Australia news live: stronger laws needed to prevent building in flood-prone areas, Watt says; minister explains decision to grant Djokovic visa | Australia news

Amy Remeikis

‘Big challenges’ require more sitting weeks, Pocock says

So there is still quite a bit David Pocock wants to work through when it comes to the IR bill and he is paying a lot of attention to the Senate inquiry into the bill. It is not something he wants to see rushed.

Would he support an extra week being added to the sitting calandar, to get through all the legislation the government wants passed?

I’ve said I’m committed to continuing to negotiate work through these these issues that I have looking at that.

There’s a mountain of legislation that they’ve flagged as wanting to get through in the next two weeks. I think the Senate will probably need more time just to do that. So I’m certainly open to that. I suggested earlier in the year that we look at adding more sitting weeks, given the big challenges we face and I think the expectation that community that politicians get on with solving these these big challenges, so I’d certainly be supportive of that.

Amy Remeikis

Pocock holds town hall on IR bill

ACT independent senator David Pocock, who could be, as our colleague Paul Karp pointed out last weekend, the Senate kingmaker on the government’s IR bill, held a town hall meeting last night to get an idea of what the community wanted him to do on the bill.

(Paul went to the town hall meeting – you can read his take here.)

Pocock told ABC radio RN he had heard a lot from people about the impacts of stagnant wage growth, including what he called “the working homeless”, recounting a story a woman, who works as a cleaner at a hospital, told about a colleague who was living in a caravan park:

These are people who have helped get us through the pandemic. So clearly a lot of people wanting to see wage rises. And as I’ve been saying, and as I said last night, there’s 80 to 85% of the bill that I think is good to go. It would pass on Monday with my support. I’m working through that final 10 to 15% to make sure that we get it right.

Patricia Karvelas asks what it is Pocock is concerned about, other than the single interest stream:

There’s been a lot of talk in the Senate committee hearings, which is which is still happening. So I’m engaging in the in the Senate committee process. We’ve got more hearings on Tuesday, and some really good stuff is coming out of that. There are concerns about the union veto before agreements can be put to a vote, especially in cases where there’s more than one union at the negotiating table. You could be in a situation where one union is really happy with an agreement and another one vetoes that and I’m really keen to see a strict statutory review period.

Amy Remeikis

Watt talks up Albanese’s ‘constructive’ meeting with Xi

Moving on from the floods, Murray Watt is asked to put on one of his other hats – agriculture minister – to answer a question about what Anthony Albanese’s meeting with China’s President Xi Jingping means for Australia’s producers.

Watt doesn’t stray too far from the official line:

I think it’s certainly a very positive step that the prime minister had what seemed to be a very constructive meeting with the Chinese president. I actually spoke to the prime minister about it the night he had had that meeting because I was about to address a conference of wine growers in Adelaide.

And of course the wine industry has been one of the major losers out of the deterioration of our relationship with China.

So, you know, there’s a huge amount of interest in our agricultural communities about the opportunities to reopen some of those block trade paths with China. But at the same time, I think we need to be realistic that this is not something that’s going to happen overnight.

You know, I think it is very encouraging. We’ve seen a huge impact, particularly on agriculture products like beef, cotton wine, lobsters, barley, that where we’ve seen massive drops in our exports because of the China market effectively being close. So it would be a very positive thing if we can reopen that but I think we just all need to be a little bit patient and recognise that this is going to take a bit of time to work through.

And then we get a very clear answer on this question from Patricia Karvelas:

Do we need stronger laws preventing construction in disaster-prone areas or even regulations to make homes more resilient to natural disasters given this is now a permanent feature of our lives?

Murray Watt:

Yes, I think we do. I’ll give you a really straight answer on that. I think that all of us can see past development decisions that have been approved by different governments which we all now shake our heads about and, and unfortunately, that kind of thing continues to go on around the country.

It didn’t get a lot of publicity, but when the prime minister announced the home buyback scheme with the New South Wales premier in Lismore recently, one of the other things he announced was the New South Wales government would be leading some work for national cabinet about how we could revamp our planning and development laws across the country.

You know, there’s in some ways, you know, we’ve got all these legacy decisions that have been made by past governments about approving development in flood plains and that’s where the mitigation and home buybacks can play a role. But what we need to do at a minimum is stop approving developments in areas that we know are going to flood. So that work as I say is going to be led by the New South Wales government for consideration by national cabinet and the discussions I’ve had with emergency ministers around the country. I think there’s a real appetite to get moving on this. It’s something that’s been in the too-hard basket for too long, and we’re all literally paying the price of that now.

Amy Remeikis

Emergency management minister discusses buybacks in flood-prone areas

Murray Watt says the federal government will work with state governments to address the issue of communities which repeatedly flood and moving people’s homes. But he doesn’t think anyone should think that will solve it:

Really the two areas where we’ve seen those sort of commitments now, which is south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales have really been focused on areas where we’ve seen repeated flooding over the last few years. I mean, I think no matter what any government does, the reality is we are going to be having floods and fires and cyclones and other disasters in the future.

