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Bridget Archer says she is proud of Tasmanians for rejecting anti-trans ‘nonsense’
Liberal MP Bridget Archer has urged people not to join in support of a “hateful agenda” after the anti-trans rights Melbourne protests.
She told Patricia Karvelas on ABC radio:
I think they’ve almost stopped pretending that it’s about women’s rights and they are openly saying that it is an anti-transgender protest, as you have said, and, you know, I think I’m bewildered as to what rights it is that they think that they are protesting for, for women. If they want to talk about women’s safety. I don’t think that the issue of same you know, same sex bathrooms is where the issue of women’s safety is at.
If you want to talk about women’s safety, the most unsafe place for women to be is in their own homes.
And if these women care about women’s rights, and they want to do something to make the world safer for women, I suggest that they concentrate some more of their time on some of those efforts.
In terms of safety, the transgender community have much higher rates of violence perpetrated against them, then even women do so. I think it’s just nonsense. It is nonsense. And I’m so proud of Tasmania, the other day showing up in huge numbers in Hobart to reject this hateful agenda.
Key events
The senate inquiry report into the government’s housing fund bill has been returned and the Coalition, the Greens, Lidia Thorpe and David Pocock have issued dissenting reports.
The Greens, Thorpe and Pocock all say it doesn’t go far enough and won’t actually lead to increases in the social housing stock.
Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather says the government has to give if it expects to pass the legislation:
With almost the entire Senate crossbench, and everyone from the CFMEU to Anglicare and Master Builders, all calling on the Government to invest more in social and affordable housing, it’s time the Government came to the table and stopped standing in the way of progress.
It’s clear the government has no support for a housing plan that will make the crisis worse – it’s time for the government to accept that they’ve failed and agree to the almost universal call to invest billions of extra dollars in social housing.
It’s beyond comprehension that the Government would refuse to work with the Greens and the crossbench to secure a housing plan that could invest $5 billion a year directly in social and affordable housing and lay the foundation to finally tackle the housing crisis.
The Greens have on the table a proposal to invest a modest $5 billion a year in public, community and affordable housing, which would build 225,000 homes, along with introducing a national freeze on rent increases.
T
ACT independent senator David Pocock is not overly happy with how last night played out in the Senate:
The Senate voted on the Referendum Machinery Bill last night. This sets out how the referendum will work and what rules will apply.
Labor, Liberals and Nationals voted against my amendment to introduce ‘real-time’ political donation disclosures. Bringing it to 14 days.…
— David Pocock (@DavidPocock) March 22, 2023
Labor and Liberals also voted against having the pamphlet that will be mailed out to every household fact-checked. We know truth in political advertising is an issue yet rather than taking steps to address this, we just hear ‘trust us’ from the major parties.
— David Pocock (@DavidPocock) March 22, 2023
The Labor government also argued against adding social media to the advertising blackout period before the referendum. This covers TV, newspapers, subscription TV, etc but not social media. Some interesting arguments as to why we shouldn’t include social media in 2023 🤔
— David Pocock (@DavidPocock) March 22, 2023
Those noon showers have started a lot earlier in Canberra – it looks like it is about 10pm. And it seems Melbourne is more moody than usual:
Bob Brown sets the record straight
Adam Morton, who reported on Bob Brown resigning his life membership from the Australian Conservation Foundation yesterday, has had another chat to the former Greens leader over a story in the Australian newspaper today.
Spoke to Bob Brown, he says he has been verballed on p1 of The Australian today: “I haven’t urged the greens to reject [the safeguard mechanism] – I’ve urged the Greens in passing the safeguard to stand firm on new coal and gas in the negotiations.”
— Adam Morton (@adamlmorton) March 22, 2023
Sikh community protesting against treatment in Punjab
The federal parliament lawns often feature protests. For the past couple of days, Sikh protesters have been filling the space, in a bid to highlight alleged genocide and human rights breaches by the Indian government against Sikhs in the northern Indian region of Punjab.
The big rally was yesterday and organiser Ravi Singh found support in Bob Katter who joined the protest on Wednesday:
Katter said:
I have said constantly in this place (parliament) that if you’re going to bring in people to Australia, surely you bring in the persecuted minority from the Middle East – the Sikhs, the Jews and the Christians.
I’ve been impressed with Sikhs, they come to Australia, and they become Australians. And I got so fascinated by that I took out books on the Sikh religion and discovered the Sikh religion is almost identical to Christianity.
