiting the Red Sea in Associated Support or Direct Support for CTF 153 once established.

The Coalition called the federal election on 10 April 2022. Then, on 14 April 2022, during caretaker mode, the chief of joint operations, Lt Gen Greg Bilton, replied to the request:

Australia remains committed to supporting regional stability and maritime security in a region critical to global trade and prosperity. However, given our considerable commitments, both domestic and in the Indo-Pacific, we are not able to increase our current contribution to Combined Maritime Forces (CMF).

A spokesperson for Dutton told Sky News yesterday that he “wasn’t involved in or a party to” this correspondence.

Marles told parliament today that Dutton’s defence was “absolutely astonishing”.

Then again, he was always the minister for defence politics … we probably should not be surprised that defence policy never made it onto his radar.

 

03:51

Andrew Giles responds:

Of course, it was the case that it was the decision of the high court overturning two decades of precedent that required the release of the detainees, the subject of this, as the member well knows, or should well know.

Of the many aspects of our government’s response, we have always focused on community safety and putting in place criminal penalties for breaches of the visa conditions put in place.

The strict visa conditions. How things are dealt with, how these breaches are a matter for the Australian federal police and breaches of other state or territory laws are a matter for the relevant law enforcement authorities and we have confidence in all of them to do their job.

 

03:49

The Liberal MP for Casey, Aaron Violi, asks the next question and starts a debate over standing orders, led by Zali Steggall (who seems to have her lawyer hat back on).

The Albanese government has released 149 criminals from immigration detention. Last night at Senate estimates the AFP was unable to confirm if any of those murderers or rapists the minister has released are among those who have committed new crimes. Minister, have any of the seven murderers, 37 sex offenders or 72 other violent criminals released committed a new offence?

Steggall asks about a standing order which includes that there will be no imputations in a question (the imputation Steggall is raising is that the government released the indefinite detention cohort).

Milton Dick says if he followed that, he would have to rule every question out of order. (Paul Karp hears the independent MP Kylea Tink interject with “great!”)

Stegall responds:

In that case, there’s no point in that section in the standing orders …

… I invite members to read the standing orders. It is clear that it is intended that inferences and imputations should not be included in questions, it is not a question of ruling whether or not one accepts that they are there, it is clear the standing orders make clear they must not contain, it is not a question saying whether you feel, the chair feels, that is a negative implication, the standing orders is just raising the question of the standing orders.

Dick says he appreciates the question, but his hands are tied.

 

03:44Cait Kelly

Services Australia admits it knew the withdrawal of Covid funding would impact its service

Back in Senate estimates, Services Australia admitted earlier that it knew the withdrawal of extra funding during Covid would mean it could not meet demand.

The Greens Senator Janet Rice:

You knew from your modelling in 2020, that the budget allocation that you had wasn’t going to be enough to meet demand?

The deputy chief executive officer, Jarrod Howard:

We knew the budget allocation, and the statistics, the data we had from pre-Covid did indicate that our resource envelope at that time was not sufficient to meet the same standards that we would seek to meet. We knew that pre-Covid.

We are doing everything we can within the allocation we have got.

In fairness to the government, senator, the agency probably was not forthcoming in providing advice around that in a timely and meaningful way. We were very busy dealing with a pandemic at the time and while that’s not meant as an excuse, it is just to say, I can’t recall us providing wholistic advice to government about the impacts of the pandemic measures ceasing in the way they did.

I accept the fact I could have provided better advice to government.

 

03:39

The Nationals MP Sam Birrell asks Andrew Giles:

Is the minister seriously suggesting that a rapist is continuously monitored because they have periodic reporting requirements?

If he is surprised by that, then do I have news for the good member about Australia’s parole and bail system!

Giles:

As I have repeatedly informed the house, because of the four layers of protection we have put in place and the arrangements we have stood up … of course that is the case that we know the location of every individual in the cohort.

And I remind the member, as I said a moment ago, of what the Australian federal police acting deputy commissioner said last night. ‘I don’t think there is any difficulty knowing where they are. They are monitored through the mechanism of those [conditions] placed upon them, which are quite restrictive.’

We support the work of our law enforcement agencies and we also have confidence in the trusted officials of the community protection board who are providing advice to government on this cohort.

 

03:39

Opposition continues to question Labor on released immigration detainees

Dan Tehan is back with the next question for Andrew Giles and it covers the same areas we have already heard, finishing with:

How can the minister claim they have been continuously monitored if, in fact, they have been left to their own devices to commit crimes?

Giles:

I acknowledge the impact of the bushfires on the community he represents as well.

As I have advised previously because of the four layers of protection we have put in place, in particular strict visa conditions including reporting requirements and in the case of many, electronic monitoring, the location of every individual in this cohort is known, every individual’s location is known, and unlike those opposite, I want to reassure Australians and remind them of what the AFP acting deputy commissioner said last night to Senate estimates.

He said, ‘I don’t think there is any difficulty knowing where they are. They are monitored through those [conditions] that are placed on them which are quite restrictive.’ On this side of the house we trust law enforcement and we thank them for keeping Australians safe.

Question time begins

03:32

Before we get into the questions, both Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton pay tribute to the people of Victoria and the firefighters, given what is happening in the state.

On to the questions.

Peter Dutton asks Andrew Giles:

On 16 November in this place, the minister committed to the house his department would make contact with all who had been victims of the criminals released from immigration detention by the government. Has the government now contacted all victims of the crimes committed by the 149 criminals released from immigration detention?

(Again, it was a high court decision. Australians are released once they have completed their custodial sentences.)

Giles:

Our thoughts are with those affected by the crimes of those who were detained and who were required to be released by reason of the order of the court. In the time following the high court decision, the department put in place a mechanism that would enable victims to be contacted. Obviously, there are issues around personal privacy and other questions that need to be addressed, but it was important we put in place such a mechanism.

 

03:31

Sussan Ley is next up:

We now know the minister has exempted 36 of them from continuous ankle monitoring. On what basis did the minister claim they are being continuously monitored? Why did the minister mislead the House.

Tony Burke gets that last part withdrawn as “that’s an allegation that can only be made by substandard motion”.

Andrew Giles then answers:

As I’ve just said to the question asked by the member for Wannon, because of the entirety of the four layers of protection, at least one applying to every member of the cohort, strict visa conditions which includes reporting requirements, as well as electronic monitoring for the majority and curfews for many, the location of every individual in this cohort is known.

 

03:28

Wilkie wants to know when the export of live sheep will be banned

The independent MP Andrew Wilkie wants to know:

What date will the export of live sheep to the Middle East be banned and by what date will the ban be legislated?

Catherine King takes this one and goes through the work the government is doing in consulting with industry and then gets to the crux of the question:

That work is important and that is why the phasing out of live sheep export by sea will not occur by this term of parliament. An independent panel employed to consult with communities on how to implement the policies … has completed its work … and the report’s been provided to the government and we’re considering it and taking time to assess the recommendations and impact.

Tasmanian premier Jeremy Rockliff calls early election

03:07

As expected, the Tasmanian premier, Jeremy Rockliff, has called an early election (Tasmania wasn’t expected to go to the polls until 2025).

It will be held in March.

Thoughts and prayers to First Dog as the nation turns its attention to Tasmania and the last Liberal government (outside of the Brisbane City council).

 

03:05

Minerals Council criticises ‘simplistic and blunt’ fossil fuel tax proposal of Superpower Institute

In news that will surprise absolutely no one, the Minerals Council of Australia is against the Superpower Institute proposal put forward by Ross Garnaut and Rod Sims.

