Labor and Coalition join forces to block Pocock’s attempt to force release of secret board appointments report
The government and Coalition (though many of them abstained) voted against David Pocock’s amendment to the motion to force the government to provide the government board appointments report by 24 November.
Labor and the Coalition then voted together on the government’s motion that the extra-long question time end and the matter of the report be considered “satisfactorily complied with” by providing a private briefing to the finance and public administration committee and hand over the report.
That motion was voted on with an amendment by the opposition that the report be handed over by 31 December.
So there will be a normal time question time in the Senate again today – but if the government doesn’t hand in that report by New Year’s Eve, we could see those extra questions added back in the new year.
Key events
FoI bill returns to house for debate after government ‘sees the light’, says Coalition
After the opposition kicked up a stink yesterday on the government’s attempt to move the controversial freedom of information bill to the smaller federation chamber, the government has brought back the debate to the house.
Talk about a procedure-heavy day today!
The chief opposition whip, Aaron Violi, who yesterday tried to table a list of 16 opposition speakers who were going to miss out on being able to debate the bill in the house, is the first to speak today (his tabling request was rejected FYI).
It’s nice that this bill has returned to the house today, the manager of business [Tony Burke] saw this light.
Independent MP Zali Steggall, who has been a staunch critic of the bill, is also speaking on it.
This bill was drafted without consultation, introduced without transparency, and designed in a way that rewards secrecy. At a time when public trust in government is already low, this legislation seeks to make it harder for Australians to access information and easier for government to hide it. This is not reform, this is regression.
Labor and Coalition join forces to block Pocock’s attempt to force release of secret board appointments report
The government and Coalition (though many of them abstained) voted against David Pocock’s amendment to the motion to force the government to provide the government board appointments report by 24 November.
Labor and the Coalition then voted together on the government’s motion that the extra-long question time end and the matter of the report be considered “satisfactorily complied with” by providing a private briefing to the finance and public administration committee and hand over the report.
That motion was voted on with an amendment by the opposition that the report be handed over by 31 December.
So there will be a normal time question time in the Senate again today – but if the government doesn’t hand in that report by New Year’s Eve, we could see those extra questions added back in the new year.
eSafety commissioners working with Silicon Valley to combat workarounds to avoid age-verification detection
Wells has been upfront that this isn’t a catch-all, impenetrable wall that will end all access for under-16s to social media.
But Inman Grant says they are working with the platforms to combat potential workarounds such as VPNs and the use of AI to avoid age-verification detection.
The eSafety commissioner says she has gone to Silicon Valley and spoken to all the platforms and they’ve given her some reassurances.
We have extensive requirements we place back on the platforms themselves to prevent circumvention so location-based circumvention in terms of the use of VPNs.
We know generative AI, a mask or graphics from platforms can be used to spoof AI or age-verification systems and we’ve given them very specific specifications as to how we think they should tackle and they’ve given us comfort that this is something that they can do and what they will do in these cases.
eSafety boss says Roblox must do more to protect children from predators despite escaping under-16s ban
The communications minister, Anika Wells, and eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, are talking to reporters in Parliament House this morning, following the addition of Reddit and Kick to the social media ban for under 16s.
But what about a platform such as Roblox, Inman Grant is asked, which has had serious concerns raised against it, including by the AFP commissioner Krissy Barrett who said platforms like it are being used by “sadistic men” to target young girls.
Inman Grant says eSafety deals with “sadistic sextortion and financial sexual extortion on a daily basis”, and that the list of banned platforms is fluid.
It’s of great concern to us. We’ve got codes and standards and we’ve used this in our negotiations with Roblox so based on that negotiation by the end of this year, Roblox will roll out age-assurance technologies here. Their primary user base are five-to-13-year-olds but it’s a commingled platform. They know there are adults. So we asked them to take other specific steps including not allowing adults to contact children without specific parental consent and putting on privacy at the highest default.
This is a dynamic list and … it will always change.
