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Bowen to UN: ‘Australia is back as a responsible global citizen’
The foreign minister Penny Wong, the energy minister Chris Bowen and senator Pat Dodson, Australia’s special envoy for reconciliation, are currently in New York for the 77th meeting of the UN General Assembly.
António Guterres, the United Nations secretary general, told the assembly “the climate crisis is the defining issue of our time”:
It must be the first priority of every government and multilateral organisation. And yet climate action is being put on the back burner – despite overwhelming public support around the world.
You can read more about Guterres’ address here:
Bowen has declared “Australia is back” when it comes to climate change, telling world allies at the assembly that it’s no longer consumed by domestic debates over global warming and wants to become a renewables powerhouse.
Wong will participate in 30 engagements throughout the week, and is expected to deliver Australia’s address to the assembly on Friday, after meeting with the foreign ministers of Quad nations, which include the United States, India and Japan.
Key events
Natasha May
Thanks for your attention this morning, I hand you over now to the fabulous Amy Remeikis!
Australia sanctions Russia steel magnate
Australia has sanctioned the Russian cofounder of a steel and mining company, Alexander Abramov, AAP reports. The billionaire was initially listed as one of 67 Russian oligarchs sanctioned by Australia in April before he launched legal action against the foreign minister, Penny Wong, arguing the sanctions damaged his reputation.
A sanctions instrument was signed by Wong last week but listed on the legislation register on Wednesday morning. The sanctioning comes as Wong met with her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Kuleba said he requested additional military assistance from Australia, including for Canberra to send more Bushmaster vehicles. Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, has also requested further artillery support in the form of up to 12 howitzers and ammunition.
Senator Wong said she expressed Australia’s solidarity with Ukraine and admiration for the courage and sacrifice Ukrainians had shown. She told reporters in New York:
There is always more we can do and the government will continue to look at ways we can support them.
Her comments come as Russia paves the way for the formal annexation of seized Ukrainian territory after nearly seven months of war.
Russian-backed officials in several areas it partially controls have called for referendums on joining Russia, a move supported by Moscow. You can read Guardian’s full story about that latest development in the Ukraine invasion here:
– with Reuters
Most of NSW blanketed by cloud
If you stayed with us through my colleague Peter Hannam’s very excellent – but complex – economic analysis, here is an interesting visual from the Bureau of Meteorology to give your eyes a break.
Cloud covering much of #NSW. Thunderstorms continue about the northern region due to a trough associated with a low pressure system. This brings chance of thunderstorms and widespread rain over areas already flooding, renewed river rises expected. Monitor: https://t.co/REl2VBmed8 pic.twitter.com/Jck4LMEdSt
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) September 20, 2022
Peter Hannam
Review into RBA bond-buying binge released
The Reserve Bank this morning has released the results of its review into its bond-buying activities during the Covid pandemic.
This was essentially the “quantitative easing“ component that supplemented a huge increase in fiscal support by federal and state governments. It’s a bit complex, but stay with us.
As the bank states, its bond purchase program snapped up $281bn between November 2020 and February 2022. Not small bikkies in an economy worth about $2tn a year.
Here’s how the binge compared with other nations:
The RBA has announced a review of its bond-buying program during Nov 2020-Feb 2022 that saw it snap up $281bn in a bid to keep interest rates down. Here’s how the buying compared with other economies. (Source: RBA) pic.twitter.com/3mLivyHOnq
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) September 20, 2022
As the RBA said this morning, the purpose was to “lower the structure of interest rates in Australia”. By increasing demand for bonds, the RBA reduced the yields for bonds, in effect making it cheaper to borrow than it would otherwise have been.
It provided “extra insurance against the ongoing risk of very bad economic outcomes”, the bank said.
For instance, here’s what the RBA was looking at in terms of the unemployment rate, and how it turned out:
The key reason for RBA’s bond-buying binge was to shore up the economy. As RBA has noted previously, there were forecasts for much higher jobless rates (and deeper GDP declines) from the Covid pandemic. Monetary and fiscal efforts helped avoid worst-case scenarios. (Source: RBA) pic.twitter.com/hKv6pMh3sx
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) September 20, 2022
The difficulty, of course, is understanding how much of those “very bad” outcomes were avoided because of the bond buying (versus other measures). The review estimated, though, that buying up all those bonds reduced the yields (the interest rate) on government bonds “by around 30 basis points“.