Probably because they represent the fossil fuel interests that the levy would be applied to, but they say it is because the “climate wars are over” which might be news to Barnaby Joyce and the Coalition.

Australia already has a framework in place which was designed to be agnostic about the source of emissions.

Industry is getting on with the job of reducing emissions at pace, investing in new technologies, innovating their operations, and plotting a genuine path towards decarbonisation.

Reducing global emissions will require innovation and creativity, simplistic and blunt taxes on Australian industry is not the way forward.

The challenge Australia must be focused on is how we get there without damaging our economy and slashing tens of thousands of regional jobs and billions in investment.

 

02:55

Question time is about to begin.

Grab what you need (it’s another cup of coffee and a Caramello Koala over here) and get ready for what will be another mess of democracy.

 

02:45

Just for prosperity sake:

 

02:45

Rod Sims finishes the event with this message:

If we don’t do these things, we are letting down Australia’s prosperity and the climate.

We are fortunate that we have got the best solar, wind, biomass resources in the world to make these products.

If you don’t take advantage of it, we’re letting everyone down.

If we do take advantage of it, we’re going have full employment, rising standards of living, it will be absolutely the right way for Australia to go.

 

02:44Peter Hannam

Garnaut and Sims share dim prognosis for green hydrogen

One interesting view from the National Press Club talk by Garnaut and Sims is their dim prognosis for green hydrogen.

As Sims says, hydrogen is “extremely expensive” and “very difficult” to export. Garnaut noted that – as he learnt in his Perth school days (many) decades ago – hydrogen as the smallest element is very leaky. Steel without extra cladding won’t contain it, for starters. It’ll also cost a lot more to liquefy it (down to -250C v -150C for fossil gas).

As a result, it will make much more economic sense to process iron ore or other materials in Australia rather than ship leaky hydrogen to other nations to burn it.

Engineers understand the challenges but the discussion about green hydrogen (or anything other colour) often omits them.

It’s also a reminder that countries like Japan are investing in importing green hydrogen, but they would rather nations like Australia (and states like Victoria) pick up the tab and shoulders the risk.

See here from last year:

 

02:41

Of course the question of nuclear power comes up.

Rod Sims says:

Look, as far as we’re concerned, if you want to make any of the products we’re talking about by using nuclear energy rather than renewable energy, fine.

By any arithmetic at the moment, nuclear energy is so far – so much more expensive than renewable energy.

I mean, if you’re in the northern part of Australia and you want to make hydrogen, for example, you know, you need a lot of renewable energy to separate the H from the O and get the hydrogen.

You don’t need those electrolysers to run all the time. You can turn them off when the sun is not shining. You can probably make – probably get that energy to those electrolysers at something like $20 or $30 a megawatt hour.

Nuclear energy is just – just nowhere near that. It’s a 10-times multiple of that, if not more.

So if people want to use nuclear, fine, but it’s, at the moment on what we know now, massive amounts of money.

 

02:39

Rod Sims also jumps in there on that question:

Most of the superpower industries will be located well away from the current electricity grid, the current farmlands, you’re talking where the solar energy is, that’s largely up north, you’re talking where the iron ore is, that’s in the Pilbara, that’s in South Australia.

So these industries are going to be well away from – you won’t have to worry about farms.

They won’t be dependent on windfarms offshore New South Wales. If they want to have those things, fantastic, and if the communities of Victoria and NSW want to be involved in these industries, fantastic.

But if they don’t, most of the best solar is in the north of the country. That’s where most of this will occur.

This is an absolute boon for the regions and, as Ross said, if people don’t want it in their backyard, there’s plenty of room left in everybody else’s backyard.

 

02:36

The questions return to “Barnaby’s angry 400” and the anti-renewables bunch.

Ross Garnaut repeats that there is no need for anyone to take part in renewables who doesn’t want to:

First, we only need to use a bit more than 0.5% of the Australian landmass. No one needs to cover good farmland with solar panels.

No one needs to have wind turbines or solar panels on their land if they don’t want to.

And you asked about how we can get continuity of policy and consensus – sometimes you only get consensus once the community has decided something is in the public interest.

I mentioned Medicare.

Medicare was introduced by the Whitlam government. It was popular. Fraser got rid of it. Hawke brought it back. The next four elections, the Liberal-National party promised to get rid of it and they lost. And the fifth election, John Howard promised to keep it and they won.

That’s how we’ll get consensus on these issues.

 

02:34

Ross Garnaut is asked about the situation in Victoria, where there was the power outage yesterday and whether that undermines the transition to green power.

You can feel the psychic fist pump from people in the room as he makes the very obvious point that when the transmission lines go down (as happened yesterday) it doesn’t matter where the power comes from – it is not going to flow through.

Garnaut:

If you put enough greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, you have more cyclonic events even in areas that didn’t used to have cyclonic-type events.

Victoria had one yesterday.

If it knocks down transmission lines, it knocks out the power, whether it’s carrying renewable energy or power from the dirtiest power stations in the world down in the Latrobe Valley.

It’s a neutral issue. Climate change is dangerous for stability of power systems wherever the power comes from and the only way to stop that is to stop climate change getting worse.

 

02:32

‘We need to have this debate’ on a fossil fuel levy, Sims says

Back to the National Press Club and Rod Sims and Ross Garnaut are asked if there needs to be more MPs focused on climate in the parliament to progress their ideas, or at least the conversation about doing things differently.

Sims takes this one:

In my view, we just need better understanding of the issues. We just need to debate them, to discuss them. I’ve got many hot-button issues, as anyone who knows me knows, but perhaps my biggest one is we don’t have the debates that we should have.

We let the debates drop too quickly. We need to have this debate, we need to understand the issues, these are complex issues, I think when people were more – when more and more people understand the promise here, the need for funding, that this is a very obvious way to do the funding, then that will change the political discourse and will get the right.

But it’s a matter of discussion, debate, information, and that’s what we’re about, and I’m very confident that at some stage this will get adopted. I just can’t tell you when.

 

02:27Sarah Basford Canales

(Continued from previous post)

Staff say, however, any seconds or minutes that exceed that five minutes are tallied up, making them feel surveilled and micromanaged in the workplace.

Upon questioning by the ACT senator David Pocock, the deputy chief executive officer, Jarrod Howard, said it was a “myth” that toilet breaks were being monitored but confirmed staff availability to answer calls was monitored.

There will be times where staff will be coached by the team leader around the fact that they might have been in an auxiliary code for longer than what is expected but those conversations are sort of standard practice.

Pocock asked whether people’s names were being put on whiteboards when they racked up minutes over their allotted auxiliary code time.

The Services Australia CEO, David Hazlehurst, said he would “get to the bottom of it”.

I’m as concerned as you are, senator, about the reports of those kinds of behaviours or incidents. If those things are happening, those are things that both Mr Howard and I are very keen to get to the bottom of – it’s not the way we want the agency to be run.

 

02:25Sarah Basford Canales

Senate estimates raises Centrelink staff concerns about toilet breaks being timed

This morning staff from Services Australia were asked about reports Centrelink staff were feeling micromanaged and concerned about their toilet breaks being timed.

Guardian Australia reported last month a number of call centre staff claim they are being monitored minute by minute, including on toilet breaks, due to a system that calculates the amount of time staff are away from the computer and not taking calls during the day.

