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Anthony Albanese meets Japanese PM ahead of Shinzo Abe funeral
Anthony Albanese has held a bilateral meeting with Japan’s prime minister Fumio Kishida while he is in Tokyo for Shinzo Abe’s funeral.
His office has released the public opening remarks:
Well, thank you very much for the welcome on my second visit to Japan as prime minister. It is important that Australia show our condolence to yourself as prime minister, but also to the people of Japan on the tragic loss of former prime minister Shinzo Abe.
He was very well respected. And as an international statesperson, it is clear that the Quad leaders’ dialogue would not have occurred without his leadership.
The relationship between Australia and Japan is so important and that importance is underlined by the fact that I am here as the sitting prime minister, even though our parliament is sitting.
I have brought with me as well the former prime ministers Turnbull, Abbott and Howard. So you have a very high-level attendance to pay our respects and show our respects to not just Mr Abe’s family but to the people of Japan.
We share such common interests, in particular for a free and open Indo-Pacific, which is so important that we continue to work together and to work with our partners as well to advance that common interest.
Key events
Melissa Price to Linda Burney:
My question is to the minister for Indigenous Australians. (I miss the name but it’s a WA figure who has concerns about) Labor’s decision to scrap the debit card will unleash an avalanche of drugs and alcohol into communities. They fear the extra cash on the streets would lead to a spike in alcohol-related harm. He says I think it would be chaos. Will the government take full responsibility for any spike in domestic violence or child neglect in Indigenous communities as a consequence of abolishing the cashless card?
Burney:
Can I just say upfront that this commitment was an election policy, and it was an election policy that we take extremely seriously and an enormous amount of consultation with including (the person Price mentioned) who is in of course Western Australia. The Cashless Debit Card diminishes people’s self-worth. It is discriminatory and arbitrary. It is also very…
(there are interjections from the coalition)
Burney:
It is important to understand… If you want to hear this, then be quiet
…. It is also a piece of infrastructure policy that has been reviewed, and reviewed and reviewed. It was a piece of technology that was used by a private organisation for profit. That is the truth of it.
(there are more interjections)
And the other part of it is that mandatory income management across the board has been a failure. You seem to all forget that part of this legislation…
The other point is this, and this is very, very important. That this measure is voluntary. If people want to stay on the Cashless Debit Card or income management, that is their decision. We have made sure that within this piece of legislation, there is a voluntary component. There is also a component to the member for… Wherever you are from..
That there is also…within the legislation the component where people will be placed on income management if there is a court order against them, including child abuse. Including domestic violence. So get to know what the legislation is about before you start asking those sort of questions. We do not leave in mandatory income management. It is voluntary and there will be situations where there will be payable placed on income management because of the particular circumstances they find themselves in. That is this legislation. We have listened to the voices, we have consulted, and we will be going forward on this.
Paul Karp
The crossbench is not of one mind on the “exceptional circumstances” threshold for public hearings of the Nacc.
The Greens, Zali Steggall, and Kate Chaney are concerned:
Zoe Daniel, less so. She told Sky News she didn’t have a problem with the “exceptional circumstances” bar because “you do need a high bar to prevent damage to reputations”.
Helen Haines was more circumspect, saying she would wait until the bill is released.
Daniel Mulino (the member for Fraser) had a question on the Respect at Work report implementation.
Linda Burney:
I know that you have a deep commitment to respectful relationship and respectful workplaces, so thank you. I want to say also, that the Albanese Labor government takes this issue as we all do extremely seriously. It is without question that everyone has a right to be safe respected in their workplace. A commitment we should all have. The fact that some workplaces have not been safe respectful for so many Australians, especially women, is completely, absolutely unacceptable. And it seems as outrageous both inside and outside of this place.
The respect at work report found two out of five women have experienced sexual harassment in the past five years. It is not a laughing matter. It is not. And that’s why, in the last five years, and absolutely appalling high number and we all know that that must change. That is why we as a government will be introducing a bill to this House, to implement seven legislative changes, recommended by the six discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins and it will have proper oversight. This is a key part of our election commitment to implement the recommendations of the respect at work report, and we will do it in.
The passage of this bill will move Australia forward in our efforts to prevent workplace sexual harassment from happening, and the first place. And workplace sexual harassment isn’t just a safety issue, it is an economic one and it is represents a business, the social and emotional cost doing nothing is costing the Australian economy not 3.8 million but 3.8 billion dollars a year. The loss of productivity, staff turnover, and absenteeism. This legislation means that work places must take responsible and proportionate measures to completely eliminate sex discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation as far as possible. I am proud to be a Member of this government, that will bring this legislation forward.
Peter Dutton associates the opposition with the comments.
I have just been told of this contribution from Michael McCormack, to the house yesterday.
For some reason, the former deputy prime minister, minister of the crown, leader of the Nationals and member of the Australian parliament, felt it necessary to have the parliamentary record note, for all time, how he uses toilet paper.
I don’t know why the toilet habits of Australian politicians needed to be part of our official record, but here we are.