The long Senate question time looks to be over (for now)
The government is trying to end the extra question time questions in the Senate, and while it claims the government board appointments report is still before cabinet (so can’t be released yet), the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, says she’ll give the finance and public administration committee a briefing on the report “in camera” (ie in private).
The motion states that the Senate resolves the order for the production of a document into the jobs for mates report “has been satisfactorily complied with” and end those extra questions. Gallagher says:
I am hopeful that this offer of a briefing finds that interim step before we are in a position to release that document once cabinet has finished considering it we would expect that to be … before the end of this year.
The shadow home affairs minister, Jonno Duniam, moves an amendment to Gallagher’s motion, which – if the government does not satisfactorily keep its promise of the briefing and providing that report by 31 December 2025 – would resume the extra questions and makes public service minister attend Senate every sitting morning to explain the failure to comply.
We want that document tabled and in order to ensure it is provided as the government has promised it would.
The Greens are not happy and are basically calling it a stitch-up between the major parties.
The senator who started it all, David Pocock tries to amend the hand-in date for that report to the Monday of the final sitting week, 24 November, to stop the government “burying it” and releasing it on Christmas Eve, and says he has serious concerns about the motion, and the amendment.
There’s a growing number of people concerned about what is promised by major parties in opposition and what is deliverd in government, and I think transparency is one of the issues that cuts to the core of it. Today’s motion, I think, is a concern.
Ted O’Brien is trying to make ‘Jimflation’ happen
Liberal deputy leader and shadow treasurer Ted O’Brien has been prosecuting Labor’s spending and accusing federal treasurer Jim Chalmers of going on a “spending spree” with the budget.
On Sky News earlier this morning, he said again that spending is leading to the higher inflation rate seen last week, which was followed by the Reserve Bank’s decision yesterday to keep interest rates on hold.
O’Brien’s also been trying to call it the “Jimflation” effect.
We’ve heard from the [RBA] governor yesterday, and she made it very clear that if you look even into next year, a headline inflation will peak around 3.7% now what’s the RBA aiming for? What do they want, 2.5%, it’s going to peak at 3.7% next year. This is the problem, it’s all about inflation, it’s all about Jim Chalmers, it’s all about the Jimflation effect.
O’Brien says the government needs to introduce quantifiable fiscal rules to limit budget spending and reduce reliance on personal income tax.
Word in the corridor has it the O’Brien team has even created “Jimflation” stickers.
Paterson says debate on stillborn bill should be ‘measured’ and ‘respectful’
Jumping back to James Paterson’s interview on RN Breakfast, the senator was also asked about the comments by conservative Liberal MPs linking a bill to enforce parental leave payments for parents of a stillborn baby with late-term abortions.
Paterson, who is a conservative, says his party supported the bill and while Andrew Hastie and others “raised questions” about the bill, they didn’t vote against it or move amendments.
He says people should be allowed to raise questions, but debate should conducted in a way that is “measured, that is calm, that is respectful, that understands the sensitivities that exist.”
Conscience issues relating to life and death are some of the most difficult issues that parliaments have to deal with. I think we want to live in a country where people can respectfully raise questions like that …
If you read Andrew Hastie’s speech, I think it is a measured, calm, and respectful speech. He asks a question about a potential unintended consequence of the bill, but he does so in a way that’s mindful of the genuine and heartfelt feelings that many people have.
Josh Butler
Liberals to decide on net zero and climate position in next fortnight
Sussan Ley says she will convene the Liberal party in the next fortnight to finally decide on a net zero and climate position, after weeks of uncertainty over their position and pressure from the Nationals and right-wing Liberals to dump the 2050 target.
Speaking on Channel Seven’s Sunrise this morning, Ley said:
The Liberal party room will meet sooner rather than later, certainly before Parliament resumes after this week and we will come to a position.
Parliament rises at the end of Thursday and will return on 24 November, meaning Ley has indicated a policy position within the next two weeks.