Under the workplace agreement, call centre staff can take a five-minute break each hour to stretch their legs, fill up water bottles and use the toilet. To do so, they need to switch between an “auxiliary code” to let the system know to pause calls. There are different auxiliary codes depending on the activity a staff member needs to attend to. For example, there are codes for meetings, customer work and tea breaks in addition to the hourly five-minute break.

(continued in next post)

 

02:22

Sims denies the Superpower Institute is ‘a teal thinktank’

Is the Superpower Institute, which Garnaut founded and Sims chairs, “a teal thinktank”?

This question is based on Simon Holmes á Court being one of the directors.

Rod Sims:

Certainly not. We just – our directors are people who are interested in what we’re doing and Simon, as well as the other directors, is interested in what we’re doing. And trying to realise the superpower opportunity.

So it’s a board of people who are committed to doing that. As to the funders, the vast majority have insisted that their contributions be anonymous.

So there’s nothing much we can do about that except say, no, we won’t take your money.

That would be a rather silly thing to do.

So I’m afraid we cannot mention who the sponsors are, but they are philanthropic organisations that are interested in the thesis we’re putting forward about the opportunity for Australia for climate change.

(It also means this institute joins the long list of Australian institutes and thinktanks which do not disclose who funds them.)

 

02:19

The question and answer section of the press club address has begun.

Asked to speak about their carbon solution levy a little more, Ross Garnaut says:

On domestic costs, there is enough revenue here substantially to compensate users of electricity and roads – we suggest some ways of doing that that would actually improve the efficiency of the system at the same time they reduce the cost of living.

If you did it soon when we got a cost-of-living crisis, you could reduce the CPI, give us maybe half a year without any inflation, give the Reserve Bank no excuse for not getting on with the job of reducing interest rates, and reduce that horrible risk hanging over Australia of rising unemployment.

Garnaut argues for benefits of a zero-carbon economy

02:16

Ross Garnaut, who is one of Australia’s most credentialed economists, is speaking first in this joint National Press Club address.

He condenses the message:

Our main message today is that export of zero-carbon goods can underpin a long period of high investment, rising productivity, full employment and rising incomes in Australia.

Our exceptional resources, legacy institutions from before 2013, a Renewable Energy Target and the CEFC and action by both Coalition and Labor state governments kept the future alive through the commonwealth climate wars.

Our international commitment to reduce emissions by 43% on 2005 levels by 2030 is the minimum required as a developed country to establish our credibility in the global climate effort.

But it will do neither the global climate effort nor our prosperity any good if we meet our commitment in ways that block the emergence of the superpower.

Queensland premier introduces bill for 75% carbon reduction target by 2035

02:14Andrew Messenger

Queensland parliament’s gallery is packed as the premier, Steven Miles, introduces a bill legislating a 75% carbon reduction target by 2035.

Miles says:

The targets we’re setting to reduce emissions by 75% by 2035 are based on science and meeting internationally agreed targets.

But more importantly, they will provide industry with the certainty to invest in converting existing industry to renewables and attracting new industries here. These targets are crucial to lock in the investment needed for our economic future.

The clean economy jobs bill will now go to a parliamentary committee for scrutiny.

Miles says the target is “responsible, credible and critical” and “positions Queensland as a world leader on the pathway to net zero”.

He pitches the bill as a boost for jobs and guaranteeing certainty for industry.

If the world is to reach net zero by 2050, Queensland needs to play our part.

Miles promised to introduce the bill in one of his first acts as premier after taking the top job in December. Green issues are a main personal and political priority for the former environment minister who once campaigned as “Miles; better for the reef”.

Personally I first became interested in climate change in 2007 when Kim was expecting our son Sam. Until then, to be honest, I was a bit dismissive of conservation issues, instead more motivated by social and economic justice concerns …

I came to realise then, though, that climate change threatens the opportunities, jobs and lives I wanted for our future family. Since then, it’s been an essential political objective for me.

The opposition has yet to declare its position on the bill.

 

02:13

Garnaut sees no need to cover best farmland with wind turbines

Back to the National Press Club address and Ross Garnaut refers to “Barnaby’s angry 400”, who arrived in Canberra for the anti-renewables rally last week, and says there is no need to cover Australia’s best farmland with wind turbines. In fact, people who don’t want it on their land don’t have to worry, says Garnaut:

We need not cover the land of any people who don’t want wind turbines and solar panels on their country.

I’ve spent a lot of time in the west of Queensland since seven mayors asked me to help them think through how they could use their sun and wind for permanent jobs.

The heartland of the old Australian bush, where Clancy of the Overflow went droving, the shearers and teams first met beneath the tree of knowledge and decided to use democracy to make a better country, where Banjo wrote Waltzing Matilda and the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services built the planes in what is now the world’s oldest international airline.

Big country, with big skies.

They want renewable power generation if they get sustainable income and jobs.

They welcome the Queensland government’s and Energy Queensland’s support for a local renewable industrial precinct.

Now 11.30 Brisbane time and 12.30 in Canberra, Premier Steven Miles is preparing to introduce a bill for a law for 75% reductions on 2000 emissions by 2035. (As Andrew Messenger has reported, he has just done it.)

That’s great for long-term jobs in the Queensland bush.

 

02:05

‘All Australians will clearly be winners’ from a fossil fuel levy, Sims says

The former competition tsar Rod Sims finishes his contribution to the National Press Club address by speaking about a levy on fossil fuels:

Today we are putting a market mechanism to deal with climate change back on Australia’s agenda, via the carbon solution levy proposal.

And contrary to the rhetoric of the past, when these issues have been debated, all Australians will clearly be winners from the levy, except, of course, fossil fuel producers, who need to pay for the damage their products cause.

We also have a debate about tax reform. Pricing carbon must be central to that debate. How can you have a debate on tax reform and not include pricing carbon? Pricing carbon will also help finance the inevitable compensation costs that will be required from true tax reform.

 

01:58

‘Even the Guardian is running the fact you’re asking dixers in estimates,’ Cash tells Watt

Would not have picked Michaelia Cash for one of our big readers, but we welcome one and all to our little blog community.

Paul Karp reports Cash and Murray Watt have just had an exchange in estimates about the blog post he sent through:

Cash:

Even the Guardian is running the fact you’re asking dixers in estimates … the Guardian is currently mocking you.

This is going so well for you.

Murray Watt:

I didn’t know you liked the Guardian so much.

And then Cash breaks all our hearts.

It’s being sent to me, because we think it’s so funny.

Watt:

Have you got it blocked on your phone?

For the record, we are bipartisan mockers. Dixers – no matter who delivers them – should always be mocked for the affront to democracy they are.

 

01:55Paul Karp

Cash calls Labor questions about opposition policies in estimates ‘farcical’

The Labor senator Tony Sheldon is trying to ask the emergency services minister, Murray Watt, questions in the Senate employment committee about comments from Angus Taylor the Coalition wants to take a “targeted” package of industrial relations reforms to the next election repealing some of Labor’s changes.

Watt begins answering, by saying Taylor has “put a target on the back of Australian workers”.

The shadow workplace relations minister, Michaelia Cash, says this is “farcical” because Labor is asking about “hypothetical opposition policies” that haven’t been drafted that “might be put to the Australian people in a future election”.

She adds this is “Monty Pythonesque”.

Sheldon defends the questions as important for “certainty” over workplace relations reform.

Watt queries whether Taylor had “gone off script”, quipping “well done Angus”. Cash tries to laugh it all off.

Watt criticises Peter Dutton for promising to repeal the right to disconnect, and Taylor for adding multi-employer bargaining to the list of reforms to be repealed.

