Category Archives: Australian politics

Labor veteran joins criticism over proposed mandatory sentencing changes after high court decision

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Former senator Kim Carr says Albanese government’s planned bridging visa changes will undermine judicial independence and lead to unjust outcomes

Labor veteran Kim Carr has criticised the government’s “deeply disturbing” decision to sign up to mandatory minimum sentences in a deal to pass bridging visa changes with Coalition support.

The move – announced by the acting prime minister, Richard Marles, on Thursday – contradicts Labor’s national platform, which states that the party “opposes mandatory sentencing” because it “undermines the independence of the judiciary, leads to unjust outcomes and is often discriminatory in practice”.

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Flight delay compensation would stop Australian airlines from acting like a ‘mafia of the skies’, MP says

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Exclusive: Independent MP Monique Ryan ramps up calls for proposed scheme after Sydney airport CEO accuses airlines of ‘slot hoarding’

Australian airlines are acting like a “mafia of the sky” in continuing to strategically cancel flights they never intended to operate, an MP has claimed, arguing for the urgent introduction of compensation laws so carriers are deterred by immediate penalties.

Monique Ryan, the independent member for Kooyong in Melbourne, has ramped up her calls for a mandatory compensation scheme for airline passengers, saying allegations levelled by Sydney airport this week showed such laws were needed as a matter of urgency and could not wait until the government’s aviation white paper, which is due by the middle of next year.

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Labor accused of caving to Dutton to pass ‘draconian’ bill restricting people released from immigration detention

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The Albanese government has agreed to a raft of Coalition amendments, including criminal penalties for breaching restrictions

Labor has been accused of caving to Peter Dutton after it agreed to a slate of Coalition amendments to toughen restrictions on people released from detention so as to pass “draconian” emergency legislation on bridging visas.

The bill, introduced on Thursday by the immigration minister, Andrew Giles, adds conditions, including electronic monitoring and curfews, to bridging visas issued to those who are required to be released due to the high court’s ruling on indefinite detention.

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Singtel rejects Optus claims it caused network outage; gillnet fishing banned in Great Barrier Reef – as it happened

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Labor MPs furious over ‘one political party’ pitting Jewish community against another

Labor MPs are still furious over the motion Peter Dutton moved in question time on Wednesday, where he linked anti-semitism with the release of detainees, including some criminals, after the high court decision which deemed indefinite detention to be unconstitutional.

As a leader of the Jewish community and someone who represents a large Jewish community, I’ve always thought it was extremely important to act in the interests of the community.

And that means working across the political aisle. It means working with people like Allegra Spender, who represents the largest Jewish community in Australia, and of course with my friend Julian Leeser, who I will always stand with members regardless of what political persuasion they have, in order to act in the interests of the Jewish community.

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Australia must stop giving ‘leeway’ to Israel’s continued assault on Gaza, UN expert says

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UN special rapporteur on occupied Palestinian territories points out ‘grave risk’ of genocide and Australia’s responsibility to ‘prevent atrocity crimes’

A United Nations expert has met with a senior member of the Australian government and urged it to stop giving “leeway” to Israel, arguing Australia has a responsibility to “prevent atrocity crimes” including genocide.

Francesca Albanese held talks with the assistant minister for foreign affairs, Tim Watts, on Wednesday and expressed her concern “as strongly as she could” about what she saw as Australia’s inadequate response to the escalating bloodshed in Gaza.

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Politics live: cyber chief takes leave as defence department announces recall over ‘workplace matter’

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Follow the day’s news live

And here is the standard of some of the “debate” among senior parliamentarians.

Meanwhile, Australia’s sense of social cohesion is at its lowest recorded ebb.

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Immigration detention: Labor to rush through emergency legislation after high court ruling

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Home affairs minister says it’s ‘garbage’ that legislation could completely reverse high court decision that led to 81 leaving immigration detention

Labor is set to rush through emergency legislation this week to deal with the fallout of the high court’s decision that indefinite immigration detention is unlawful.

