Richard Marles lambasts Coalition over defence as Labor set to receive strategic review
The defence minister, Richard Marles, sounds the most passionate I think I have ever heard him in QT as he talks about the defence strategic review about to be handed to the government:
The review has met with 150 different experts across academia, thinktanks, defence industry and the defence force itself. It’s received more than 360 submissions from the general public, and I have no doubt that the report that the prime minister and I are about to receive will be one of the most important works in Australia’s defence history, and the government will take some weeks to review before we announce and declassify a version of it along with our response to it.
But none of this happens in a vacuum because the decisions that this government now has to come back off the back of a lost decade of the Coalition government, the worst national security government in history.
Time and again those opposite were making decisions based on politics rather than policy, such as their decision to down select the attack-class submarine program to one tenderer before they completed the design just so they could do a single press conference in the lead-up to the 2016 election.
That decision alone cost the Australian taxpayer billions of dollars. It was an epic failure. From a government which, when it left office, had 28 different defence programs running a combined 97 years over time.
But the decisions of those opposite aren’t really a surprise because they never took defence seriously.
Six, really seven different defence ministers in the course of nine years.
It was for them a revolving door. They could not have treated defence with more contempt because for those opposite becoming a defence minister was simply receiving a trophy. Well, let me say this. The defence strategic review ushers in a new era of defence policy in this country.
One where our decisions are rooted in proper judgments, judgments which are based in the national interest, a national interest which has at its heart keeping Australians safe.
A brain cancer patient who never recovered from surgery performed by Charlie Teo thought of the star neurosurgeon as “God”, a disciplinary hearing has been told.
Thanks for following along. We’ll be back to do it all again tomorrow.
Curtin University denies union’s allegations of censorship
Western Australia’s Curtin University has been accused of censoring media articles on internal platforms in the latest fallout over stalled bargaining enterprise agreement negotiations.
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) - which has been urging staff against voting for management’s proposed wage reforms - accused the the university of restricting free speech on campus.
The union alleged staff alerted it to media coverage of the dispute having been deleted from Curtin’s internal social networking platform Yammer. It said the NTEU’s website was also temporarily blocked from Curtin University WiFi or LAN connections.
Curtin University said none of the claims made by the union were true:
The University categorically rejects the allegations of deleting social posts or restricting access to the NTEU website and is incredibly disappointed that the union would propagate such false claims. Curtin fully supports its employees and employee organisations exercising their rights in a lawful manner.”
The university’s pay negotiations with the union were abandoned 18 months in, after reaching a stalemate.
The university’s proposal, being voted on this week, would provide staff 2.2% annual pay increases over the next five years – a real wages pay cut when factoring in inflation, which was 8.3% in Perth in, the last quarter.
NTEU Curtin branch president, Professor Scott Fitzgerald, said staff had been “shocked and outraged” by the alleged suppression of information in the middle of voting.
The ballot for the proposed enterprise agreement opened on 10 February and runs until Thursday.
More on the liquor amendment bill being introduced to the Northern Territory parliament
Local MP in Alice Springs, Country Liberal Party member, Joshua Burgoyne launched a blistering attack on the Fyles government accusing them of a belated “backflip” that embarrassed the NT government on the “national stage”.
“You embarrassed yourselves on the national stage... I stand here today disgusted by what I’ve seen over the last eight months, the way in which this government has completely ignored all of the evidence and forged ahead. It took the Prime Minister of Australia coming to Alice Springs to get you to act.”
Burgoyne said that the crisis has been hurting local business owners and sporting organisations, “They have seen cancellations since your government’s disgrace was aired nationally,” he told the parliament.
Minister for families, Kate Worden, said the NT government expected “robust debate” and that the government is committed to addressing the underlying causes of crime as well as anti-crime measures and public safety.
“It has been robust and so it should be but it’s not a one size fits all... it’s important to have those community-led responses to this issue.” Worden said.
Opposition and independents seem to be supportive of the move but said it is belated and too late and came after federal pressure and media attention, according to independent MP for Araluen, Robyn Lambley said.
