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Government agrees to minor climate bill changes
Adam Morton
Labor’s signature climate change legislation will pass the Senate with some minor changes after the government agreed to amendments proposed by the independent David Pocock.
The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, told Sky News the government would accept some of Pocock’s amendments. They included changes to rules covering how and when advice from the Climate Change Authority would be tabled, and the inclusion of information about climate risk in an annual ministerial climate statement to parliament.
It means the bill – including the government’s target of a minimum 43% cut in emissions by 2030 compared with 2005 – is guaranteed to pass the Senate in this sitting period before returning to the House of Representatives for final approval.
Bowen said it would mean that:
Australia will have a climate change act for the first time in more than a decade, and that’s a very good thing for our country because it sends a signal to investors around the world and in Australia.”
Pocock said he had productive discussions with the minister and his office and they had settled on some amendments that would strengthen the bill by improving transparency and accountability. On the bill, he said:
It’s a starting point for Australia. Moving forward there’s clearly a lot more work to be done.”
Pocock was again critical of Labor’s support for a continued expansion of the oil and gas industry while pledging to cut emissions, saying “those two things clearly don’t go together”.
Bowen said he had also agreed to consider a ban on native forest wood burning being counted as renewable energy, a definition that was introduced under the Abbott government. A Labor-led Senate committee last week recommended the government look at the issue.
The minister said the government would release a discussion paper and seek feedback before making a decision.
Key events
Michael McGowan
The New South Wales government has requested an 11th-hour delay to its fight against the state’s rail unions in the Fair Work Commission after failing to complete its evidence in time for the hearing.
The two sides had been due to meet in the commission on Tuesday after the combined rail unions filed for an urgent hearing to force the government back to the negotiating table.
The union had accused the government of bargaining in bad faith after the premier, Dominic Perrottet, vowed to tear up their industrial agreement unless they accepted his government’s final pay offer.
But on Tuesday lawyers for the government requested the hearing be adjourned until Friday because they were unable to complete their submissions in time.
Harry Dixon SC, acting for the government said compiling the government’s evidence was “taking much longer than we’d hoped”.
The unions had sought the urgent hearing after the government issued a deadline of 5pm last Friday to end all protected industrial action or they would seek to launch a termination application.
That deadline was later pushed back because of Tuesday’s hearing.
Dixon gave an undertaking to the commission that the government would not take action against the union before the case was heard. He said a letter had been provided to the combined rail unions confirming that:
Sydney Trains and NSW trains will not proceed with a ballot for a new enterprise agreement nor an application to terminate their current enterprise agreements until a decision is handed down … in these proceedings”.
Paul Karp
Late last week the assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, released new super disclosure rules, responding to some of the crossbench concerns about transparency.
Under the new rules:
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Political donations will need to be itemised in information given ahead of the annual general meeting; but
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Non-political donations will only be disclosed “in aggregate”
The crossbench is still unhappy that the regulations water down disclosure. Guardian Australia understands that senator David Pocock will give notice this afternoon of a motion to disallow the new regulation.
Senator Jacqui Lambie is also unhappy. She told Guardian Australia:
At the end of the day it’s up to Labor to explain why they think funds should be able to hide information from their members and the public. I don’t see a case for the change. I’m not keen on watered down transparency. What have these super funds got to hide from the public and their members?”
The Coalition also want to disallow the regulation, meaning the Greens have the casting vote. The issue wasn’t discussed at their party room this morning.
Climate bills declared urgent by government
Over in the senate, the climate bills have been declared urgent by the government – a motion which was supported on the voices.
That won’t mean that there will be a vote today. But it does mean that if there is an ongoing filibuster by the opposition, then the government can call for a vote and end the debate.
As Adam Morton reported a little earlier, the government is prepared to move a little on some of the climate amendments, but are confident the legislation will pass, so they are not too stressed.
Lisa Cox
Labor MP: review highlights ‘profound imbalance’ between environmental protection and development
Government backbencher Josh Wilson says Australian governments need to stop fooling themselves that they are striking a balance between environmental protection and development.
In a speech on Monday, the Western Australian MP said governments need to change the way they approach environmental protection in the wake of the state of the environment report, which highlighted years of neglect.
As I have said before, we can’t fool ourselves with the concept of ‘striking a balance’ when the reality has been a profound imbalance against nature.
Wilson said the future of Australia’s environment would require governments to become more “uncompromising” about the protection of Australia’s unique wildlife and ecosystems.