But what we know is that there are certain areas in the country that are prone to repeated flooding, and it often ends up actually being more cost-effective, let alone avoiding the emotional heartbreak, if we can move some of these people to higher ground. I can certainly think of other areas of the country where these kinds of approaches might be needed. But we need to sort of sit down and work that through with some of the state governments and before we can commit more funding.

He doesn’t want to name any areas just yet – this is going to take a lot of consultation, as well as looking at flood maps and predictions for the future, but Watt says it is something the federal government is taking seriously and that the new permanent disaster mitigation funding has a big role to play:

We’ll be able to invest in things like flood levees drainage improvements, bushfire evacuation centres, so I think when it comes to mitigation, there’s a range of approaches we can take.

But what I can assure your listeners is that they now have a federal government that’s taking these issues seriously and is prepared to put serious money on the table to back it in.

Amy Remeikis

ADF personnel to help in NSW as government works on dedicated disaster workforce

Murray Watt is asked about a permanent disaster workforce to assist during national disasters and their clean-up, given the pressure put on the defence force.

He says he and defence minister Richard Marles have been working on it.

The ADF does certainly play a role, particularly in the recovery phase. And just yesterday we activated more defence forces to go into western New South Wales to assist so over the next couple of days, we expect to see 200 defence force personnel helping there to top up these state-based services. But the reality is all of this is putting a huge amount of pressure, whether it be on those state-based services or the ADF. And that’s why in this budget, we committed over $30m to a volunteer veteran organisation called Disaster Relief Australia to sort of top up the kind of services that are available for communities, particularly in that clean-up phase.

As for the time frame on when that dedicated workforce could be expected, Watt says:

But we’re going to be keeping on doing some work on this about what we need to put in place as a country to supplement the ADF and I’d be hopeful that we might be able to bring that to a conclusion around about the budget next year.

Amy Remeikis

Disaster costs will be shared by everyone, Murray Watt says

Murray Watt says the cost of the flood repairs will be shared between governments at all levels. And of course, people themselves will have to pay some costs – if they are lucky enough to have insurance:

There’s insurance costs so let alone the huge damage bill that individuals are going to be incurring themselves.

So I think everyone is unfortunately going to be having to put their hands in their pockets for for this unfolding event that just won’t go away.

But he also points out that cyclone season hasn’t hit as yet either and there is more coming with these floods – even without more rain, South Australia is preparing because of the water coming down the Murray:

So even if we weren’t to get any more rain, we’re going to be looking at even more damage from the existing flood waters. And, as I say, I think we’re likely to see more. We’ve also got to remember that we haven’t yet seen the cyclone season start whether that be in north Queensland, Western Australia or Northern Territory. So unfortunately I haven’t got a lot of good news for people except for the fact that there is unlikely to be a lot of rain over the next couple of days. So that’s a good thing.

Amy Remeikis

‘Billions of dollars in damage’: emergency minister estimates cost of flood disaster

The minister for emergency management, Murray Watt, has told ABC radio RN Breakfast that the floods we are seeing across the east coast will cost “billions of dollars”:

I think it’s realistic to think that we’re looking at billions of dollars in damage and cost to the taxpayer in repairs. It’s a bit too early to be able to put a put a precise figure on it but even if you look at the disaster payments which we have provided to people so far, the bill is really racking up and that’s before we look at the immense cost of road and infrastructure repairs which lies ahead.

The worst thing is that this isn’t over yet.

Guardian Australia broke the story at the weekend that the government would be giving tennis star Novak Djokovic a visa, allowing him to be able to play the 2023 Australian Open.

Immigration minister Andrew Giles has this morning released a statement affirming the decision to overturn the three-year ban that accompanied the decision by the previous government to cancel his visa on the eve of the 2022 open.

Giles said the new position “does not mean the original decision to cancel was affected by error”.

He highlighted that since the decision was made, all Covid-19-related border restrictions have been removed, including the requirement to provide evidence of Covid-19 vaccination status to enter Australia.

Here’s the full statement:

On 14 January 2022, the then Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs made a decision under section 133C(3) of the Migration Act 1958 (the Migration Act) to cancel the visa of Mr Novak Djokovic on public interest grounds. A subsequent challenge to that decision was dismissed by the Full Federal Court which found that the decision was not affected by legal error.

Following the cancellation of his visa, Mr Djokovic sought revocation of the cancellation decision in accordance with the Migration Act. After considering all relevant factors, the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, and Multicultural Affairs the Hon Andrew Giles MP decided to revoke the cancellation decision under section 133F(4) of the Migration Act. The power under section 133F(4) may only be exercised by the Minister personally.

A decision to cancel a visa under section 133C(3) may be revoked if the person satisfies the Minister that the ground for cancelling the visa no longer exists. A decision to revoke a visa cancellation does not mean the original decision to cancel was affected by error.