“We’re all calling for some common sense around this very destructive policy. It took the national media to come to Alice Springs in droves to report on the crisis, the carnage going on in Alice Springs and right throughout Central Australia since these alcohol bans were lifted.” Lambley said.
Lambley said the NT government should have acted on restrictions sooner and on advice from Aboriginal health organisations and other health advocates.
“These are leading experts in alcohol harm and reduction and Aboriginal health throughout the Northern Territory, they are nationally acclaimed,” Lambley
The NT government is hoping to get this passed quickly and enforced this week.
In the Northern Territory, the liquor amendment bill 2023 is being introduced into the NT parliament now, as the NT government has faced ongoing pressure over increasing crime and antisocial behaviour in Alice Springs in recent weeks.
These amendments are being introduced so that NT liquor bans announced earlier this month, in remote communities and town camps can be enforced.
The NT government said these amendments which will restrict alcohol, and notes that the vast majority of remote communities and town camps across the territory are already dry.
The proposed changes mean that town camps and communities will revert to being dry areas and communities will develop Community Alcohol Plans and those that want to have alcohol allowed back in will need to have a community vote with at least 60% of people aged over 18 plus voting in favour.
Fyles said this is not “Stronger Futures” Intervention era bans, that restrictions coupled with investments which address the underlying contributors to alcohol-related harm.
“These measures will not solve every problem across the territory, Mr. Speaker, but they will restrict the supply of alcohol to those that cause harm in our community.”
The Fyles government is wanting this to be fast-tracked so that it can be urgently passed and in effect this week.
“It is intended that this bill will pass the House on urgency and so that we can see this legislation come into force later this week,” Fyles said in the NT Parliament on Tuesday.
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price addresses media on Aboriginal land councils
Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has called for major Aboriginal land councils to be further empowered to make decisions over their traditional lands, including decisions such as approving mines, while also suggesting land councils be probed in a royal commission.
The Country Liberal senator, who sits with the National party, has also urged any of her colleagues to join her in spearheading a No campaign for the voice to parliament referendum.
Nampijinpa Price held a Parliament House press conference a short time ago, appearing with Casey Costello of the Kiwi group ‘Hobson’s Pledge’, a lobby organisation against so-called “race-based” provisions in New Zealand law for Maori people. Price’s office described Hobson’s Pledge as campaigning against the “New Zealand version of the Voice”.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has repeatedly said the voice would be a consultation model, with no veto power over parliament.
In a wide-ranging press conference, Nampijinpa Price said she was against the voice because of her belief that it signified “somehow because of your race, you’re inherently marginalised.”
“It’s not about assessing the needs of vulnerable Australians, regardless of racial heritage, it’s assuming that all Indigenous Australians sit behind the 8-ball, will never get ahead. If we have this in our constitution, it assumes we are forever going to need special needs,” she said.
In one comment, Nampijinpa Price suggested Indigenous nations may need to negotiate treaties among themselves. Asked for clarification, she went on to say that traditional land councils should have more power.
“I would like language groups themselves be able to take control of their own lands for the purpose of economic development activities, to do what they want with the land... whether it’s a tourism venture, whether it’s a mine, whether it’s a bakery, that’s what should be happening, Aboriginal people should be able to create jobs in their own communities,” she said.
But after citing concerns about the northern and central land councils, Nampijinpa Price then added: “I would say that we probably need a review, if not a royal commission into how they conduct themselves... probably all land councils.”
Nampijinpa Price claimed the voice would become a “trojan horse” but did not say for what. She aired doubts that the voice model would “shift the dial” or have benefits for Indigenous communities.
“I can’t support the model of an entity that separates us along the lines of race,” she said.
She said she had not had conversations with former Greens senator Lidia Thorpe, who quit that party for the crossbench last week, partly related to her concerns over the voice. But after announcing herself as a prominent voice in the Fair Australia campaign, from the right-wing Advance group to push for a No vote, Nampijinpa Price said she would welcome all colleagues joining her in the organisation.