The move follows demands by the Coalition that parliament “should not rise” until legislation is passed, upping pressure on the government by demanding a response even before the high court gives its full reasons.

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‘We deserve our fair share’: state Labor leaders clash with federal government over infrastructure plan

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Albanese government move to make states pay at least 50% of new infrastructure project bills receives pushback from premiers

State Labor leaders are at odds with the Albanese government over its plan to split the cost of building nationally significant infrastructure.

On Tuesday, the federal minister for infrastructure and transport, Catherine King, announced it would no longer be “the default” for the federal government to pick up the bulk of the tab for new roads, rail and other major projects.

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Australia politics live: students protesting over climate crisis ‘are being the adults’, Adam Bandt says

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Shorten reiterates support for two-state solution

Patricia Karvelas then raises with Bill Shorten what was said on Q+A last night, when Nasser Mashni, the president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, argued that hopes for a two-state solution “ended years ago”.

Oh, no, our policy has been to support a two-state solution.

There was a policy which we developed many, many years ago about respecting the security of Israel and the right of Palestinians to have a say in controlling their own land. I don’t think that’s a radical policy.

I think it’s unexceptional what the foreign minister said. We’re in very close step to the United States and other western nations. We’ve called for humanitarian pause, but we completely recognise that Israel’s dealing with Hamas who don’t want to negotiate, so the idea that we want an enduring peace, as Penny said, of course, is what we want.

We all know we’re a long way off that and Hamas should be prevailed upon by world opinion to hand back the hostages to say that they’re going to stop trying to kill Israelis and destroy Israel.

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Australia and other western governments ‘paralysed’ in response to Gaza conflict, says UN expert

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Francesca Albanese, special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, tells National Press Club many leaders are ‘muttering inaudible words of condemnation’

A United Nations expert has accused Australia and other western governments of paralysis over the Israel-Gaza crisis, saying leaders are either “muttering inaudible words of condemnation” or staying silent in fear.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, said in a speech in Canberra on Tuesday that “violence begets violence” and warned that Palestinian children were being left “without hope” for their future.

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Firms that donate to political parties twice as likely to win government contracts, analysis finds

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Transparency group says donating companies should be banned from government contracts but constitutional expert disagrees

Companies that make political donations are more than twice as likely to win government contracts and should be banned from working with departments for an entire electoral cycle, according to a key transparency group.

But a constitutional expert has warned a ban could be an overreaction that confuses coincidence with corruption, given public servants who award contracts may have no idea of recent donations to political parties.

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More Australians support providing assistance to Palestinians than Israel in Gaza conflict, Essential poll finds

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But majority want Australia to stay out of the conflict entirely as less than a third of those polled approve of federal government’s response

Australians’ sympathies in the Israel-Gaza conflict have flipped, with more now wanting to provide assistance to Palestine than Israel and a big drop in those who say Israel’s reaction to the 7 October attack by Hamas is proportionate.

The Guardian Essential poll of 1,150 voters, released on Tuesday, also found that Anthony Albanese’s approval rating is now negative for the first time in his prime ministership.

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Australia politics live: Gaza civilian casualties ‘unacceptably high’, Plibersek says; ANZ posts record profit as customers ‘muddle through’ rate rises

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Environment minister says ‘well‑behaved and peaceful’ pro-Palestine protests in Australia are ‘just part of democracy’. Follow the day’s news live

Minister focuses on multicultural cohesion

Pressed on why he wouldn’t call for a ceasefire, Andrew Giles says:

We have seen a considered and careful response by the Australian government through foreign minister Wong pushing towards the sort of outcomes that I think every Australian was to see.

In the last few weeks as minister for multicultural affairs I’ve spent an extraordinary amount of time engaging directly with Australians who have a close personal connection to this conflict.

Palestinian Australians, Jewish Australians and members of the wider Arab and Muslim communities and I’m, of course, deeply affected by every one of these conversations.