Ley said her party “will come to its own decision in our own party room exactly as I said we would”, and said she is “listening to my colleagues”.
Many Liberal MPs expect the final position to be a dumping or significant watering-down of the Coalition’s current net zero by 2050 commitment – but Ley would also likely face strong questioning and disappointment from moderate MPs, who supported her in the leadership ballot, if she were to cave in to the right-wing of her party.
Asked about whether the Coalition could stay together, Ley said:
Liberal and National parties are stronger together as a Coalition because we both equally want to fight this awful Labor government.
Paterson’s ‘very, very strong preference’ is for Coalition to remain
James Paterson, shadow finance minister and a senior member of the Liberals’ leadership group, says the Libs and the Nats should stay together.
Speaking to ABC RN Breakfast a little earlier, Paterson said the party should try to avoid the fate of 1987 when the Coalition last split. But, he says, that’s not to say the Coalition should stick together if under all circumstances.
It’s self-evidently a true statement that if the Liberal party and National party views are completely irreconcilable, then we couldn’t be in Coalition. But it is my very, very strong preference that we remain in Coalition because we cannot form a government without being in Coalition with the National party … When Liberal and National parties do not run in Coalition, the 1987 election is not widely remembered as a great success for either the Liberal or National parties, and we should all be determined to ensure that doesn’t happen again.
Asked about Sussan Ley’s leadership prospects, and her confidence that she’ll remain leader until the end of the year, Paterson says her confidence is warranted and he “strongly supports” her leadership.
Penry Buckley
Police charge twelve people after Sydney defence expo protest
Twelve people have been charged after an allegedly violent confrontation between New South Wales police and protesters outside a state government-sponsored defence conference in Sydney yesterday.
Police officers and protesters were allegedly injured after both claimed they were “set upon” at Palestine Action Group’s demonstration outside the Indo Pacific International Maritime Exposition in Darling Harbour, amid criticism that Israel’s largest weapons companies were attending the event.
In a statement, NSW police said they arrested 15 people during the protest, two of whom were later released without charge. A 33-year-old man has also been released without charge, pending further inquiries.
The 12 people charged include:
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A 27-year-old man charged with refusing or failing to comply with direction and assaulting a police officer without actual bodily harm. He was refused bail to appear before court today.
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A 26-year-old woman charged with four counts of assaulting police. She was refused bail to appear before court today.
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A 26-year-old man charged with hindering or resisting a police officer and refusing or failing to comply with direction. He was granted conditional bail to appear before Downing centre local court on 3 December.
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A 28-year-old man charged with assaulting a police officer without actual bodily harm. He was granted conditional bail to appear before court on 11 December.
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Four people charged with refusing or failing to comply with direction, who were granted conditional bail before hearings in December.
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Two men aged 23 and 34, and a 32-year-old woman were charged with hindering police and were granted conditional bail before hearings on 11 November.
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A 33-year-old man was charged with using offensive language near a public place. He was granted conditional bail before a hearing on 11 December.
Ley digs in on argument that she’s never supported ‘net zero at any cost’
Sussan Ley is continuing her media rounds this morning, speaking to ABC News Breakfast, defending the separate policy processes between the Liberals and Nationals.
The Liberal leader digs in on her argument that she’s never supported “net zero at any cost” when asked whether she’s prepared to dump the target to save her leadership.
There are a lot of different opinions in our party room. I said I wouldn’t make captains calls. I’m doing exactly what I said I would do. And actually, the process has been good. Can I tell you? It’s allowed us to come together, it’s allowed us to talk not just to each other, but to industry and experts.
Host, James Glenday, retorts saying Coalition members have also been talking to journalists about how split the parties are.
Ley says “that’s ok”.
Colleagues are talking about their passionate views on this subject, as they should, and if they talk to journalists, that’s okay, because they’re expressing their passionately held views. Now, journalists can draw the conclusions they want about the things that you’ve described, but it is really important that we do get this right.