Bathrooms at a Sydney CBD train station will be out of order for the rest of year
A broken sewer valve 18 metres below ground level at Sydney’s St James station has caused “significant issues”, with commuters entering the station greeted with signs warning the toilets will be closed for an “extended period of time”.
A Transport for New South Wales spokesperson said it will take until December for the toilets to reopen to staff and commuters. Guardian Australia understands construction works will only begin in March.
The spokesperson said:
Sydney Trains is undertaking essential construction work to fix a sewer valve 18 metres below ground level at St James station.
The work requires significant excavation and engineering works and we expect the bathroom facilities at St James station to reopen to commuters and staff by December 2023.
There’s no sewerage overflow to any public area and train services will not be impacted by the work.
The spokesperson said commuters needing bathrooms should use public facilities in Hyde Park or at surrounding train stations.
Moore-Gilbert: Australia “playing catch-up” on Iranian interference
Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who was imprisoned in Iran for more than two years before her release as part of a complex prisoner swap in late 2020, made the comments to ABC TV, in reaction to the revelation on Tuesday that Australian security agencies disrupted a foreign interference plot by Iran that was targeting an Iranian-Australians in Australia.
The plot allegedly included individuals monitoring the home of a critic of the Iranian regime and extensively researching the person and their family.
Moore-Gilbert said:
I think we are playing catch up when it comes to Iran at the moment, there has been a lot of focus on foreign interference from China and justifiably so, especially on Australian university campuses but other nefarious actors of which Iran is just one have been operating here in a similar capacity but perhaps less overtly than the Chinese have for a number of years.
Now with the recent protest erupting in Iran we have seen them come out of the shadows and show themselves more than they have in the past. I’m not privy to Asio’s internal operations or anything like that, but my sense has been the Iranian threat has not been taken as seriously as it should be until these recent reports emerged in the last few months of actual targeted campaigns surveilling Australian citizens on Australian territory.”
Moore-Gilbert said the activities included targeting Iranian-Australians who still have family in Iran who might might be politically active or of interest to the regime.
She said this included “silencing dissent outside the borders” and that “often family members inside Iran are used to blackmail Iranian-Australian citizens to stay quiet, not to speak to the media and stay quiet, under threat of having family members arrested or harmed back in Iran”.
She said the activities had been effective in dissuading some vocal Iranian-Australian protesters from continuing their in person and online protests in recent months.
Moore-Gilbert also said she suspected Iranian authorities had continued to target her since her release, claiming that her financial information had been posted on regime-linked sites and that “suspicious individuals” had attended her book events.
Confucius Institutes at Australian universities to remain ‘under review’
The federal government has released its response to an inquiry into national security risks affecting the higher education and research sector in Australia.
It supports, or supports in principle, most of the 27 recommendations by the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security. That report came out last year. The accepted recommendations include a call for the attorney general’s department to “clearly communicate Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme requirements to foreign student associations operating at Australian universities and investigate possible cases of non-compliance”.
The government has also revealed that the University Foreign Interference Taskforce’s training working group will consider anonymous assignment submission. Australian universities have been considering allowing students to submit written assignments under pseudonyms and in hard copy amid growing concerns about foreign government-linked harassment over politically sensitive topics.
But the government “noted” the committee’s recommendation “that Universities who elect to host a Confucius Institute should disclose and make public details of those agreements and funding arrangements, and that at a minimum, Universities have a final say about the appointment of staff, curriculum content and that robust academic freedom and free speech clauses be included in any agreement”.
The government said universities would “continue to apply a comprehensive approach to their due diligence in assessing foreign interference risks and reflect that in the terms of any agreement to host a Confucius Institute”. It gave a hint that the minister, Penny Wong, was prepared to intervene in future under the foreign arrangement veto powers:
Arrangements between Australian public universities and Chinese government entities and/or universities relating to Confucius Institutes are required to be notified to the Minister for Foreign Affairs under the Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Act 2020 (the Act). Fifty-six such arrangements have been notified and confirmed to be subject to the Act to date…
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) reviews Confucius Institute arrangements notified under the Act in consultation with Government agencies and provides advice to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The Minister may exercise powers with respect to individual foreign arrangements within scope of the Act where the arrangement is, or is likely to be, inconsistent with Australia’s foreign policy or adverse to Australia’s foreign relations.