This would mean not subscribing to the view that “any and every form of environmental impact can be approved provided [there] is a sufficient economic benefit”.
He said environmental offset policies should not be used to “fix” developments that were environmentally damaging when offsets were not being properly recorded or audited and were allowing a net loss of critical habitat.
We can’t have a regulatory approach that essentially condones the steady degradation of the Australian environment. We can’t keep finding ways to conditionally approve forms of harm that in some cases are not acceptable, especially where conditions are not monitored and not met.
The Albanese government is promising reform when it delivers its response to the Graeme Samuel review of national environmental laws later this year.
A NSW auditor general’s report released last week found that state’s environmental offset scheme and biodiversity market was failing to protect species and ecosystems and was riddled with integrity and transparency concerns.
Just another point on Gerard Rennick’s speech (I am still shaking my head over it): he said his grandparents used to vote Labor. His grandparents would have been of voting age in the 40s and 50s, when some members of the Labor party were LITERALLY communists.
It was a pretty big deal, given that Robert Menzies used anti-communist rhetoric so effectively; it split the Labor party and was one of the reasons it was out of power for decades. In fact it didn’t win back government until 1972 with Gough Whitlam.
Labor has headed down a neo-Liberal path for decades and I don’t think there is anyone who could say with a straight face that Labor is communist today.
Gerard Rennick on redefining Marxism
I just did a search for “Marx” in the senate hansard to find this quote
Rennick, Sen Gerard in the Senate on 2022-09-05: You became Marxists and communists and you forgot that the true capitalists in this country are the people who get out of bed every day, put their noses to the grindstones and do the hard yards.
— AUHansard_said (@auhansard_said) September 5, 2022
And there were SIX results. To be fair, some of it was in respect to Mikhail Gorbachev … and then there’s Alex Antic and Gerard Rennick, who are quite obsessed.
Here is Rennick from yesterday:
My grandparents used to vote blue-collar Labor, but do you know what? You guys lost the plot. You became Marxists and communists and you forgot that the true capitalists in this country are the people who get out of bed every day, put their noses to the grindstones and do the hard yards.
But you’re not interested in that; you’re interested in protecting your bureaucrats and your unions and your big corporate end of town. None of these guys – these guys aren’t your primary and secondary industries. They’re not your farmers, they’re not your miners, they’re not your manufacturing industry.
Now, I am not a Marxist scholar. But I am pretty sure that Marx and Engels were writing a lot about the workers – those who put their noses to the grindstones and do the hard yards – being sacrificed because of capitalism. That their labour had been commodified, their children commodified, for their labour, in order to feed an ever-expanding capitalist system, where profits were not evenly distributed to those doing the work, but instead shared between a small amount of people who benefited from their work.
Again, I am not a Marxist scholar, but I am pretty sure that was the whole gist.
Kate Chaney calls for harmonised abortion laws
Paul Karp
Yesterday afternoon the independent MP Kate Chaney called for abortion laws to be harmonised, noting that women in Western Australis are “subject to some of the most restrictive laws in the country”.
Chaney told the federation chamber:
In some circumstances, they need to travel thousands of kilometres to access abortion. They’re uprooted, alone and financially disadvantaged when at their most vulnerable. In Western Australia, abortion is still in the criminal code and there’s limited access to terminations through the public health system. The choice to have a termination after 20 weeks doesn’t belong to the pregnant woman and her healthcare provider but rather to an ethics panel of six people appointed by the health minister.
A doctor living in my electorate gave me some examples of the impact of this issue on women’s lives.
Fiona had serious mental health problems and was living in a violent relationship with a partner who prevented her from having an earlier termination. She was denied a termination by the panel and couldn’t travel because of Covid. She had the baby and continued to be trapped in that relationship.
Alina had eclampsia at 22 weeks and was having uncontrolled seizures. Termination of her pregnancy was delayed while applying to the panel, placing her life at risk.
Anh’s baby was diagnosed with a significant genetic disorder, but the ethics panel decided she was not permitted to discontinue the pregnancy. She then had to travel to Victoria for the procedure. The federal government has a responsibility to ensure all Australian women have equal access to safe abortion care.
Government agrees to minor climate bill changes
Adam Morton
Labor’s signature climate change legislation will pass the Senate with some minor changes after the government agreed to amendments proposed by the independent David Pocock.
The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, told Sky News the government would accept some of Pocock’s amendments. They included changes to rules covering how and when advice from the Climate Change Authority would be tabled, and the inclusion of information about climate risk in an annual ministerial climate statement to parliament.
