‘If Australians vote no, I don’t believe it would be appropriate to then go and legislate anyway,’ prime minister says a week out from vote
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says the government won’t try to legislate a voice to parliament if the no vote wins next weekend’s referendum on enshrining the body in the constitution.
Albanese on Sunday was asked on ABC TV: “If it’s a no vote, you walk away from the voice altogether?”
Continue reading...Australian Medical Association and Uluru Dialogue say patients and medical staff could be disenfranchised after AEC continues Covid-era policy
Australia’s peak medical body and a key group backing the Indigenous voice to parliament have raised concerns patients and medical staff may be disenfranchised in the referendum, after a pandemic-era decision not to send mobile voting teams into hospitals was made permanent.
During the 2022 federal election, the Australian Electoral Commission decided it was not appropriate to send polling officials into hospitals, given the risk of Covid infection and transmission, and the AEC has confirmed the policy is still in place for the referendum.
Continue reading...PM says he won’t take lectures from Tony Abbott and John Howard after pair claim voice wouldn’t help central Australia
Anthony Albanese has cast his vote for an Indigenous voice to parliament and said Australians have “nothing to fear from voting yes, but everything to gain”.
After visiting an early voting centre in Marrickville with his son Nathan by his side, the prime minister also hit back at Tony Abbott and John Howard, who on Saturday claimed the voice would not improve outcomes for Indigenous people in central Australia.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Papua New Guinea official accuses Australia of abandoning 70 men but government maintains it has no responsibility for them
Refugees exiled to Papua New Guinea a decade ago will be sent back to Australia if the Australian government fails to continue funding PNG’s humanitarian program, Port Moresby’s most senior migration official has warned.
PNG’s chief migration officer, Stanis Hulahau, said the refugees had been abandoned by Australia and the PNG businesses that had been housing and caring for the men were owed tens of millions of dollars.
Continue reading...David Pocock and Barbara Pocock are the latest in a string of independent and minor party politicians to renounce the ‘Canberra bonus’ in the name of integrity
A number of MPs and senators are handing back their access to Qantas’ prestigious chairman’s lounge in the name of integrity after a series of sagas that have painted the domestic carrier in negative light.
It comes as the airline has come under fire in recent months over its influence in federal government and a recent high court ruling finding it had illegally sacked workers during the pandemic.
Continue reading...Telegram post says group would target department after Australia announced it would send Slinger anti-drone technology to Ukraine
The department responsible for Australia’s cybersecurity, national security and immigration has confirmed it was hit with a distributed denial-of-service attack on Thursday night that took its website offline for five hours, after a pro-Russia hacker group said it would target the site over Australia’s support for Ukraine.
The group posted on Telegram on Thursday night that it was targeting the home affairs department with a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack after Australia announced this week that Slinger technology aimed at combating drones would be sent to Ukraine in the push back against the Russian invasion.
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More than 70 constitutional and public law teachers have signed a letter saying the voice to parliament “is not constitutionally risky” in a bid to clarify “misunderstandings and misconceptions” among Australian voters.
Here is an excerpt from the letter:
In law school, we teach our students techniques to assess competing legal opinions, which include looking at the evidence that the author is using to support their opinion, and the author’s experience working in the specialised field. This skill is important, for instance, in assessing the stated concern of the No Case that the proposed amendment is constitutionally ‘risky’ and, in particular, that it might lead to dysfunction and delays in government.
Certainly, it is impossible to predict exactly what the High Court might say in the future; this is the case for all constitutional and legal provisions. But we know that the vast majority of expert legal opinion agrees that this amendment is not constitutionally risky. These views are supported by careful argument, drawing on precedent (that is, previously decided cases) and a deep understanding of the Court’s approach to constitutional interpretation. These experts also agree that the proposed Voice provision is consistent with the Australian constitutional system.
We did have a disturbing incident this morning where our crews had to respond to a water rescue in the Bairnsdale area, where two males entered the water in a car and subsequently got carried away, or the vehicle got carried away. They had to be rescued from the roof of their vehicle.
… It is a salient reminder never [to] enter flood waters, always choose an alternative route.
Continue reading...‘Historic injustices’ suffered by Indigenous people warrant a voice to parliament, open letter signed by more than 350 says
The “historic injustices” suffered by Indigenous Australians warrant a voice to parliament, according to hundreds of historians, with a new public campaign calling on voters to consider the nation’s colonial past when casting their ballot.
Historians from universities, libraries and museums are asking Australians to consider how people in the future will look back on this moment, saying the referendum campaign will be a “turning point” for the fabric of the nation.
Continue reading...Exclusive: federal government coordinated letters to the women and Qatari officials when they formally rejected the request for extra routes
The coordinated timing of two key letters sent by the federal government about its decision to block extra flights for Qatar Airways, released under freedom of information, raise fresh questions about the role an incident at Doha airport played in the rejection.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) was consulted over a letter that the transport minister, Catherine King, was preparing to send to five Australian women suing Qatar Airways, telling them the airline’s push for more flights had been rejected, FoI documents reveal.