So – we are now getting dixers in estimates about opposition policies.

 

01:35

The National Press Club address from Rod Sims and Ross Garnaut is about to begin.

They are talking tax reform, climate opportunities and what we are missing.

We’ll bring you parts of it where we can, particularly from the Q and A.

 

01:31Andrew Messenger

Queensland crossbench pressures Labor to abandon $2.7bn Gabba rebuild

Queensland parliament’s crossbench is pressuring the Labor state government to kill the $2.7bn rebuild of the Gabba stadium for the 2032 Olympics.

“John Coates, the Brisbane lord mayor and even Peter Beattie have now joined the Greens campaign against the Gabba demolition. Will the premier finally listen to Queenslanders and cool off the Gabba demolition?” the Greens MP Michael Berkman asked in question time.

Last week, the International Olympic Committee vice-president Coates told a state government review the project has become divisive and should be called off. The inquiry, led by the former LNP lord mayor Graham Quirk, is scheduled to report back next month.

Miles replied:

I understand why the Greens political party want to make this a political issue for their own electoral advantages, but we certainly won’t be.

That is why we commissioned work to look at the Games’ master plan and identify for us the best-value options …

I certainly hope that it helps us to deliver a better outcome and that’s why we have undertaken this process, as I say, in good faith.

The parliament will debate a motion sponsored by the Katter’s Australian party MP Nick Dametto calling for the government to cancel the entire Games and redirect the $7bn he said it would cost to state government services and “nation-building” infrastructure in regional Queensland.

 

01:26

Cash relishes ‘absolute disgrace’ of staff underpayment in workplace minister’s department

The Liberal senator Michaelia Cash is still having fun in estimates. Cash, in her capacity as shadow workplace minister, picked up from the last employment estimates and asked about the underpayment of staff in the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.

It is too delicious for Cash to not relish – Tony Burke’s department underpaid staff. While it is being addressed, the department was forced to admit today that it underpaid more staff than it originally thought but could not say how many or by how much.

(It is a bit complicated, but it relates to an award and staff not being paid the correct rate for hours worked before and after particular times.)

This department has still not sorted out its underpayment problems that were discovered in June last year. They’ve admitted today their audit will not be finalised until June this year.

It is an absolute disgrace that Minister Burke has not demanded his own department get this issue sorted out.

There is nothing Cash loves more than being able to point out “an absolute disgrace”. She then went for the big finish:

How are small businesses in Australia expected to negotiate Australian complex workplace laws if the department which administers them can’t even get paying their own staff right and then take over a year to rectify the situation?

 

01:20

Seems there has been a nationwide edict for Labor MPs to refer to the Greens as “the Greens political party”.

Anthony Albanese has been doing it for some time and now the Queensland premier, Steven Miles, is using it.

 

00:59

The former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull is in the building and has been spotted speaking with former colleagues.

The parliament bush telegraph system is alive and well, given how many people have sent messages alerting us to his appearance.

 

00:57

Protesters say they will remain outside PM’s electorate office until a Gaza ceasefire

An indefinite protest is being staged outside Anthony Albanese’s electorate office by people calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Protesters have set up camp outside the office and have said they will remain there until there is a permanent ceasefire.

In his final speech to the parliament last year Albanese addressed the protests that had been held outside his office:

I’ll just make this point: blocking an electorate office of a member of parliament doesn’t change a political decision.

What it does is stop people who need their local member from getting access on issues of social security, healthcare and others.

The Middle East is a very difficult issue, but my electorate office are not responsible for anything that is happening there.

 

00:48

Anthony Albanese gives his speech on the tax changes after Barnaby Joyce runs out of time in his contribution.

In the middle of the speech, the Liberal member for O’Connor, Rick Wilson, who is representing the Coalition sitting across from Albanese, interjects with a sledge and Albanese answers “if I knew what this guy’s seat was I could answer his interjection”, which is the parliamentary version of “sorry to this man”.

 

00:40

Barnaby Joyce:

If it’s 2024, why don’t you give us the same services that you have in your 2024 world in your urban environment?

Why don’t we get the childcare?

Why don’t we get those services? Why don’t we get those?

Why don’t we get them?

Why don’t we get those services?

Why are you not talking about how you’re going to get buses out?

Why don’t you talk about how you could get doctors into regional areas?

Why don’t we have a discussion about why you can’t get obstetrics?

Why don’t we have a discussion about why we can’t get aged care?

There are a lot of discussions if you want to talk about 2024, the way you live in urban Australia, in the inner suburbs, is completely and utterly distracted and different to the life that we have to live with.

And the infuriating we have is we hear comments just like that, just like that scoring a cheap political point and completely ignorant to the realities of the lives of the people who are actually doing it really tough in this nation.

Joyce was deputy prime minister (twice) in a Coalition government which was in power for almost a decade until 2022. So when he asks those questions, which are valid, perhaps he could also ask them of himself and those around him, who had the power to make changes for close to 10 years. None of these are new issues. None of them have just popped up since Labor was in power.

 

00:36

Barnaby Joyce’s contribution on the tax changes continues as a laundry list of (valid) challenges of living in a regional area.

He moves on to fuel and says that to get children to school, mother’s have to drive them.

Getting kids to school means that mothers have to drive them, because we don’t have bus services, the mothers have to drive them and to be quite frank because if the guy is working in another job and bring money in or if it’s the guy at home and to be honest, that’s not as much obviously, but because they have to drive, they can’t have a job.

They don’t have a job because their whole day is occupied driving the kids to school and picking them up from school and driving them home.

Someone from Labor interjects that it is fathers too and Joyce says he just said that.

Joyce:

What you have is you have the opportunity of two-income families. And we don’t. We don’t.

The interjection from the Labor bench continues on Joyce’s gender explanation saying it’s 2024 and this sets Joyce right off.

 

00:28

Joyce says Labor has no excuse to ‘break your promise’ on stage-three tax

The house is back to debating the stage-three tax changes.

Barnaby Joyce is particularly animated over the “broken promise” aspect.

Yeah, it’s a great parlour game and is so clever. But ultimately all that people remember is they never thank you for the tax cut, but I remember that you broke your promise.

And that’s precisely what’s happened here.

Of course, if you decide to [say], you’ve got more money than you have before, what do you think about that? And so it’s a great idea, find the one person who, who’s you know, who’s cognisant of what’s happening in their wallet and say, How do you feel about having more money in your wallet? It’s a no-brainer, but that does not give you an excuse to break your promise.

 

00:28

Barnaby Joyce’s contribution goes to a variety of issues:

If you really want to look out for people who are doing it tough. You gotta one of the core issues in their life, their power bill, their grocery bill, their capacity to pay for dangerous, the fact that it goes secondhand car and if you start changing fuel standards and saying this is going to happen, that’s going to happen.

That’s all well and good where people have money, but where they don’t have money, they can’t afford the car they got and every time they go to get groceries, they can’t go to a corner store because there is no corner store.

And if there is it’s incredibly expensive. Their trip to the major supermarket takes fuel and everything they do is more expensive. So you’ve got to go to the fundamentals of the life and address that. And the role the Nationals and the member for Calare and members of around here who live with it.

 

00:20

Barnaby Joyce:

How many years we’ve been dealing with this? And what have we [achieved]?

How far have we actually progressed?

How far have we actually managed to [address] the sword of Damocles so that these people aren’t failing?

You know, what have we actually done?

Isn’t it something that we should think about it, and look at other countries such as the United States and Canada, and England and go what are those countries do?