It means the bill – including the government’s target of a minimum 43% cut in emissions by 2030 compared with 2005 – is guaranteed to pass the Senate in this sitting period before returning to the House of Representatives for final approval.
Bowen said it would mean that:
Australia will have a climate change act for the first time in more than a decade, and that’s a very good thing for our country because it sends a signal to investors around the world and in Australia.”
Pocock said he had productive discussions with the minister and his office and they had settled on some amendments that would strengthen the bill by improving transparency and accountability. On the bill, he said:
It’s a starting point for Australia. Moving forward there’s clearly a lot more work to be done.”
Pocock was again critical of Labor’s support for a continued expansion of the oil and gas industry while pledging to cut emissions, saying “those two things clearly don’t go together”.
Bowen said he had also agreed to consider a ban on native forest wood burning being counted as renewable energy, a definition that was introduced under the Abbott government. A Labor-led Senate committee last week recommended the government look at the issue.
The minister said the government would release a discussion paper and seek feedback before making a decision.
Coalition joint party room update
Josh Butler
Over in the Coalition party room, Nationals leader David Littleproud told his colleagues that the Labor government should prepare for “hand-to-hand combat” on key political issues, as Liberal leader Peter Dutton warned the new Albanese administration against “hubris”.
Dutton also called on Labor to release more details about how the Indigenous voice to parliament would operate, claiming the government was “making it up as they go along” and said the Coalition wouldn’t make a final party room position on the proposal until more information was given.
Liberal and National MPs met in Canberra on Tuesday morning. The meeting resolved to support much of the government’s legislative agenda to be introduced into the House of Representatives this week, including bills on treasury amendments, access to medical cannabis and Labor’s aged care election commitments around 24/7 nurses.
However a Coalition spokesperson told a media briefing that the opposition would look to amend Labor’s aged care bill to more specifically outline the exemptions that will be given to centres over the 24/7 nursing, raising concerns over centres in rural and regional areas that may not be able to attract enough staff. Exemptions will be given but the opposition wants to see what they are.
Dutton, giving a leader’s report at the meeting’s commencement, again criticised last week’s Jobs & Skills Summit (which he chose to ignore), claiming it was not of the level of Bob Hawke’s 1983 jobs summit, and said the key outcomes on migration and pensioners were not surprising.
Dutton also claimed there were “so many unanswered questions” about the voice, asking Labor to give more information on which policies it will give input on, who will be on the body, and how representatives would be chosen.
We still need those very basic questions to be asked. The final position will be made in the party room when those questions are adequately answered,” the spokesperson said Dutton told the meeting.
Dutton also said the government’s “honeymoon period” would end, with “tough times ahead”.
The spokesperson said Littleproud, the deputy Coalition leader, echoed similar thoughts.
There’s going to be no silver bullet. It’s going to be almost hand-to-hand combat as to how each one of these issues are dealt with,” the spokesperson recounted of Littleproud’s remarks.
The spokesperson clarified that it was a “rhetorical flourish” from Littleproud.
The meeting did not discuss former PM Scott Morrison’s recent multiple ministry scandal, they said.
Have you had your cervix checked lately?
Given it is national women’s health week, the Australian Royal College of General Practitioners wants to remind you to go get your cervix checked, if you have one:
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is urging women to get back on track with health checks and, in particular, ask their GP about self-collection for cervical cancer screening.
It comes after the 2022 Jean Hailes National Women’s Health Survey found many women had missed appointments due to the pandemic, and one in five said they missed a GP health check.
The self-collection option for cervical cancer screening was expanded from 1st July to all people with a cervix who are eligible for cervical screening.
And a newsGP poll has shed light on the uptake so far – just 8% said the majority of eligible patients had made use of expanded access to self-collection, while most respondents, 67%, said none of their patients had made use of it.
Anthony Albanese addresses Labor caucus
Paul Karp
Anthony Albanese told the caucus that Peter Dutton had “made himself irrelevant” by choosing to snub the jobs and skills summit on Thursday and Friday.
He said:
We are about bringing people together. People want the discipline and competence we are showing.”
Albanese also warned the Labor caucus that “there will be difficult decisions in this [October] budget”. He said:
We will soon be preparing our first budget an we need to address the cost of living issues Australians are facing while being mindful of the trillion dollars of debt we have inherited. We must be straight with Australians about the challenges before us and the difficult decisions we must take.