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Rain expected to ease over flooded regions in Victoria
The good news is no more rain is expected over flooded regions in Victoria, VicSES deputy chief officer David Baker told ABC News:
The big tap in the sky has been turned off. That’s great news for us. So what we’re dealing with now is what’s currently in the river systems that will need to flush itself through the systems. And we can assess that and we can manage that and put efforts in place to make sure that communities are out of harm’s way. So the good news is no more serious rain expected, and a pretty stable system, I understand, until at least … next week.
We estimate up to 130 properties may be impacted by the event, hence we issued an Emergency warning late yesterday afternoon which was renewed during the early hours of the morning.
It’s mainly homes in that area. Rural homes that may see what we call above floor inundation.
Continue reading...Politics and music go ‘hand in hand’, the Cold Chisel frontman says, and the referendum offers a chance for the country to move forward
Australian rock legend Jimmy Barnes has defended the right of musicians to speak in support of the Indigenous voice to parliament, saying a yes vote in the referendum was about a “fair go” and that he would always “stick up for what I believe in”.
The Cold Chisel frontman has urged voters to approach the 14 October poll with an open mind and to learn about the proposal for an Indigenous advisory committee. But as he and other Australian music icons such as John Farnham and Midnight Oil come under fire from some fans for making their voices heard on the referendum, Barnes didn’t back down from his longheld support for the voice.
Continue reading...Australia Institute says its plan would let government lift jobseeker payment while still improving budget bottom line
The stage-three tax cuts could be renovated to save the budget up to $130bn while still delivering bigger tax cuts to 80% of income earners, according to the Australia Institute.
The progressive thinktank has released a report modelling four alternatives to the controversial tax cuts, finding they could save between $70bn and $130bn. Those savings are enough to lift the jobseeker payment to the rate of the age pension while still making a net improvement to the budget bottom line.
Continue reading...Proposed laws provide carve out but financial counsellors say lottery products can cause ‘serious gambling harm’
Lottery companies should not be exempt from a ban on credit card use due to the harms they cause people with gambling addiction, according to financial counsellors, anti-gambling advocates and industry competitors.
The federal government has introduced legislation to ban credit card use for online wagering, citing high levels of community harm and people gambling with money they don’t have, but has proposed a carve out for lotteries.
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Continue reading...Shift to ‘last in, first out’ processing aims to break the business model of those making unmeritorious claims, immigration minister says
The Albanese government will attempt to turn the tables on people making unmeritorious asylum claims by shifting to a “last in, first out” application processing system.
The immigration minister, Andrew Giles, will announce a $160m package to tackle the backlog of asylum claims, including $54m to prioritise processing new claims, an attempt to break the business model of those suggesting junk claims as a means to remain in Australia.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Guardian Australia understands the group – believed to be 11 people – was intercepted in September and taken to the Pacific nation
A group of asylum seekers who attempted to arrive in Australia by boat has been sent to Nauru just months after the last people were removed from immigration detention on the Pacific nation.
Guardian Australia understands that a group of asylum seekers was intercepted in September and taken to Nauru. Staff of International Health and Medical Services have been asked to work on Nauru to provide health services to the cohort, believed to number 11.
Continue reading...Jeremy Rockliff writes to Elise Archer asking that she advise whether she will remain in parliament
No property loss in hunter region bushfires, NSW RFS deputy commissioner says
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, NSW RFS deputy commissioner Peter McAfee also provided an update on the bushfires in the Hunter region.
So some really great saves by firefighters in really challenging conditions.
We still have some high fire danger days right across northern NSW with with extreme up in the north-west, so it’s not over this period of fire activity, but some good news to see that change moving through the southern part of the state.
It really was a serious incident there right into the evening, with crews protecting properties throughout.
We’ll have our teams in there at daylight this morning. They’re already getting in there, just looking at exactly what’s occurred. It’s [was] too dangerous to do all that work overnight.
Continue reading...Henry Puna’s intervention comes after Vanuatu’s ex-foreign minister said a no win on 14 October would be a blow to Australia’s relationships with region
Australia’s credibility would be boosted on the world stage if the yes vote wins the looming Indigenous voice referendum, a senior Pacific leader says.
Henry Puna, the head of the Pacific Islands Forum, said on Wednesday that while he respected the country’s right to make its own democratic decision it would be “wonderful to see Australia vote yes”.
Continue reading...Law firm was engaged well before cabinet decision to cancel 2026 event, but Jacinta Allan says it came amid rising cost estimates
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has confirmed that the state government hired lawyers weeks before the public was told that it was cancelling the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
But she has denied that the law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler’s sole role was to terminate the multimillion-dollar contract.
Continue reading...Lawyers for stateless Rohingya refugee seek to overturn 20-year-old precedent that allows those who can’t be deported to be kept detained
Australia’s system of indefinite immigration detention is set to be challenged in a bid to overturn a 20-year-old high court precedent keeping hundreds of people who can’t be deported in detention.
Lawyers for NZYQ, the pseudonym of a stateless Rohingya refugee, have told the high court their client, aged 28 to 30, “may potentially be detained for life” unless it rules that people can only be held temporarily to facilitate their deportation.
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Residents of Pine Scrub and Leeka in Tasmania urged to leave amid out of control fire
A bushfire emergency warning has been issued to the Tasmanian communities of Pine Scrub and Leeka.
Burning embers may threaten your home before the main fire arrives.
Smoke and ash may make it difficult to see and breathe.
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