That’s almost a third of a percentage point, which doesn’t sound like much, but it did keep borrowing costs lower than would have been the case otherwise. In fact, those fell to record lows and contributed to a lower exchange rate for the Australian dollar (as other nations were doing the same thing).
One difference from other nations, though, has been the spread of bond purchases. The RBA’s have been bunched more at the near-end of maturities.
For certain maturities, the RBA holds almost half of the debt issued by Australian governments – a higher proportion than in other nations who tended to spread they purchases out over more maturities. (Source: RBA) pic.twitter.com/1Ildosj8DZ
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) September 20, 2022
That bunching may, though, have an advantage for the central bank’s balance sheet. As the chart below shows, the RBA’s liabilities have been transformed, with all those bonds blowing out the liabilities:
The RBA’s balance sheet has been transformed by all that bond buying. If marked to market, the bank would have a big negative value given how bonds have traded since the Covid pandemic has eased and inflation has taken off. pic.twitter.com/eGXERQKEUO
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) September 20, 2022
However, while the RBA’s balance sheet changed, its sacrifice was for the good of the general government balance sheet. The program “resulted in government debt being issued at a lower fixed cost than otherwise”.
“There will be an ongoing, albeit diminishing, saving on debt issued over the next 10 years, as the Bank’s holdings gradually mature,” the RBA said.
The review assesses the program to have been a success, but the RBA board stress that “it is appropriate to consider use of unconventional monetary policy tools only in extreme circumstances, when the usual monetary policy tool – the cash rate target – has been employed to the full extent possible“.
In other words: don’t expect another bond-buying binge until the key interest rate returns to near zero again. Hopefully, that won’t be soon – or ever.
Steph Harmon
Haim to headline Laneway festival 2023
And for something a little lighter: US trio Haim have announced they are headlining the Laneway festival 2023 in Australia and New Zealand via a Kylie Minogue tribute on Instagram – which features custom lyrics and some adorable backyard sibling choreography.
US artist Phoebe Bridgers and Japanese artist JoJi are also headlining a lineup that features Finneas (aka Billie Eilish’s brother), NZ band the Beths, Norway’s Girl In Red, UK rapper Slowthai, Ireland’s post-punk group Fontaines DC, and Australian acts Tasman Keith, Mallrat and Harvey Sutherland.
Laneway’s tour starts in Auckland on 30 January, before heading to Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth, with general public tickets on sale at 9am Thursday 29 September, and pre-sale on the Tuesday from 11am.
NSW Labor promises extra 1,200 nurses as part of safe staffing commitment
An additional 1,200 nurses and midwives will be recruited into the NSW health system if Labor wins the next state election, to be held in March 2023.
The extra nurses will come above the government’s additional recruits outlined in the 2022-23 NSW state budget within the first four years of government, at a cost of $175m.
The commitment comes as part of NSW Labor’s plan to introduce minimum and enforceable safe staffing levels to public hospitals, starting with emergency departments.
The staged approach would subsequently be rolled out into other areas including ICUs, maternity wards, and Multi-Purpose Services, which are often in regional areas.
The NSW Labor leader, Chris Minns, said:
After more than a decade of the NSW Liberals and Nationals in government, our health system needs structural repair.
Experienced nurses and midwives are either dropping their working hours or worse, leaving the system altogether because they’re not supported enough in the workplace and see the workloads as untenable.
These changes will see more health staff retained, working in areas that need them the most, and it means better outcomes for patients and the level of care they will receive in New South Wales.
Ryan Park, the NSW shadow minister for health, said:
The first phase is a $150m-commitment to fund an additional 500 paramedics in Labor’s first term to ease the burden of chronic paramedic shortages and the unprecedented strain on our rural and regional health system.
Barnardos study finds children victims of domestic violence have nowhere to turn
Children and young people continue to be regarded as onlookers rather than as co-victims of domestic and family violence (DFV), a research study has found.
The study by Barnardos Australia released today reveals the ongoing shadow that DFV casts on children in their later lives, with persisting health and psychological impacts.
Seven in ten survivors say they had no idea where to seek help and for those who did seek help, they mostly experienced a negative outcome and the situation worsened, the report found.