McCormack:
We all remember how everybody thought they needed 10 rolls of toilet paper every time they went to the toilet. We remember how people were reacting. I won’t tell you I’m a folder, not a scruncher! The parliament needed to know that, didn’t it? But, indeed, these were panicked times.
Kate Chaney has another of the crossbench questions:
Public hearings are an essential part of an incredible Anti-Corruption commission to rebuild trust in government, you indicated they will only be held in exceptional circumstances, why is the government setting the bar[so high] when it is in the public interest and what are exceptional circumstances?
Mark Dreyfus:
I thank the member for Curtin for the question and I thank her for her interest, along with the rest of the crossbench and indeed the whole of the parliament in this very important piece of legislation that we will be introducing tomorrow.
The particular question that has been asked by the Member for Curtin goes to the circumstances in which the commission will be able to hold public hearings.
Most important part of this is the commission will have power to hold public hearings, that will be when there are exceptional circumstances in the opinion of the commission and when it is in the public interest to do so, in the opinion of the commission.
There are a number of factors outlined in the bill which the commission may consider deciding to hold a public hearing, and it is appropriate in the view of the government that the discretion sits with the commission, we’re going to be directing the commission is to when it should hold private hearings and when it should hold public hearings, but I think all of those in this House would be aware that there will be a number of circumstances which would dictate against holding a public hearing, it might be that the subject matter of the investigation is concerned with national security information, or, it might be the subject matter of the instigation deals with matters that are either the subject of a current criminal trial, or a projected criminal trial.
All of those will be matters that would suggest to the commission that no public hearing should be held at a particular time, but a time may come later in the investigations were a public hearing will be appropriate, but at all times, we that this matter should be left to the discretion of the commission.
Catherine King gets a dixer on government programs, which is just an excuse to end her answer with this:
It stands in stark contrast to what these people did when they were in government, they took a very different approach.
Of course we see today the incredible lack of transparency, the pork barrelling that happened out of the community development grants.
We saw one project, a $25 million grant to accompany that 70 per cent is owned in the Cayman Islands.
We were left to clean up this absolute mess of porkbarrelling and reports which have seen nine projects that date back to 2016, six projects where there is no component, $18 million of projects with no actual location project, we had the minister the member for New England, [Barnaby Joyce] the previous Minister write to the Treasurer about two projects in to himself of which there is no actual record of any decision being made.
This is the mess you have left for us, I am very proud of our record in regional Australia, we are investing the regions and will continue to do so instead of the poor barrelling actually characterised by the last government and we will clean up this
Nationals MP asks if Labor will cut regional education infrastructure funding in budget
Pat Conaghan has a question for Kristy McBain:
Can the minister guarantee the government will not cut $340m out of regional education infrastructure funded in the 2022 budget? Specifically will the government support the $27.5m in regional development funding for the Southern Cross University, Coffs Harbour health services precinct?
McBain:
Thank you for the question. As you are aware we are doing a secondary budget, which isn’t something normal as part of the government process, but when we came to government there was $1tn in debt, and a range of programs …
Eleven seconds in and there is a point of order on relevance. Milton Dick has NO TIME for this today and sits Conaghan down.
McBain:
As I was saying, we have come into government after a decade of those opposite, and after reviewing the processes the previous government went through, including announcing a range of projects we have contracted, sometimes when money wasn’t asked for, and we are in the process of reviewing that at this point in time.
We will put forward our own proposals going forward, and that project may form part of that, but there is a budget coming up in October and I ask the member to pay close attention to what that budget says.
Canberra demonstrators rally over death of Iranian woman Mahsa Amini
There is a protest outside the parliament as this is all going on, in solidarity with protesters in Iran, following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini who had been arrested by Iran’s morality police. Since then at least 22 people have died and more than 1,000 have reportedly been detained.
The Greens senator Larissa Waters released this statement on the protests yesterday:
Two weeks ago, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody. Mahsa had been arrested by Iran’s morality police for failing to comply with a new national code requiring women to wear a hijab. She was allegedly beaten and died from her injuries.
Following Mahsa Amini’s death, women across Iran have taken to the streets to stand up to the oppressive regime, demanding freedoms that have been denied to them.
In a country with harsh penalties for public protest, this is an incredible show of bravery and solidarity. Human Rights Watch has described the scale of protest, particularly on issues of women’s choice and police accountability, as unprecedented.
The gendered impacts of authoritarian rule, whether by the Iranian government, the Taliban, Russia or others, cannot be ignored. The Australian Greens are in solidarity with the women of Iran.
We will always protect the right to protest. And we will always fight for women’s rights to choose their dress, their partner, their religion, their career, and what they do with their bodies.
Coalition grills Labor on minister’s claim Optus breach was ‘a basic attack’
Karen Andrews to Richard Marles:
On ABC last night, the minister of home affairs said: “What is of concern for us is how what is quite a basic attack was undertaken on Optus.” The Optus CEO this morning said it is not as portrayed, our data was encrypted and we have multiple layers of protection. Does your government maintain that the Optus breach was quite a basic attack?
Richard Marles:
I thank the member for her question on what is a very serious matter, and one that is causing anxiety for millions of Optus customers today.