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Eighty people already freed from Australia’s immigration detention since landmark high court ruling

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Minister seeks to allay community concern about releases but admits ‘full ramifications’ of decision yet to be determined

The immigration minister has revealed that 80 people have so far been released from immigration detention since the high court ruled it is unlawful to hold those with no realistic prospect of deportation.

On Monday Andrew Giles sought to allay community concern about the releases, which have included Malaysian hitman Sirul Azhar Umar, by saying “all [80] are on appropriate visa conditions” including regular reporting.

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Malaysian hitman released from Australian immigration detention after high court ruling

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Sirul Azhar Umar, sentenced in Malaysia over a politically charged murder, cannot be deported by Australia because he would face the death penalty

A Malaysian bodyguard sentenced over the politically charged murder of a pregnant woman is among dozens of people released from immigration detention after Wednesday’s high court ruling.

Sirul Azhar Umar, a bodyguard to former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, has languished in immigration detention in Australia since having his claim for asylum in Australia rejected in 2019.

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Greens say CSIRO’s independence must be protected after alleged collaboration with BP

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Exclusive: Australian scientific agency rejects ‘ghostwriting’ claims made by US law firm representing victims of Deepwater Horizon oil spill

The Greens have warned that fossil fuel companies must not be allowed to “gag scientists” after lawyers representing victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill claimed to have uncovered evidence of the Australian government’s independent science agency collaborating with BP on academic studies.

The Downs Law Group has said documents it received as part of litigation against BP reveal the oil company’s lawyers reviewed and gave corporate approval to nine scientific studies by CSIRO employees, raising questions about the studies’ impartiality.

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“[W]e do not have a revised final with CSIRO authors”

“Planned for December. Approved?”

“Appear to be other papers that CSIRO is drafting and I will need confirmation they are indeed under way so I can track them and make sure they go through the review process”

“CSIRO paper from last year which made it through the review process and was approved”

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Penny Wong says ‘steps towards ceasefire’ in Israel-Hamas war ‘cannot be one-sided’

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Australian foreign minister calls on Israel to show greater restraint around medical facilities and for Hamas to release hostages

Penny Wong has called for “steps towards” a ceasefire in Gaza, including greater restraint from Israel towards medical facilities and for Hamas to release Israeli hostages.

The Australian foreign minister told ABC’s Insiders she is “deeply concerned” about the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza but steps towards a ceasefire “cannot be one-sided”, because Hamas is yet to release hostages taken in its 7 October attacks.

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As the federal government prepares to scrap road and rail projects – find out what is being funded in your area

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The government is backing hundreds of infrastructure projects across Australia, however some may now be cancelled due to cost overruns

The Australian government has committed to hundreds of infrastructure projects around the country, mostly road and rail projects.

However, as many as 250 projects that have yet to begin construction may be scrapped or delayed as a cost-saving measure to pay for at least $33bn in cost overruns.

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Optus chief executive set to face Senate inquiry over nationwide outage

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Kelly Bayer Rosmarin to appear in person before inquiry next week as it investigates network crash that endured for up to 14 hours last Wednesday

The embattled chief executive of Optus will appear in person before a Senate inquiry next week, as it investigates Wednesday’s outage that left millions of its customers without internet or mobile phone coverage for up to 14 hours.

Optus has confirmed that Kelly Bayer Rosmarin will appear before the inquiry – which was brought on by the Greens and the Coalition in the Senate on Thursday – in the coming days.

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Why Labor is on a ‘tightrope’ over its response to the Israel-Hamas war

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Calls for ALP to support a ceasefire grow as rank and file members quit and migrant communities in heartland seats threaten to turn away

When asked how Muslim and Arab communities feel about Labor’s stance on the conflict in Gaza, Randa Abdel-Fattah doesn’t hesitate.

“They are feeling rage, disappointment and betrayal,” the activist and author said.

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