It’s just a guess, but it sounded to my ear like a reference to the temporary halving of petrol excise expiring in October.
There was also lots of discussion of the Indigenous voice to parliament. Pat Dodson told caucus “the long haul is on” but the task for this term of parliament is to entrench the body in the constitution with a successful referendum.
Asked how to respond to calls for treaty to precede the Voice (eg from Greens senator Lidia Thorpe), Linda Burney replied that the commitment was for a referendum this term. Another questioner noted Greens voters seem “more positive about the voice referendum than some of their spokespeople”. Burney urged Labor members not to be distracted and noted the PM is working with all parties.
Dodson noted Victoria is at a “different stage” of the debate, because treaty negotiations are already advanced there.
Labor’s caucus approved the slate of government legislation and resolved to oppose private senators’ bills on pensioners’ workforce participation (they have their own measure for that) and to set up a new environmental watchdog.
The sitting is about to officially begin.
The House and Senate will sit from midday.
The climate bill will be dominating the policy conversations today in the Senate.
Qantas says it’s ‘working hard to improve our service to customers’
Qantas is working very hard to try and win back hearts and minds after about six months of more mess and drama than what’s currently surrounding the Don’t Worry Darling film (ifykyk)
This comes after a Four Corners episode on what was happening behind the scenes with the airline, which aired last night.
🧵We’re working hard to improve our service to customers, and our performance is turning around. In August, our on-time departure rates, cancelled flights and misplaced bags all improved strongly. We’re getting our service back to our pre-COVID standards. pic.twitter.com/cg50KihxSh
— Qantas (@Qantas) September 6, 2022
𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗦𝗻𝗮𝗽𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘁
▪️ On-Time Performance has improved from 52% in July ’22 to 70% in the last week of August. Target 75% in September.
▪️ Cancellations have gone from 7.5% (Jun ’22) to 2.2% in the last week of August. Pre-COVID: 2.4%
— Qantas (@Qantas) September 6, 2022
▪️ Misplaced bags rate has decreased from 12/1,000 pax (Apr ’22) to 6/1,000 pax (Aug ’22). Pre-COVID: 5/1,000 pax.
▪️ Call centre wait times have decreased from 129mins (Mar ’22) to 7mins (Aug ’22)
— Qantas (@Qantas) September 6, 2022
Prepare for ‘difficult decisions’ in budget, Albanese warns MPs
Back to the budget – this narrative is starting to get louder and louder from the government.
Funding for women experiencing menopause
It’s Women’s Health Week, which I didn’t know until right this moment (which tracks, given how women’s health is treated – it still takes about 10 years for an endo diagnosis).
Assistant health minister Ged Kearney announced some funding for menopause as part of the government’s spending on health:
The Albanese government is investing more than $1m through the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Partnership Project scheme to improve the delivery of healthcare for women experiencing menopause.
Researchers led by Monash University endocrinologist, Professor Susan Davis, will develop a simple assessment and decision-making tool to ensure menopausal symptoms are not overlooked when women are seeking care.
The tool will ensure key information is immediately accessible to GPs, together with a self-assessment to be completed by women before their consultation, and will be integrated into GP software.
The project will be undertaken in collaboration with the Australasian Menopause Society, Jean Hailes for Women’s Health and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
Victoria records 25 more Covid deaths
Victoria has reported 25 more lives lost to Covid and 260 in hospital being treated for the virus.
NSW records 27 more Covid deaths
NSW has reported 27 more lives lost to Covid and 1,640 people in hospital with the virus.
COVID-19 update – Tuesday 6 September 2022
In the 24-hour reporting period to 4pm yesterday:
– 97% of people aged 16+ have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine*
– 95.4% of people aged 16+ have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine* pic.twitter.com/7gy9ADTEjZ— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) September 5, 2022
Low rate of jobkeeper impacting mental health
It has to be said that under Anthony Albanese’s social media posts on suicide prevention today are legions of comments of people speaking about the financial stress the low jobseeker rate has put them under and how that is impacting their mental health.
And it is not as easy as saying “just get a job”. Not everyone is able to take up work because of chronic health difficulties or disabilities – they are not able to commit to all of their shifts because of their medical needs. Others are unable to find meaningful work because they are spending all their time and energy trying to survive on a payment which consigns them to poverty. Others are working, but not receiving enough stable pay to be able to leave the social security system and others still are trapped by the gig economy.
We know what lifting people out of poverty can do – we saw it during the pandemic. There are no plans to raise the jobseeker rate at the next budget in October.
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org
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