How do they go about it?

What are we missing here?

I just pose that question because I know that the people in the big supermarkets, I know you’re watching, and I know you know exactly what I’m talking about.

So, this is another issue that has to be looked at.

Treasury boss sees ‘upside risks’ to revenue, hinting at budget surplus

00:08Peter Hannam

Steven Kennedy, the Treasury secretary, is up before Senate estimates this morning, and pointing to an economy generally heading in the right direction.

Inflation is declining – with “no evidence of a wage-price spiral” – and while unemployment is likely to tick up towards 4.5%, that rate is still pretty good in terms of the track record of recent decades.

Kennedy noted the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (Myefo) released in mid-December had indicated the budget would run a cash deficit of $1.1bn. However, with iron ore and coking coal prices remaining higher than the Treasury’s (super) conservative levels and the labour market holding up, “there are further upside risks to tax receipts”.

In other words, given we only have about a third of the fiscal year to go, it’s a strong bet that the Albanese government will book a second successive budget surplus once the books are closed for the 2023-24 year.

The opposition might have some justification in saying the first of those surpluses owed a lot to the economic recovery under way when Labor took power. But to keep the budget in surplus earns the Albanese government some credit.

Myefo’s forecasts, meanwhile, predicted an $18.8bn deficit for the 2024-25 year. Who knows, might we be on track for a “three-peat” of surpluses? (Kennedy wasn’t asked that, but he’s got a couple of hours to go.)

7.4m calls to Services Australia put on hold, Senate estimates hears

00:06Cait Kelly

Back in Senate estimates, they are talking about call wait times to Services Australia.

Tabled documents show 7,444,939 calls to Services Australia received a congestion message in the FYTD to 31 December. On top of this, 2,342,464 calls were terminated by customers.

Senator Janet Rice:

On the basic figures you’ve given us here, for people for employment services, you handled just over 3 million calls and over 2 million people got congestion messages. That to me is almost 40% of people who were trying to get through to you weren’t able to. The calls are effectively blocked.

The deputy chief executive officer, Jarrod Howard:

They’re not blocked, senator.

Because what I would say to that is if you look in the other column there at the balanced inquiry, where we’ve got nearly 2 million customers that have self-managed, that’s through the IVR (interactive voice response). So they may have accessed the IVR while congestion messages have been played.

 

00:03Peter Hannam

Treasury doesn’t anticipate a ‘revenue penalty’ from fuel efficiency standards

The Victorian Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie isn’t a fan of the government’s proposed fuel efficiency standards, it seems. (The plans are still out for consultation and elements of the automotive industry aren’t fans either.)

According to McKenzie, the government is making “quite an aggressive push”, that would trigger a “very fundamental cultural shift” for Australians. (Navigating around the increasing number of oversized utes on our roads makes some wonder whether a shift back to less indulgent choices might not be a bad thing.)

Anyway, the Treasury secretary, Steven Kennedy, notes subtly that Australia having fuel efficiency standards would be joining much of the rest of the world (only Russia among OECD nations doesn’t have them, other than us).

And since Australia is a “small market” globally, prices won’t be set here but elsewhere, Kennedy says. Carmakers are making more efficient vehicles for other nations and they’d head here too.

Kennedy also says he doesn’t anticipate a “revenue penalty” from the introduction of fuel standards. McKenzie does try to advance the concern that there would be less money available for road maintenance because electric vehicle owners won’t pay fuel excise.

Of course, excise goes into general revenue and isn’t tied to actual road spending. Anyway, the take-up of EVs is noted elsewhere in the intergenerational reports.

As the government hasn’t settled on the final standards any revision to the projected EV advance – and lower fuel excise – will have to wait for that decision.

 

13 Feb 2024 23:58

Tax and tax reform is a pretty big issue on the political agenda at the moment, but experts say there are areas we could be making changes in, that we’re not:

 

13 Feb 2024 23:57

Given Mardi Gras Fair Day has been cancelled over this, here is an explainer on what is going on with all the asbestos being found in Sydney:

 

13 Feb 2024 23:53Daniel Hurst

At the estimates hearing, the Coalition’s Simon Birmingham wants to know whether Richard Marles has ever raised issues with spelling or grammar within briefs presented by the Department of Defence to him.

The secretary, Greg Moriarty, says the minister “very reasonably points out the need for us to focus on quality in the work we provide to him”.

Pressed again on whether Marles had raised spelling or grammar issues, Moriarty says:

A number of my ministers over the years have raised quality issues with the department’s work from time to time and this is no different.

(This sounds very much like a yes.)

Birmingham turns to whether Marles – who is also the deputy prime minister – has expressed any expectations about how he should be addressed by Defence and officials – “MinDef or DPM or he doesn’t mind?”

Moriarty states his own view:

The deputy prime minster, I believe, should be referred to as the deputy prime minister. He’s also the minister for defence, but I think it’s important to acknowledge the seniority of his position in the government.

Birmingham presses the point: has Marles or his office ever requested specifically to be referred to as such?

Moriarty:

I’m not aware, senator, but I think he’s widely regarded as the deputy prime minister and I think that’s appropriate.

The chief of the ADF, Angus Campbell, jumps in:

I’ve certainly told my officers that he should be addressed as deputy prime minister in all official circumstances because that’s the appropriate respect offered to the senior appointment.

 

13 Feb 2024 23:32Cait Kelly

Services Australia apologises for long call wait times

Tabled documents show the average wait time for people calling Services Australia about issues with employment services is sitting at 48 minutes.

Senator Janet Rice:

What do you say to those people? This is actually literally life and death for people.

The Services Australia deputy chief executive officer, Jarrod Howard:

We are working really hard to answer as many calls as we can … I acknowledge and I apologise to any customer who is struggling to get through to us. There is not a person in the agency that does not want to serve customers.

Later, Howard said the telephone wait times should be reduced by March.

 

13 Feb 2024 23:31

Coalition queries Defence over Ukraine helicopter request

Over in defence estimates, the Liberal senator David Fawcett is trying to find out who has signed off on various briefs regarding the request from Ukraine for Australia’s retired Taipan helicopter fleet.

Defence supplied statements to the government that the aircraft was already being stripped for parts, which is why the request could not be met.

Leaked photos of the aircraft from Townsville defence bases were then given to the media to say that not all the aircraft has been dis-assembled and the request could be met.

There is a back and forth over whether or not defence gave the government the right advice given the leaked photos.

Defence refutes that the statements were wrong – and says it is not just the flying elements of defence aircraft that matter (the gearboxes etc) but some of the software and the black box which matter, and those have been taken.

 

13 Feb 2024 23:21

‘Happy Valentine’s Day’: Ley’s ‘date with the truth’ gets another run

Sussan Ley also fronted up to Sky News this morning.

How did she open her interview, you might ask. With something that might sound a little familiar if you caught her earlier doorstop interview.

Happy Valentine’s Day Pete, it’s great to kick it off on your show.

I think that Anthony Albanese, Clare O’Neil and Andrew Giles need a date with the truth today.

For those who don’t want to scroll down, here was the doorstop opening:

Well, good morning. Happy Valentine’s Day everybody.

Anthony Albanese, Clare O’Neil and Andrew Giles need a date with the truth today.

 

13 Feb 2024 23:21Daniel Hurst

Defence chief says recruitment shortage is a priority

The chief of the Australian defence force, Angus Campbell, is giving evidence at Senate estimates this morning.