Separate from their powers under the Act, the Minister may also direct DFAT to pursue mitigations to manage foreign policy risks, where identified.
DFAT, in consultation with other agencies, has assessed all Confucius Institute arrangements notified and within scope of the Act. The Government’s resilience measures, including UFIT and the Foreign Arrangements Scheme (as established by the Act), are an effective mechanism for engaging with the university sector to ensure universities are informed about and are managing risk associated with foreign engagement, including with respect to Confucius Institutes.
DFAT will keep these arrangements under review. DFAT is actively engaging with universities directly and through UFIT to convey the Government’s expectations, and advice on negotiating arrangements that protect Australia’s interests and mitigate risks.
Greens senator says RBA governor ‘breached’ promise on interest rates
Sarah Hanson-Young was also asked by the ABC about the future of Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe.
Asked if she believed he should exit his role this year, Hanson-Young said:
I think everyone is struggling to find words to defend the bloke from here on in, aren’t they? Nine consecutive rate rises after promising it wouldn’t happen. The smashing of mortgage holders. The hurt this is making for those who are renters. And all the while we know that inflation is the result of a supply crisis. And the supply chain issues. The world over.
She added:
Someone has to take some responsibility. Philip Lowe has made a promise to people. That’s been breached over and over again. I mean, you struggle to even find members of the government now who are willing to stand next to the bloke and say it’s OK.”
Hanson-Young also discussed her criticism of NBN Co and the salaries the entity’s executives are drawing.
She said:
NBN Co is a government business. Taxpayers, a taxpayer-owned entity. And the executives are getting obscene amounts of money in bonuses. And the CEO alone with his base salary and bonuses we have discovered this morning, just short of $3m. I mean, this is ridiculous. This is absolutely ridiculous. $2.9m for the guy who heads up NBN Co. Nearly $700,000 of that as a performance bonus.
You ask regular Australians about their NBN, whether they’re happy about it? Should we give the bloke some more money? I don’t think many Australians would say yes.”
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has reiterated the Greens don’t believe the Albanese government’s proposed $10bn affordable housing fund does enough to help renters across the country.
Hanson-Young told ABC TV:
I don’t think anyone is suggesting that the Government doesn’t want to do something to help create more affordable housing. Our concern is that this package just doesn’t cut it. That this package, it’s 30,000 homes over five years, when the need right now is so much more than that.
We’re worried it doesn’t do anything for the renters in this country. A third of households are renters. There’s nothing in this package for them. And we want to make there is more money on the table to build the houses and to construct the homes that we need right now. 30,000 over five years, when there’s 670,000 places in need, that’s the shortage of affordable housing. It’s just a drop in the ocean.”
Former CEO of fallen tech star charged with insider trading
The former chief executive of Big Un, a collapsed video marketing start-up that once boasted a rocketing share price, has been charged with insider trading, the corporate regulator said on Tuesday.
Big Un was a hot tech stock in 2017, surging about 1,500% after reporting accelerating sales, before it was revealed it grossly overstated its performance. Investors ultimately lost hundreds of millions of dollars after Big Un was forced to report the true state of its financials.
The company specialised in creating online marketing videos for small businesses, such as cafes, in annual membership-style arrangements.
Richard Evans, also known as Richard Evertz, allegedly passed on insider information to a shareholder in early 2017 about customer demand for one of Big Un’s products, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission said.
The shareholder was also provided information about funding arrangements.
Insider information refers to price sensitive information about a public company that a person might use for financial gain.
Evans, who was represented in court by his lawyer in Sydney on Tuesday, faces a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment along with a fine.
The regulator said its investigation of Big Un and its officers and executives is ongoing.
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