Don’t think this won’t have an impression on the parliament of Australia, we’ve always prided ourselves on being a country of a fair go. Well today we want the Australian Government to put their money where their mouth is and come out and say to the Indian government that ‘we will not accept religious persecution’.
Singh, who travelled from Melbourne to host the rally said he, like thousands of others, was worried about his loved ones in Punjab.
We’re worried for our families because we’ve been trying to connect with them for three or four days, and we can’t speak with them.
We’re fearful of what might actually happen to them, and what will get reported back to us here.
… We’d like to hear the government raise the issue in parliament as a signatory to international human rights treaties, and we’d like to see if the federal foreign (affairs) minister can make a statement on what Australia can do to help; not just people of Punjab, but the Australians who are there.
Peaceful protest planned at Kellie-Jay Keen rally in Canberra
It is a grey old day in Canberra today, with the possibility of showers from noon, when Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull is planning to hold a rally outside parliament.
The Greens and university groups have been planning a (peaceful) counter-protest for some time but looks like the weather also has a little to say.
Voice referendum wording update to be held later today, PM says
Josh Butler
PM Anthony Albanese says he will have more to say on the Indigenous voice referendum later today, with news expected on the exact wording of the constitutional amendment and the referendum question.
The prime minister held a brief press conference at a childcare centre in Queanbeyan this morning. We reported overnight that the referendum working group of Indigenous leaders had reached an agreement with the prime minister over the crucial referendum details, but the particulars still have to be approved by federal cabinet in a special meeting this morning.
Albanese told journalists to “be patient” for another press conference later in the day.
Can I say this about the referendum working group and the work that they’ve done. It’s incredibly constructive and I give such praise to the leaders of Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander peoples who have done work in a way that is so patient. This is a very modest request about being recognised in our constitution.
The PM said he was happy the Coalition backed the referendum machinery act changes last night. He said the opposition’s wider position on the referendum itself was a matter for them – but urged them to support it.
I can’t conceive of why a political party would ask to bind its members to a position of opposition to a referendum.
Asked about the anti-trans rally being held outside Parliament House today, following ugly scenes at other rallies from the same speaker in Melbourne and Hobart, Albanese stopped short of criticising the events.
I just think that people should be respected for who they are. It costs nothing for an individual to respect someone who is different from them – be it a different gender, a different race.
Australia is a diverse place, and we should look for ways of coming together, not dividing Australia. And that’s the attitude that I take. I think that’s the attitude overwhelmingly that Australians take as well.
In case you missed it yesterday, Adam Morton reported on former Greens leader Bob Brown quitting the Australian Conservation Foundation over its support for the safeguard mechanism:
Former Greens leader Bob Brown has quit his life membership of the Australian Conservation Foundation in protest after the environment group urged parliament to “strengthen and pass” a signature Albanese government climate policy.
Brown said he had returned his life membership – awarded in the 1980s for his leadership in the campaign to save Tasmania’s Franklin River – over ACF’s position on the safeguard mechanism, an industrial emissions policy that is the subject of negotiations between Labor and the Greens.
It came after the ACF chief executive, Kelly O’Shanassy, released a statement on Tuesday that said a new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change showed deeper and faster cuts in greenhouse gas emissions were needed.
Asked if the Coalition’s position against bills like the safeguard mechanism will hurt it in its goal of winning back the seats the teals won at the last election, Bridget Archer says:
It’s probably for others above my pay grade to to determine that, but I mean, I don’t think it’s helpful.
You know, it is something that I think, even within the political environment – as I said, both major parties have accepted that emissions reduction target, we’ve accepted that we’re working towards a net zero by 2050 position.
So let’s talk about how we’re going to achieve that.
Let’s get on and do that.
Archer frustrated with Liberals for not collaborating on climate bill
Bridget Archer also expanded on her exasperation with her party for not engaging on legislation like the safeguard mechanism. Archer gave a speech in the parliament yesterday where she said she was frustrated with her party for just saying no.
We talk about how the you know, balance of power in the Senate may be held by the Greens and others – it also could be held by the Coalition, in part at least and we’ve seen even this week in terms of the negotiation that’s happened in the referendum machinery bill that it is possible to get negotiated outcomes between the major parties as well.
… As I said in my speech yesterday when I supported the government’s climate bill early in their term, I said then that you know, I want to see the climate wars put aside.
