Category Archives: Australian politics

Scrap blue cards for First Nations kinship carers, Queensland family and child commissioner says

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Damning report finds state’s blue card screening system creates unnecessary barriers to placing children with their families

Queensland’s family and child commissioner has called for blue card requirements to be scrapped for First Nations kinship carers after a report found the system relies on “irrelevant information, overpolicing and subjective assessments”.

Since 2001, Queenslanders who work around children have needed to obtain a blue card, with offences including drug trafficking, murder and child abuse disqualifying a person from obtaining one. But a report by the Queensland Family & Child Commission (QFCC) found blue cards create additional barriers to placing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children with their families.

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Indigenous voice defeat doesn’t mean voters want assimilation, Albanese says

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PM says he hopes there’s a retreat from ‘rhetorical positions’ on social issues, adding family violence is not ‘confined to one section of the population’

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says the government will “push back” on Coalition calls to promote assimilation of Indigenous communities in the wake of the voice referendum, saying the vote’s defeat is not an endorsement of such policies.

Albanese also appeared to take a swipe at the Coalition’s calls for inquiries into social issues in Indigenous communities, saying family violence is not “confined to one section of the population”.

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The tobacco industry claims smoking reforms fuel the black market. Health experts say this is wrong

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Proposed changes such as plain packaging for vapes and individual cigarette warnings come under microscope at Senate hearing

In three days of hearings about wide-ranging law reforms aimed at discouraging smoking and addressing the health risks posed by vaping, one issue dominated the questioning of health experts by senators.

Will the changes actually fuel the tobacco and vape black market?

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Wiggles ‘deeply disappointed’ over use of Hot Potato to deter homeless people – as it happened

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Watts has gone on to confirm that there are still 65 Australians stuck in Gaza that the government is “supporting” and are being provided consular assistance.

Watts says Dfat is working to get those individuals to the Rafah crossing and out of Gaza “as soon as possible”.

We know this is an incredibly distressing time for Australians in Gaza and their families and we are providing all possible support we can, communicating through all available channels the best information and options we have about their safety in a very difficult situation.

The circumstances on the ground are incredibly challenging and they are changing on a day to day basis. This is a conflict zone. It is a very difficult operating environment so we do the best job we can in the circumstances.

Crossings like this are the result of an enormous effort from Australian consular officials and diplomats in the region. So many conversations at the ministerial level, foreign minister Wong spoke with her counterparts in the region and we’re grateful that this initial cohort has made the crossing from Gaza to Egypt.

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Judges to be protected against civil lawsuits after Salvatore Vasta sued over wrongful imprisonment

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Australian government to grant federal circuit court and family court judges the same protections as other commonwealth judges under new legislation

The federal government is preparing to introduce reforms granting greater protections to inferior court judges after a landmark case in which a wrongfully imprisoned man successfully sued Salvatore Vasta.

Vasta, a judge in the federal circuit court, was successfully sued this year by a man who he falsely imprisoned during a routine property dispute after a series of “serious and fundamental errors” and “gross and obvious irregularity of procedure”.

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Fires in Queensland tropics – as it happened

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The NSW RFS has confirmed that just after 4am this morning one of its firefighting tanks rolled over 10km south of Jennings in the Tenterfield LGA.

A spokesperson said there were four firefighters on board. They were all taken from the truck, with three being taken to hospital for observation.

They’ve said they’ll be returning to bulk billing, or many of them who are considering a change would stick with bulk billing, for those more than 11 million Australians.

That’s about 60% or more of the throughput of the average general practice. So it’s a huge boost in confidence and funding to a sector that I think is probably in its most powerless status been in the 40 year history of Medicare.

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Almost 40% think Australia should dump US alliance if Donald Trump returns as president, poll finds

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Survey finds 47% believe Aukus locks Australia in to supporting the US in an armed conflict, while concern about conflict with China has fallen

A significant minority of Australians think the country should withdraw from the overall Anzus security alliance with the US if Donald Trump returns to the White House, while just under half of the respondents in a new poll believe the Aukus pact locks Australia in to supporting the US in any armed conflict.