He has acknowledged ongoing issues with recruiting and retention, which he says Defence is addressing as a priority:

As at 1 January 2024 the ADF is 6.9%, or 4,308 people, below its authorised strength. Inflow rates remain below the level required to maintain our current force.

Campbell says recruiting performance in the ADF is highly correlated with broader employment market conditions. He says low unemployment means low recruiting rates.

He says there is “very considerable effort and innovation” that informs changes to recruiting. One idea on the table is “widening the aperture” of eligibility “including through consideration of non-citizen enlistment on a pathway to citizenship”.

 

13 Feb 2024 23:19

The house is sitting and the estimates hearings have begun.

Today the hearings are:

Education and employment

Community affairs

Economics

Defence (foreign affairs and trade is tomorrow. How is it only Wednesday?)

 

13 Feb 2024 23:11Peter Hannam

Employment a big focus of questions to Treasury at Senate estimates

Employment has been a big focus of questions from senators to Treasury. Workers will finally get to see real wage increases in the order of 0.5% this financial year (probably starting around now), with the pace doubling to 1% next year.

That gain will help claw back some of the reduction of a bit more than that combined total in the past couple of years.

The jobless rate of about 3.9% is probably close to full employment – the level that neither adds nor subtracts to inflation.

The Treasury secretary, Steven Kennedy, who is also on the RBA board, channelled the central bank governor, Michele Bullock, in saying it’s difficult to know if we’re quite there, but the “opportunity is still present” to achieve full employment.

“We’re doing our best to preserve as much employment as possible,” Kennedy said, referring to both his Treasury and RBA hats.

Among the benefits are that a lot of young people are getting into the workforce, with resulting “lifetime echoes”. Once people get work, they tend to keep working.

Kennedy also noted Bullock’s predecessor, Philip Lowe (whom he didn’t name), shared the same intent in keeping the jobless rate down. That could be interpreted as an explanation why the RBA is prepared to be patient for inflation to drift lower towards its 2%-3% target range including reaching the midpoint of 2.5% by early 2026 – two years away.

We’ll get January jobs figures tomorrow so we’ll see how the labour market was holding up at the start of the year.

 

13 Feb 2024 23:05Daniel Hurst

The Coalition senator Simon Birmingham presses the defence department secretary, Greg Moriarty, about state governments and defence industry firms raising concerns about delays in decision-making on major projects:

Has anybody raised concerns about delays and uncertainty with you, Mr Moriarty?

Moriarty has a positive spin on it, reframing the claim somewhat:

I’d characterise it as a number of key partners looking forward to the government’s announcements at the appropriate time.

This prompts Birmingham to declare: “Come on!”

Jenny McAllister, who is representing the minister at the estimates table, says the Labor government is taking an “orderly approach to decision-making” unlike the Coalition’s submarine project twists and turns.

 

13 Feb 2024 22:50Daniel Hurst

Defence chief asked about report of ‘war’ between Marles and department

The Defence estimates hearing gets straight into business: testing a report in the Australian Financial Review last week of a “war” between Richard Marles and his department.

The Coalition’s Simon Birmingham quips:

There won’t be any Valentine’s Day cards flowing between the minister for defence and his department will there?

After a slightly awkward silence, Birmingham says he will “go to a serious question perhaps flowing on from that”.

Birmingham asks for confirmation the defence minister “laid down the law” to his department tale last year.

The secretary, Greg Moriarty, says he found the meeting in question “very useful” to gain an understanding of the minister’s objectives, priorities and expectations. Looking on the bright side, Moriarty says Marles “also set out areas where he was very pleased with the performance of the department”.

Moriarty wouldn’t characterise it as “laying down the law”. He says it was “not unusual in the context of previous meetings with previous ministers”.

Moriarty is asked about Marles’ comments in parliament last week casting doubt over whether the Department of Defence and the ADF had a culture of excellence at present. The secretary is playing nice:

Of course, the minister was very right to suggest that we continue to need to make strides to make excellence and that is an ongoing challenge.

He says the attempt to “strive” for excellence is “an ongoing journey – one we are committed to”.

 

13 Feb 2024 22:43Cait Kelly

Centrelink backlog expected to reduce by mid-year, Senate estimates hears

In Senate estimates, the CEO of Services Australia, David Hazlehurst, says he is expecting the backlog of Centrelink claims to come down by the middle of the year.

What my expectation at this stage is that, as I’ve said, by April we expect to see some impact.

And I would expect that by the middle of the year, particularly in relation to new claims on hand, we’d expect to see things back more towards what we would expect to be a reasonable standard now.

He says a reasonable amount would be between 400,000 and 500,000 claims.

If we can get it below that, that would be terrific. We’re going to continue to monitor it and continue to provide advice to the government on the long-term resource base needed for the agency to meet the expectations of the public.

Hazlehurst says things will accelerate when the staff they are currently onboarding to help manage the backlog have been trained properly.

 

13 Feb 2024 22:24Cait Kelly

Reducing Centrelink backlog of 1.1m claims is critical, says new boss

Services Australia has told Senate estimates it currently has a backlog of more than 1.1m unprocessed new claims.

The new CEO of Services Australia, David Hazlehurst, says:

My first priority is to declare the agency’s claims on hand, which as of 31st December, were sitting at 1.1m claims.

Reducing this backlog of claims is critical, not only because it means Australians are waiting longer to get the support they need but also because longer processing times lead to longer wait call times as customers call to check on the progress of their claim.

As the minister noted, the agency has prioritised recruitment since the government’s announcement of additional funding in November. Within 10 weeks of the announcement, all 3,000 new service delivery positions were filled.

 

13 Feb 2024 22:01

It seems the independent senator Lidia Thorpe heard the Indigenous Australians minister, Linda Burney, speaking on ABC radio this morning:

 

13 Feb 2024 21:52

The Nationals leader continued making it clear that he did not consider Barnaby Joyce’s actions to be “normal behaviour” while also making it clear that there is more going on.

He obviously welcomed the offer and wanted to go away and consider it. And obviously, he needs to consult his family. And this is a deeply personal matter for Barnaby and his family to work through, and I’m not going to breach his confidence about what those circumstances are. But it’s important that he knows that an environment has been created for him and his family to be able to deal with issues that he’s facing.

Q: I mean, lots of us deal with personal issues, lots of politicians in Parliament House deal with personal issues. Is that really an excuse for that video we all saw play out last week?

Littleproud:

No, that’s not normal behaviour. He’s embarrassed himself and come forward and made it very clear that he not only embarrassed himself but he embarrassed his family. And it’s not something that you would think would happen in the normal course of a day.

So it’s important that we work through this methodically around what are the underlying causes of this. And one of those is around a mixture of the medication he was provided with alcohol. He acknowledges that. But there are other driving force that I won’t divulge. If Barnaby wants to make that public, it’s up to him. But I’ve got to work through this with the information that I’m provided to make sure that I create that environment of support, and ensuring that he gets every piece of support that he needs.

Nationals leader asks Barnaby Joyce to consider taking personal leave

13 Feb 2024 21:49

David Littleproud has confirmed he has asked Barnaby Joyce to consider taking personal leave. This comes after Joyce was filmed lying on a Canberra street speaking profanities into his phone late on Wednesday night. Joyce has blamed the incident on mixing prescription medication with alcohol.

Littleproud told the ABC early this morning he wanted Joyce to take time to deal with some issues in his private life.

Barnaby and I had a conversation yesterday about the circumstances that led to the behaviour that we saw last week. And that’s not normal behaviour. He’s embarrassed himself and he’s embarrassed his family.