I want to see the ideology put aside and to see all parties working constructively towards this common aim and I think if we have an accepted position that we’re seeking, you know, emissions reduction targets now, then how we may choose to arrive at that may differ, but we should be open to collaborating, you know, on the on the way I think
Bridget Archer says she is proud of Tasmanians for rejecting anti-trans ‘nonsense’
Liberal MP Bridget Archer has urged people not to join in support of a “hateful agenda” after the anti-trans rights Melbourne protests.
She told Patricia Karvelas on ABC radio:
I think they’ve almost stopped pretending that it’s about women’s rights and they are openly saying that it is an anti-transgender protest, as you have said, and, you know, I think I’m bewildered as to what rights it is that they think that they are protesting for, for women. If they want to talk about women’s safety. I don’t think that the issue of same you know, same sex bathrooms is where the issue of women’s safety is at.
If you want to talk about women’s safety, the most unsafe place for women to be is in their own homes.
And if these women care about women’s rights, and they want to do something to make the world safer for women, I suggest that they concentrate some more of their time on some of those efforts.
In terms of safety, the transgender community have much higher rates of violence perpetrated against them, then even women do so. I think it’s just nonsense. It is nonsense. And I’m so proud of Tasmania, the other day showing up in huge numbers in Hobart to reject this hateful agenda.
Tamsin Rose
Chris Minns also urged Australians not to adopt “American-style politics”, referring to the ugly anti-trans clashes in Victoria and New South Wales over the past week.
He said:
It’s never really been a part of democracy in Australia, let alone recent political history in NSW. The tone of the campaign so far between Labor, and I have to say the premier, has been civil and constructive and largely about issues not about personalities and certainly not about violence. We don’t want to go down that American-style politics in Australia. They’re deeply distressing scenes.
Caitlin Cassidy
Mid-career entrants to teaching are key to education sector, expert says
The chair of an expert panel tasked by the federal government to examine teacher education, Prof Mark Scott, says increasing the number of mid-career entrants into teaching will be key to addressing shortages hitting the sector.
It follows the release of the panel’s discussion paper today which outlines four key areas of reform, including providing greater flexibility in postgraduate teaching courses.
Scott said diversifying the teaching profession with a greater pool of mid-career entrants was a goal of the panel but it would require reform to the tertiary sector.
We know mid-career entrants generally have greater personal and financial responsibilities and the loss of income during study, the length of an ITE [initial teacher education] program and competing commitments such as family and work can be significant barriers to making the switch.
The panel has identified opportunities to address these barriers and support mid-career entrants into teaching by getting them into the classroom sooner and improving the flexibility of available postgraduate ITE programs which helps manage competing commitments.
Also recommended was the development of performance measures for education courses and linking achievement to government funding.
Scott:
By setting standardised performance measures and making these publicly available, it helps to recognise those highly effective ITE programs, as well as create a culture of continuous improvement and inform student choice.
We think student retention should be a focus in high performing ITE programs – and therefore included in the performance measures for ITE – because higher education providers play an important role in supporting their students to complete their course.
Tamsin Rose
NSW Labor leader Chris Minns is campaigning in Monaro
The New South Wales opposition leader, Chris Minns, is in the marginal seat of Monaro with the Labor candidate, Steve Whan, this morning.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is also in Queanbeyan for a press conference but he is not appearing with Minns.
Minns said they had done many press conferences together in recent months but today the schedules did not work.
He said:
We’ve done many press conferences with Anthony and he’s been fantastic for our campaign over not just the last week but the last several months.
Minns questioned if the federal opposition leader, Peter Dutton, would be joining the premier, Dominic Perrottet, in his efforts ahead of Saturday’s poll.
Whan and Minns pledged $50 for local road upgrades if Labor forms government.
Opposition leader Chris Minns is in the seat of Monaro this morning with Labor candidate Steve Whan. Labor is announcing it will upgrade two local bridges if elected. #nswvotes pic.twitter.com/uHlxZZPRAo
— Tamsin Rose (@tamsinroses) March 22, 2023
Asked about the anti-trans rights protest planned for outside parliament today and the agitator Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull who has led the events Australia has been witnessing the past week or so, Mark Butler says:
It’s inflammatory and it’s hateful and it’s designed to divide our community and it preys upon a group in our community who are far more susceptible to mental health issues and suicidal ideation.
… These protests are divisive, they are hateful.
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