The findings, to be released on Wednesday, are part of an opinion survey undertaken annually by the United States Studies Centre. YouGov surveyed 1,019 adults in Australia, 1,055 in the US and 1,015 in Japan about a range of foreign policy and security questions related to the Indo-Pacific.

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Yang Hengjun’s family urges Albanese to negotiate with China for jailed Australian writer’s release

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Democracy activist ‘hasn’t enjoyed any direct sunlight for over four years’ and his children fear their father risks being left to die in a Chinese prison

The children of jailed Australian writer Yang Hengjun, detained for more than four years in China, have pleaded with Anthony Albanese to negotiate his release in Beijing this week, telling the prime minister his situation is critical and their father risks “being left to die”.

The writer and avowed democracy activist was arrested in January 2019 and charged with espionage. Yang has collapsed in prison and been told he has a 10cm cyst growing on his kidney, his sons said in a letter to Albanese, emphasising there was “a narrow window of opportunity” to secure his release.

In a prison, inmates are allowed to go outside to get fresh air and may eat in the canteen. Unlike the detention centre where I eat, drink, defecate and urinate all in a small room.

I haven’t enjoyed any direct sunlight for over four years. At most, some rays of sunlight occasionally come through one or two panes of glass and flicker fitfully.

Don’t forget I have not been convicted yet. According to Chinese law, I am still innocent, yet I have been locked up for more than four years, and I am almost destroyed … I’m talking about physically; mentally, no-one can destroy me.

I just hope I will be able to get out alive.

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Major multinational port operator paid zero tax in Australia while raking in billions

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Exclusive: DP World, part-owned by the Dubai government, may have ‘artificially reduced profits’, a new report claims

DP World, one of Australia’s two largest port operators, has paid no tax in Australia despite generating revenue of more than $4.5bn over eight years.

A new report by the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research (Cictar) says that DP World’s top Australian subsidiary may have “artificially reduced profits” to achieve the result.

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Australia news live: ‘that’s a question for Keating,’ Albanese says when queried on former PM’s abstention from Israel-Hamas statement

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PM also acknowledged ‘tragic’ Queensland bushfires on Tuesday, warning pf ‘difficult summer’. Follow the day’s news live

Fire at Tara ‘remains uncontained’, QFES acting deputy commissioner says

QFES acting deputy commissioner Joanne Greenfield also spoke to Sunrise this morning, and provided an update on the bushfire at Tara:

The Tara fire is quite large now and still remains uncontained in most of its edges.

Crews have been down there working overnight trying to strengthen the control line and try to bring areas of it into containment.

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PNG to investigate corruption claims in Australia-funded refugee program

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Papua New Guinea’s immigration minister John Rosso says whistleblower’s ‘serious allegations’ revealed by the Guardian have prompted audit

Allegations of widespread corruption and mismanagement within the Australia-funded refugee support program in Papua New Guinea will be formally investigated by the Port Moresby government.

After allegations from a whistleblower inside PNG’s immigration authority that millions of dollars had potentially been misused, PNG’s deputy prime minister, also the minister for immigration, John Rosso, has ordered an audit into where the money has gone.

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Hundreds of millions of Australian identity checks may have been illegally conducted, Senate hears

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Albanese government is rushing through laws to underpin the ID verification service, say experts who have privacy concerns

Hundreds of millions of identity checks under the federal government’s ID verification service may have been illegally conducted, with the Albanese government rushing through legislation to underpin the service.

Identity verification services are used by government departments and businesses – such as credit card providers and power companies – to combat fraud and identity theft.

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Australia was not big enough to vote for the voice, says Stan Grant

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The Indigenous journalist and academic says he and other yes supporters were cast as ‘troublemakers’ for speaking about justice

Journalist and academic Stan Grant has spoken of his feelings of disappointment and rejection at the defeat of the Indigenous voice referendum, critical that public figures who talk about racism in Australia are characterised as “troublemakers” in media discourse.

The Wiradjuri man lamented the referendum loss as a missed opportunity to better help Indigenous people, saying current political processes are “not enough” to address disadvantage. In a speech to the Australian National University on Monday, Grant was critical of the no campaign’s attacks on the voice, but also questioned the yes campaign’s strategy.