But it’s important to understand that there are circumstances that are greater than what has publicly been [said] around a mixture of medication and alcohol.

There’s some family circumstances that his family need to deal with, and I encouraged him to take some time to deal with that emotionally to make sure that his family understood that he was there for them.

But that we were there for Barnaby.

That we were going to create an environment for him to be able to address those issues. That’s my job, is to ensure that that environment is created, and it’s up to Barnaby now if he wants to take that time. But we strongly encouraged him to do that. So I had comfort that he could continue to contribute constructively to our message to the Australian people.

 

13 Feb 2024 21:47

So what happens if Barnaby Joyce doesn’t take him up on the offer of leave?

David Littleproud:

Well, we’re encouraging him to take this. And we want to make this offer to him. And obviously, if he doesn’t want to take it, he’ll want to demonstrate to us that he can continue on unimpeded and I think that’s important and he’s made big steps towards that.

But this is more about not necessarily the medication, but around the family circumstances. And I think that it is important that, as I said to him, it’s important that he’s there for his family. It’s not just us being there for him, but him being there for his family, to support them, through some trying circumstances.

 

13 Feb 2024 21:46

The longer women are held in immigration detention, the more likely they are to be victims of violence, researchers find

AAP has reported on new research showing the “longer refugee and asylum-seeking women are held in Australian immigration detention, the more likely they are to be victims of violence, adding to their trauma”.

From the report:

A new study looks at data from publicly available Commonwealth Ombudsman reports on 252 women from 2013 to 2017, finding detention centres are unsafe spaces for women.

The research is to be published in the peer-reviewed journal Punishment & Society later in 2024.

The Griffith University criminologist Lorena Rivas, who authored the study, said the key factor influencing women’s experience of violent victimisation is their long-term detention.

The more time they spent in custody, the more likely they were to have been victims of abuse, assault and other degrading forms of violence.

The length of time both male and female detainees are held within such centres has increased more than eight-fold over the past decade from an average of almost three months (81 days) in 2013 to more than two years (708 days) in 2023.

The women in the study spent on average nearly three years in immigration detention.

It was found that being detained for longer than two-and-a-half years nearly tripled the prevalence of abuse and assault reported by women compared with those detained for a shorter period.

 

13 Feb 2024 21:43

Dutton intervened to allow criminal to extend stay in Australia

Given the Coalition’s focus on the cohort of people released from indefinite detention by the high court decision, it is probably worth checking out this story from Paul Karp:

Peter Dutton personally intervened to allow a person with criminal convictions to stay in Australia for a further two months despite his department refusing on three previous occasions.

The revelation about Dutton’s decision in February 2018, when he was home affairs minister, is contained in documents that were produced to a Senate inquiry that investigated his personal intervention in favour of two au pairs.

Dutton granted a visitor visa to the person two days after his office requested a submission, despite there being no evidence of a required change in circumstances since earlier refusals and departmental concerns about the person’s claim to be married to an Australian.

Now the last time someone from the Coalition had to answer a question about a story like this was late last year when it all kicked off. Sussan Ley at the time said:

The details of how people are allowed to apply for protections on the Immigration Act are varied and they are sometimes outside the scope of government. So, I think it’s important that we note that. Because migration law is not just about what happens in the system that we do control but also in the system we don’t control …

Just something to keep in mind as this debate continues.

 

13 Feb 2024 21:33

Labor says 3,000 new staff are cutting Centrelink backlog and wait times

Bill Shorten says the 3,000 new recruits to Services Australia are already cutting the claims backlog and call wait times for Centrelink.

(We’ll let you tell us if this has been your reality though.)

Shorten says:

The extra staff are improving access to Centrelink and Medicare payments and services. This Government is committed to supporting Australians when they need it most.

This will no doubt also come up in Senate estimates.

CBA prints $5bn cash profit

13 Feb 2024 21:31Jonathan Barrett

Commonwealth Bank has recorded a $5bn half-year cash profit, down 3% from a year earlier, as the head of Australia’s biggest lender warns that risks are building in the economy.

The CBA chief executive, Matt Comyn, says he expects financial strains to continue in 2024 with an increase in loan arrears and impairments as rising interest rates pressure households.

Comyn says that while customers have found it harder to absorb cost-of-living pressures, the economy has been “fairly resilient”.

He says:

However, downside risks are building as slowing demand and persistent inflation impact Australian businesses.

Ongoing geopolitical tensions also create uncertainty.

The bank’s net interest margin, a key gauge of profitability, compressed by six basis points in the December half to 1.99%. It blamed the squeeze on increasing competition for deposits and customers switching into higher rate products.

Australia’s big banks tended to reach peak profitability early last year after they benefited from rapid-fire rises in the official cash rate, passed on to mortgage customers.

CBA announced an interim dividend of $2.15 a share, 2% higher than the corresponding half. Its shares have been trading at a record high.

 

13 Feb 2024 21:22

Mardi Gras Fair Day cancelled due to asbestos contamination in park

Tamsin Rose, our NSW state correspondent, has let us know the City of Sydney and Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras have cancelled Sunday’s Fair Day event in Victoria Park.

Why? Because of the ongoing asbestos contamination in mulch saga.

The council reports:

On Monday 12 February, following advice from the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) about possible asbestos contamination in mulch, test results found bonded asbestos at Victoria Park.

The City and Sydney Mardi Gras have been working together closely over the past two days to coordinate clean-up of the affected areas while bumping in Fair Day infrastructure in time to hold the event.

Following a more detailed investigation into the safety concerns at Victoria Park, it has become clear to the City and Sydney Mardi Gras that an event of the scale of Fair Day is unable to proceed this Sunday.

The City and Sydney Mardi Gras will continue to work together to deliver other events over the 17 days of the festival.

Indigenous Australians minister rejects opposition call for spending audit

13 Feb 2024 21:18

Linda Burney is speaking to ABC radio RN Breakfast about the latest Closing the Gap update and Peter Dutton’s calls for an audit of spending.

Burney says there “will be no audit”.

The audit that Peter Dutton is referring to is very ill-defined in my view and, once again I go back to my first point, is very much short-term politics and blaming Aboriginal community organisations which are incredibly audited and incredibly accountable.

I don’t think an audit is required. What’s required is more effort and bipartisanship, quite frankly, across the parliament, and across the country. In terms of getting outcomes.

 

13 Feb 2024 21:16

Emily Wind is running a separate blog on the fire and power situation in Victoria.

You can find all the updates on what is happening there, here:

 

13 Feb 2024 21:08

Coalition stunt master urges a Valentine’s Day ‘date with the truth’ for Labor

Sussan Ley continues to be the stunt master for the Coalition.

The deputy leader used Valentine’s Day (does anyone actually celebrate that?) to make a point, reminding people everywhere that it was actually Valentine’s Day.

Ley held a quick doorstop this morning to say:

Happy Valentine’s Day everybody.

Anthony Albanese, Clare O’Neil and Andrew Giles need a date with the truth today.

When is this weak prime minister going to sack his immigration minister?

 

13 Feb 2024 21:03

When it comes to treaty and truth-telling though, things are a little less clear. For all intents and purposes the government seems to be backing away from a designated federal process. We heard some of that yesterday, but Linda Burney continues it today.

For all Jacinta Price is accusing the Labor government of doing treaty “by stealth” that doesn’t appear to be the reality. Instead, existing processes look like being utilised.