Barnardos Australia says a whole of system change is needed to recognise children and young people experiencing DFV are victim survivors in their own right, and the development of measures that address their unique needs.
The Barnardos Australia CEO, Deirdre Cheers, said:
Children are the silent victims of DFV and yet we know they are forced to manage the impact, often alone, for the rest of their lives.
Indeed, recognition of children and young people experiencing DFV as victim survivors in their own right and with their own unique safety and support needs is long overdue.
The study’s lead researcher, Dr Rob Urquhart, said study participants of 149 victim survivors provided an unexpectedly rich collection of first-hand accounts about living with DFV.
The report found cumulative impacts with 88% reported experiencing psychological distress, 79% suffered self-esteem problems and 65% found it difficult to trust other people.
Barnardos is calling for federal and NSW governments to increase funding for trauma-informed child counselling and therapy, additional domestic and family violence specialist workers and an increase in integrated public housing for children and families fleeing domestic violence.
Mandatory national domestic and family violence police training and education programs in early childhood education, primary and secondary schools have also been ear-marked as a priority.
If you or someone you know is impacted by family violence, call 1800-RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au.
Local member says thoughts are with girls, teachers, driver and their families involved in crash
Catherine King, the minister for infrastructure, transport, and regional development, has released a statement in response to the collision of a school bus which came from the Ballarat region, within her electorate.
A teenage girl and a driver were seriously injured when the school bus collided with a truck and rolled down an embankment west of Melbourne.
A police spokeswoman told 3AW radio station the bus was coming from a school in the Ballarat area and the students were on their way to the airport for a trip.
Terrible news this morning. My thoughts with the girls, teachers driver and their families. Thank you to our emergency services and hospital staff for your response. Ballarat is a tight knit community and many will be affected by this awful accident. https://t.co/uEV6gdp3FY
— Catherine King MP (@CatherineKingMP) September 20, 2022
– with AAP
Bowen to UN: ‘Australia is back as a responsible global citizen’
The foreign minister Penny Wong, the energy minister Chris Bowen and senator Pat Dodson, Australia’s special envoy for reconciliation, are currently in New York for the 77th meeting of the UN General Assembly.
António Guterres, the United Nations secretary general, told the assembly “the climate crisis is the defining issue of our time”:
It must be the first priority of every government and multilateral organisation. And yet climate action is being put on the back burner – despite overwhelming public support around the world.
You can read more about Guterres’ address here:
Bowen has declared “Australia is back” when it comes to climate change, telling world allies at the assembly that it’s no longer consumed by domestic debates over global warming and wants to become a renewables powerhouse.
Wong will participate in 30 engagements throughout the week, and is expected to deliver Australia’s address to the assembly on Friday, after meeting with the foreign ministers of Quad nations, which include the United States, India and Japan.
France lobbies Australia over helicopters
Circling back to the ABC Radio interview with Richard Marles, who said any decision to scrap the fleet of Taipan helicopters early would be made in Australia’s best interest. Australia is reviewing whether to scrap multi-role helicopters a decade before originally planned, according to the AAP.
The French government have a stake in the Taipan’s manufacturer Airbus, and is lobbying the government not to scrap the program. Marles says his French counterpart, Sébastien Lecornu, raised the issue with him when they met in September.
Marles told reporters on Wednesday:
France, in a completely respectful way, are advocating on behalf of their defence industry and you would expect that and it’s totally appropriate.
We’ve been completely clear and upfront and honest with the French and they know that too, and I think they appreciate that.
The former Morrison government announced it would scrap the almost 50 Taipan helicopters and replace them with US Black Hawk helicopters. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, met with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in July and Australia is hoping to host the president later in the year.
Albanese has said the government is working towards a “reset” of the relationship with France after tensions were strained when the Morrison government scrapped a $90bn submarine contract. Marles said he was confident the relationship with France was moving forward.
But the defence minister added that Australia will continue to assess all of its capabilities to ensure they’re cost effective and fit for purpose. Marles said:
We need to be making sure we have the best capability possible but it needs to provide value for money.
Marles has launched a review of Defence’s posture to determine what needs to be done to bridge capability gaps until Australia is able to acquire nuclear-propelled submarines.
The review is due to be handed down in March.
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