The truth is that what has occurred over the last week has been a wake-up call for corporate Australia. From the moment last Wednesday that it became clear that a breach had occurred, the government … has been working hand in glove with Optus, with a view to minimising the impact of the breach, but maximising the protection of the customers who have found their privacy breached as a result of what has occurred.
And we continue to work with Optus to make sure that that protection can be maximised.
The Australian federal police right now are doing everything within their power to pursue the criminal investigation. But what is really important for those Optus customers is the steps that they take now in terms of their own security.
It is really important that people do not click on links. It is really important that people check the sources of websites. It is really important that in having phone conversations, people do not divulge their personal information unless they are 100% confident about the circumstances in which that conversation is happening.
Now we will be continuing to work very closely with Optus and, indeed, other companies in the telecommunications sector and other sectors within the economy, including banks, to make sure that we can do everything to minimise the impact of what has been a very concerning event.
But it has been a wake-up call for corporate Australia, and I know now that cybersecurity is right there in the top echelon of issues which face corporate Australia, as it does government, of course, and we need to be doing everything we can to make sure that protection is in place, and that will be the entire focus of this government.
Jim Chalmers hits back at Angus Taylor on question about spending and taxes
It is back to government questions and it’s Jim Chalmers’ Christmas time, which is also known as Angus Taylor asks a question.
Taylor:
Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is to the treasurer. I refer to the confirmation from the Parliamentary Budget Office that Labor has committed to additional spending of over $18bn over the forward estimates and $45bn of additional … spending. What new taxes will the treasurer introduce in order to pay for this and other new spending?
He had to say it twice because the government side of the chamber erupted so loudly no one could hear him.
Chalmers is very excited by all of this:
The member for Hume must not have been listening to the answer I provided a few minutes ago at the outset of question time. If the member for Hume, the shadow treasurer, is just now, after four months of others, getting a head around the commitments that we took to the Australian people in May of this year and won the election on, then he is even slower on the uptake than we feared.
Because we took a whole bunch of commitments to the election and many of the commitments that we look to the election are all about making up for the fact that over this wasted decade of missed opportunities and messed up priorities, there hasn’t been the investment that we need to see in training, and that is why we have got these rampant labour and skills shortages holding back the economy.
There hasn’t been any investment we wanted to see in working parents and we need to introduce today the childcare legislation that those opposite cannot support, even though it will be a game-changer for Australian parents and for Australian families, the Australian economy more broadly.
We are proud of the commitments we took to the election, proud of the responsible investments that we proposed to the Australian people for cleaner and cheaper energy and a better-trained workforce and cheaper childcare, and all the things made necessary by the economic failures of those opposite over the best part of a decade trying to push people’s wages down and making it harder to make ends meet.
Our position on the economy and taxes, on the commitments we took to the election, haven’t changed. We will tally them up in the budget next month in the usual way and present it from this place. In that budget I will be proud to hand down on behalf of the Albanese government, we will make some of the changes the economy [has been] crying out for some time, we will make responsible changes to the spending, to the money they sprayed around en route to delivering $1tn in debt when they were here to show for it. I tell you, I hope …
I hope that the author of that steaming little pile of platitudes today, I hope it continues to ask me questions about the cost of living. Having chased down wages for a decade, about tax, on their watch, their tax record was to hand down more taxes. He asked me about taxes …
There is an interjection on relevance, but Milton Dick barely allows the word to enter the air before he says no point of order.
Chalmers:
I think the camera must have a mirror in it the way that … he is always looking down the barrel of that mirror, which is no surprise to anyone in this place. If he wants to ask me about tax, it should come to the dispatch box and fess up. A decade of the highest taxing government – taxes were higher per capita in total per year every way you want to cut the tax record of those opposite. He can deliver speech after speech, plagiarised from a Liberal party newsletter in the 1980s all he likes. That will not change that basic fact.
Mark Dreyfus says Optus customers have a right to know exactly what personal data has been compromised
Mark Dreyfus is given a dixer on the Optus breach.
He answers:
Australians expect that when they hand over their personal data, every effort will be made to keep it safe from harm. We know that millions of Australians have been impacted by the Optus data breach, and it is a data breach which should never have happened.
It involves the release of Australian citizens’ names, date of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, residential addresses and, for some customers, passport numbers and driver’s licence numbers being apparently for sale on the dark web.
We were concerned this morning about reports that personal information from the Optus data breach apparently also includes Medicare numbers – Medicare numbers were never notified as forming part of the breach.
I can say that Optus has a clear obligation to notify affected customers, affected individuals – which, of course, includes both past customers of Optus and present customers of Optus.
Optus has a clear obligation to notify both the affected individuals and the Australian Information Commissioner when a data breach involving personal information is likely to result in serious harm.
Consumers have also got a right to know exactly what individual personal information has been compromised in Optus’s communications to them.
While we will, of course, not go into the technical assistance and cybersecurity advice that is being provided to us, we can reassure Australians that the whole of the Australian government is working to address the consequences of this breach, in particular the Australian federal police is devoting huge effort with a large number of officers working on this. The Australian federal police is working with industry, working with state and territory police forces and also working with the FBI to address the consequences of this breach.
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