On truth-telling Burney says:

I am having discussions with the cabinet about that, and I’m not going to go into those discussions. But the issue of truth-telling is incredibly important. And there are many, many ways in which that can happen, including the school curriculum.

And on treaty:

The reality is the treaty process is well under way at a state and in many ways at a local level. You look at the Noongar agreement in and around Perth. For all intents and purposes, that’s a treaty.

 

13 Feb 2024 20:59

On moving forward, Linda Burney says:

What I’m suggesting is that we will listen to what people are saying.

I know that there are some people in the media, but I want to talk also to community leadership. I’m meeting with land councils today, for example, who are in Canberra this week for estimates. Those are the organisations that really worked very hard towards the referendum and I want to hear from them where they believe the next steps should be.

There’s some stunning silver linings over the referendum – we had 40% of Australians say yes, we had the Aboriginal communities, particularly in Jacinta Price’s backyard, for example, overwhelmingly say yes at 89-92%. And we also saw what I think is just stunning, a group of emerging leadership group amongst young people.

 

13 Feb 2024 20:56

How does the government work towards that goal, given the referendum campaign and result?

Linda Burney:

There is enormous hurt, and in many cases dismay, at the outcome of the referendum.

There is no two ways about that.

But there is also the important point of the referendum is over and done with; we accept the outcome, whether we like it or not we accept the outcome, and we respect the outcome the Australian people delivered.

But that doesn’t mean it was the only shot in the locker – there are many things, for example, during a range of programs, for example, for jobs we announced yesterday; for example, the children’s commissioner that we announced yesterday; for example, wifi into remote communities; things like clean water for the first time in many communities.

Those things will continue, including the wonderful initiatives that we’re undertaking in health, including rheumatic heart disease, those things will continue.

The referendum was devastating. But I can tell you this, that as I’ve moved around the country the resilience of Aboriginal people is inspirational.

Good morning

13 Feb 2024 20:40

Welcome back to Politics Live. Thank you very much to Martin for updating us – you have Amy Remeikis with you now and I’ll take you through most of the day.

Estimates continues and you’re going to hear more attacks from the opposition over the government’s (particularly Andrew Giles) handling of the indefinite detention decision.

If that seems a bit of a past flash back – it is. It was where we were at the end of last year. But it’s all about the socials and the Coalition is running a ‘we locked them up, Labor let them out’ campaign which may be disingenuous at best and dangerous at worst, but with the Dunkley byelection looming, its gloves off.

Cost of living also remains a focus, but Labor feels it’s on firmer footing there.

Paul Karp, Daniel Hurst, Sarah Basford Canales and Josh Butler will keep you updated on everything you need to know and Mike Bowers will take you there.

It’s at least a four coffee morning. Ready? Let’s get into it.

 

13 Feb 2024 20:37

AFP officer said he would authorise surveillance on autistic boy again

The Australian federal police deputy commissioner Ian McCartney, who authorised an undercover counter-terror operation against an autisitic teenager, told a Senate hearing last night that he would “sign that [authorisation] again” if the circumstances were repeated.

Guardian Australia revealed earlier this month that a Victorian children’s court had granted a permanent stay in the case of the boy, given the pseudonym Thomas Carrick, with magistrate Lesley Fleming making a raft of serious findings against police, including that they had fed his fixation with Islamic State.

McCartney said that attempts to deradicalise the boy after his parents approached Victoria police in April 2021 had failed, and he was thought to be becoming a greater threat when McCartney authorised the major controlled operation.

That operation involved Thomas being targeted by an undercover officer online.

McCartney, whose conduct was not directly criticised in the magistrate’s decision, told the Senate late on Tuesday that “if I had the same set of circumstances, I would sign that [authorisation] again.

“He’d expressed a desire to carry out a violent act, he had expressed a desire to carry out a school shooting, he was researching material on how to build a bomb, he was engaging with likeminded individuals.

Read the full story by our courts and justice reporter Nino Bucci here:

CSIRO chief appointed to government’s AI panel

13 Feb 2024 20:35

The government’s consideration of mandatory rules for artificial intelligence programs begins in earnest today, with the CSIRO’s chief scientist among experts appointed to a panel group.

The industry and science minister, Ed Husic, will announce more details at a press conference in Canberra later today, but his office overnight shared details of the new AI expert group, which Husic flagged last month as part of the government’s work on the fast-growing new tech space.

There will be 12 appointees to the group, including CSIRO chief scientist Prof Bronwyn Cox, AI expert Prof Toby Walsh and legal practitioner Angus Lang SC, an expert in intellectual property law.

The group is a temporary one, operating until 30 June at this stage, with more long-term arrangements still under consideration. Husic said the group’s first task about be to “consider options for mandatory guardrails for high-risk AI settings”, such as rules to apply to all platforms, as well as defining “high risk AI”, issues around transparency on how AI models are trained, and watermarks on AI-generated content.

Husic said the group “brings the right mix of skills to steer the formation of mandatory guardrails for high-risk AI settings”.

“It’s imperative sophisticated models underpinning high risk AI systems are transparent and well tested,” he said.

 

13 Feb 2024 20:26

If you’re reading this from Victoria, make sure you take care again today – temperatures might not be as bad as yesterday, but fire conditions will persist.

Minister announces $14.4m for emergency food relief

13 Feb 2024 20:15Josh Butler

The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, has announced $14.4m for emergency food relief programs nationwide.

In recognition of Australians going through “hard times”, with spiralling numbers of people reaching out to food banks in this cost of living and housing crisis, the government says it is “strengthening the support available for Australians experiencing financial crisis”.

Rishworth’s announcement includes funding to be shared between 192 commonwealth-funded emergency relief providers and all three commonwealth-funded food relief providers.

The minister said there had been “increased demand for their services”, and that the services also helped respond to natural disasters like the recent Queensland floods.

“It is essential we have a strong system of relief to help Australians through the hard times,” Rishworth said.

“We are taking action to ensure the rising number of Australian households reaching out for aid, can access support as they contend with rising cost of living pressures.”

Welcome

13 Feb 2024 19:32

Good morning and welcome to our rolling politics blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the best of the overnight and breaking stories before I hand over to Amy Remeikis.

Peter Dutton has attacked Labor’s handling of the release of people from unlawful immigration detention last year – now his own record as home affairs minister has come under the microscope – including now how he personally intervened to extend the stay of someone with criminal convictions by two months. Although his department refusing on three previous occasions, Dutton granted a visitor visa to the person despite there being no evidence of a required change in circumstances since earlier refusals, Senate inquiry documents show.

The government’s consideration of mandatory rules for artificial intelligence programs begins in earnest today, with the CSIRO chief scientist among experts appointed to a panel group. Industry and science minister Ed Husic will announce more details at a press conference in Canberra later today, but we have some details coming up.

A tax on fossil fuel production could help fund the transition to becoming a carbon-free energy giant, lower the cost of living and assist the world to cut greenhouse emissions, veteran economists Ross Garnaut and Rod Sims will tell the National Press Club today. A so-called carbon solution levy would raise $100bn in its first year alone if introduced in 2030-31 and set at Europe’s five-year average price of $90/tonne of carbon dioxide-equivalent, they estimate.

The Australian federal police officer who authorised an undercover operation that resulted in an autistic boy being charged with terror offences told a Senate estimates hearing late last night that he would do so again under the same circumstances. More coming up.

And with the cost-of-living crisis, the housing crisis, and multiple natural disasters, food banks are fielding rising demand. The government has thrown them a financial lifeline: more on that in a few minutes.