Since the cancellation of Mr Djokovic’s visa in January 2022, all Covid-19-related Australian border restrictions under the Biosecurity Act 2015 have been removed, including the requirement to provide evidence of Covid-19 vaccination status to enter Australia.

Mr Djokovic has subsequently been granted a temporary visa to enter Australia.

Good morning! Thanks to Martin Farrer for kicking the blog off, I’m now online and helming the blog for the first part of the day.

New flood warnings have also been issued in Victoria overnight.

Residents of Iraak, 35km south-east of Mildura, have been told it’s too late to leave while others along the Murray River have been warned to watch and act.

Martin Farrer

Unemployment figures due

Unemployment figures for October will be released this morning with the rate tipped to rise slightly to 3.6% from 3.5% the previous month.

The September jobless rate held at near 50-year lows, AAP reports, but the data showed signs of a labour market that had passed its tightest point.

Fewer jobs were added to the market than expected – just 900 for the month, and far fewer than the 33,500 lift in total employment in August.

For more on how the economy is shaping up, you could hardly do better than consult today’s Grogonomics column, which tackles wage inflation here:

Flood warnings across central NSW

Martin Farrer

Communities in New South Wales are braced for more flooding with warnings of historic river rises and prolonged peaks in the state’s central west.

Across the state, authorities have issued 117 warnings and 23 “evacuate now” orders, including for central western Forbes and Gooloogong, Gunnedah in the north-east and the southern border town of Moama.

In Forbes, major flooding is expected with the Lachlan River likely to reach 10.8 metres on Thursday morning, similar to the historic inundation of June 1952.

The peak could remain through to the weekend, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

State Emergency Service assistant commissioner Sean Kearns said:

We have issued emergency warnings, as well as other areas along the Lachlan River including Condobolin, Gooloogong and Cowra. We are urging communities to stay away from flooded areas, follow advice from emergency services and evacuate immediately if asked to do so.

Along the Lachlan, major flooding is also occurring at Nanami, Cottons Weir, Jemalong, Euabalong and Hillston.

Find the full story here from Mostafa Rachwani:

Svitzer lockout hearing

Martin Farrer

Plans by tug boat operator Svitzer for a lockout of hundreds of workers from tomorrow – which threatens to cause supply-chain chaos in the lead-up to Christmas – will be fought by the Albanese government.

The plan would affect more than 580 workers indefinitely from Friday, and cover 17 ports in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia, AAP reports.

The Fair Work Commission held a brief hearing yesterday, before later listing another hearing before the full bench in Sydney today at 1pm.

A further hearing will be held tomorrow morning if necessary.

The commission will consider whether “the indefinite lockout of employees … is protected industrial action for a proposed enterprise agreement that is threatened, impending or probable”.

It acted on its own initiative to intervene as the lockout had the potential to “cause significant damage to the Australian economy”.

Workplace relations minister Tony Burke said the government was arguing the lockout should not go ahead:

That is why we have intervened in the Fair Work Commission’s case to argue this action should be terminated.

The commonwealth will be providing economic evidence to the commission to demonstrate the significant harm to the national economy that would result if the company’s industrial action went ahead.

Burke said the dispute reaffirmed the need for the government’s industrial relations bill to urgently pass, as the current threshold allowing the commission’s intervention was too high.

Welcome

Martin Farrer

Good morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of Australian news. My colleague Natasha May will be here shortly to guide you through the day but in the meantime here are some of the key stories making news this morning:

• Anthony Albanese spent his last day at the G20 summit in Bali in a series of meetings with the leaders of the UK, France and India, with security and trade uppermost in his mind. Our political editor Katharine Murphy filed late last night on how the prime minister was particularly focused on trying to explore ways of boosting Australia’s defence capability before the new nuclear submarines come on stream in the 2030s. Here’s her story from Bali before she heads with the PM to Bangkok for the Apec meeting, the last leg of his summit marathon.

• The Lachlan River is due to peak at a record-equalling 10.8 metres in Forbes this morning amid the threat that the town will suffer a second major flood in the same number of weeks. We will be watching the situation as it unfolds this morning. We also have a dramatic new dispatch about how a woman, her newborn baby, husband and dogs were forced to take refuge on the top of their water tank as flood waters suddenly inundated their property in nearby Tichborne.

• Our main exclusive story this morning is that the superintendent in charge of the Queensland police First Nations unit is under investigation for alleged racism and bullying, Guardian Australia has confirmed. Superintendent Kerry Johnson has been accused of racism by a person of colour who worked in the unit, including allegations he blocked her promotion and that he was disrespectful to community members at a funeral in the Indigenous community of Cherbourg.

• Also coming up today is a federal government announcement to cap in-home aged-care fees after concerns some providers are “gouging” clients with charges of up to 60%. My colleague Josh Butler has the exclusive story here.