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Icac says Berejiklian inquiry sent ‘clear message’ – as it happened

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Australia’s ‘agricultural demands’ did not meet recent negotiations, EU spokesperson says

According to Politico, a spokesperson for the EU executive had this to say about the breakdown of free trade deal negotiations:

The European Commission regrets the lack of progress made during talks in Osaka today.

Our negotiating teams made good progress in recent weeks, including in the days leading up to the Osaka meeting. There was optimism that a deal was within reach.

My job as Australia’s trade minister is to get the best deal that we can for our producers, our businesses, our workers and our consumers.

Unfortunately we’ve not been able to make progress.

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In the face of grim polling, can Annastacia Palaszczuk and Queensland Labor retain the state?

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Daniel Andrews went out on top but in Queensland the premier fights on, even as the LNP gears up to go all-in on regional seats

“What you see is what you get” has been Annastacia Palaszczuk’s unofficial political motto. She’s used the line dozens of times, as the fledgling “unexpected” premier in 2015; ahead of a leaders’ debate in 2017; and again and again during the bruising Covid campaign of 2020.

It’s perhaps no surprise, then, that a year before the next election and with polls showing Palasczuk and her government on shaky ground the Queensland premier has retreated to familiar territory.

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Julian Assange’s brother urges Anthony Albanese to ‘up the ante’ over Wikileaks founder’s case

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Prime minister pushed back on idea of US president personally stepping in, but Gabriel Shipton calls prosecution ‘entirely political’

Julian Assange’s brother has urged the Australian government to “up the ante” after the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, confirmed he raised the WikiLeaks founder’s case with Joe Biden last week.

Assange’s brother, Gabriel Shipton, told Guardian Australia: “If his government can get back Cheng Lei from China, why is he so impotent when it comes to Julian and the USA?”

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Two dead in light plane crash in Queensland – as it happened

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The PM has said he has raised Julian Assange’s case with President Biden, but he shied away from calling him to intervene, saying Biden ‘doesn’t interfere with the Department of Justice’.

We keep our discussions private. I made clear Australia’s position that I made as Labor leader, the same position I hold as prime minister, which is that enough is enough, it is time that this issue was brought to a conclusion.

Well, the Australian officials are working very hard to achieve an outcome which is consistent with the position that I’ve put.

Look, this is - this is of major benefit, not just to the workers and the base there at Virginia and other places, but, of course, particularly for South Australia and Western Australia. This will be a jobs bonanza, and it will do more than the direct jobs as well.

A bit like the former auto industry did … this is highly advanced manufacturing for Australia. We will reap the benefit for decades to come.

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Australia abstains from UN resolution calling for truce in Gaza, prompting criticism at home

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Representative explains resolution ‘did not recognise terror group Hamas as perpetrator of 7 October attack’

Australia has abstained from casting a vote in a UN resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian truce in Gaza, arguing it was “incomplete” because it did not mention Hamas as the perpetrator of the 7 October attack.

On Friday, the United Nations general assembly overwhelmingly called for an “immediate, durable and sustainable humanitarian truce” between Israel and Hamas and demanded unhindered aid access to the besieged Gaza Strip.

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Australian politician’s speech at tobacco conference in September allegedly in breach of WHO treaty

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Exclusive: Discussion on panel came as federal government was developing reforms to address high rates of youth nicotine addiction

An Australian politician spoke at the tobacco industry’s flagship conference in South Korea, despite the federal government developing reforms to address alarming rates of youth nicotine addiction.

It is the first time in more than a decade that a serving Australian politician has spoken at a tobacco industry-funded conference. Attending such events could breach a World Health Organization (WHO) treaty, to which Australia is a signatory.

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Penny Wong urges Australians in Lebanon to ‘consider leaving’ – As it happened

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Foreign minister flags government’s concerns about ‘volatile security situation’. This blog is now closed

Pay deal averts six-day strike by dairy workers

A looming strike at one of Victoria’s major milk companies has been averted after the processor struck a pay deal with the union.

There is some concern around Mount Isa, and we are looking at what we can do to support that area being so remote in the western part of our state.

So looking at the weather we have today, still very extreme fire danger in the western part of Queensland. We are certainly looking at another challenging day.

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